The first was a week ago. Jason and I rode off to the Redhook brewery along the Burke Gillman trail early in the AM. It was only 15 miles away, so not much of a problem.
We locked up our bikes in the VERY ample bike parking lot (apparently when you build a brewery along a major biking trail you must plan ahead for us bikers to stop in). We tried their new summer Rope Swing beer - which was amazing. Sadly, that was the only perk to this place. The waitress hated me right off the bat. First she was upset that I had the gall to ask for a beer that was not made by Redhook (my mistake for thinking they may have had TWO biking themed beers). then I tried to order my burger to be on the 'rare' side of cooking, but she sternly informed me the burgers only came medium well. really? Who knew you cant take a burger off the grill a moment sooner. I didn't. Finally, the burgers came out, paired with a side of potato salad. Jason and I thought perhaps some fries would be a better pair for our burgers, only slightly surprised that they did not originally come with them, so we tried to order a side of fires to share. This is where our waitress lost all patience. She replied, "We do NOT have fries, they have never been on our menu!" 
Really? So I would think I'm not the first person to want fries with a burger. Maybe that harshness was a hint unnecessary? Hmm. she did not think so. So to show her command of the situation, she decided to not split our tab when we politely asked for her to. Oh well, we had out tasty beers, then headed off on our merry way.
Eventually we were back on track and headed south along the eastern border of Lake Samamish. This lake, if you did not know, goes on FOREVER! As we rode along its pristine shore we notices that more and more shore kept coming. This freaking lake had no end. But sure enough we finally rounded its southern side and cut across I-90 to head west back to Seattle. We suddenly came back upon the lake once again. Grrr.
We made it out of the lakes grasp son enough only to be heading back to Lake Washington. So many lakes in just one ride! At this point the clouds broke loose all the rain they had within and a downpour began. We took shelter under the I-90 overpass to put on the rain gear we had brought with us. They worked well enough, but as we rode though Seattle and the beautiful arboretum my shoes became lakes of their own. At this point I was wet, and extremely tired. the worst part was the fact we had only uphills left between us and Jason's house. I had to stop for a moment because my backpack or my riding position caused my back to spasm for a bit. It corrected itself by standing for a moment and we then began the last climb to his house. Wet and exhausted we made it. 60 miles covered on this ride!
Ok -flash forward one week. The rain in Seattle is off and on during the week, mainly on. but it seems our Wed ride would be a wet one. But us intrepid bikers planed for our ride anyways!
We planed for a new route today (today being both the day I took this ride and I blogged about it). We were going to head from my house out to Enumclaw then up Chinook Pass around the perimeter of Mt.Rainer.
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The weather was quite nice for the majority of the trip. The ride out we had blue skies above us with views of the snow dusted Cascades in the distance. Along the rides we rode we could see far off valleys drenched in rain, but our path was a dry one!
The ride out was simple enough. It seemed we had a lot of downhills along the pass. This was enjoyable enough, but we also had the nagging fear that we would end up chugging these as uphills on the way back. Irregardless, we traveled on. We passed though the city of Greenwater and then stopped at the 35 mile mark on our odometer. We turned around at a logging road exit. Coincidentally this same logging road was one I had been to the past two Decembers to cut down Christmas trees. Today however the sun was out at this time and we would not be bringing any trees home. As we rested I notices a large mound I recognized. It was the nest of a red headed any colony! I was fascinated by these as a kid. This one was HUGE! I had forgotten how many ants could be in the larger perimeter and soon we had ants crawling up our shoes and onto our backpacks! One almost bit me, but I got it off in time! I ended up being a bit paranoid from that time until we got back on the road home.
The way back seemed less hard then we planned. The same stretches of 'downhill' one way also felt like a downhill the other way. It was very disorienting and something I've never experienced before while biking.
Soon the rain did kick in and soon the road was wet and muddy. It was alright, it was not a shoe drenching rain as the last ride so I didn't mind as much. but today the mud was different. Jason's tires kicked it up from as much as four car lengths away. I soon became freckled with mud. I gave up and drafted behind as normal. This didn't prove to be so wise though. With wet roads the control of a
bike is a little different. And on this highway there are grooves along the side of the road to keeps drivers awake if they swerve off. Also, if I moved too far to my left I would feel these grooves much more powerfully. So, while drafting down a hill behind Jason I served a bit too much and hit the grooves. I wobbled and almost fell into traffic. I recovered in time, but my heart was racing! Biking is not always a safe activity!Once we were back at my house our legs were on fire! We could both hardly stand and we were exhausted! The ride today was 70 miles! We now stand at a total of 437 miles! That is 4.37% of our goal! I can't wait to see what lies ahead!
-Ry
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