Tulip Pedal 2014
21 Apr 2014 08:06![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nwhikerAnd the biking season has officially begun! On Saturday, with our traditional first ride of the season, the Tulip Pedal up in Skagit County.
Now that they have eliminated the evil Bow Hill from the course, it's a moderate 40 mile ride. Nothing too strenuous, but a good touch-base of where we are at this point in the season.
We did surprisingly well considering the lack of biking we'd done so far this year. Perry wanders around the neighbourhood on his bike a bit. Dh and I went on a quick 8 mile ride last weekend. AC had not been on her bike since STP last July. So yeah, pretty much 40 miles cold turkey.
The wind was, of course, fierce. 15-20 mph according to the weather service. As a headwind, it was brutal, but it was worse as a sidewind. I mean, I'm still surprised skinny little Perry didn't blow over, because I almost feel a few times!
The tulips were in full tulippy glory, which was nice.
AC was using clipless pedals for the first time. She fell twice, which is pretty standard for a first time out on those it seems. Both times at intersections when dh didn't signal a stop as quickly as he should have and she couldn't unclip fast enough. Perry did that before he got used to his pedals, but since his are different (he has racing cleats), he would turtle, and I'd have to pick him up, kid and bike, and right him. I don't think I could do it any longer. Anyhow, poor AC has a bruise on her hip/butt that she refuses to ice. "I am NOT going to ice my butt!" :-)
And Perry clip funny. Stopped at a rest stop. Leave rest stop. Make turn, head straight up overpass. We're in single file paceline, and Perry can't get his right clip in (again, he has racing clips, which are much more finicky that SPDs. I may buy him a second set of shoes/clips for road rides). So he flipping powers up that hill, right leg held out, pedalling madly with his left leg to get up because he's the head of our little paceline! It was so funny, and, to be honest, quite impressive.
The weather was supposed to be crappy starting at about 11am, so we got out early, and finished the ride at about 11:30, literally as the temps dropped, the wind picked up even more, and the skies opened. It didn't last long, but boy was I glad we were under the shelter of the door of the SUV as we got gear off, done with the ride. I do feel for the large number of people who were still riding.
Also, note to self: just because people have expensive bikes and gear does not mean they are experienced riders. I always fall into that trap, and then I'm shocked when they don't understand the rules (like, oh, pull off the road to stop, stuff like that.)
Skagit Valley environmentalists have a slogan about the presevation of farmland: Pavement is Forever. Which is why, I assume, Skagit County does not beleive in repaving its roads! Which in previous years resulted in a bad case of road shock (ie numb tingling fingers) that lasted a few hours after the ride. This year, with my new spiffy carbon fiber bike, I had no issues.
Anyhow, after the ride, we met up with my mom, sister, and Linnea. We had a picnic... in the car, because wind and rain, and then drove around the fields. It was so pretty. Got some photos, and yet again, dh's Nokia Windows phone proves itself to be an excellent camera.
The entire Tulips 2014 flickr set.
Now that they have eliminated the evil Bow Hill from the course, it's a moderate 40 mile ride. Nothing too strenuous, but a good touch-base of where we are at this point in the season.
We did surprisingly well considering the lack of biking we'd done so far this year. Perry wanders around the neighbourhood on his bike a bit. Dh and I went on a quick 8 mile ride last weekend. AC had not been on her bike since STP last July. So yeah, pretty much 40 miles cold turkey.
The wind was, of course, fierce. 15-20 mph according to the weather service. As a headwind, it was brutal, but it was worse as a sidewind. I mean, I'm still surprised skinny little Perry didn't blow over, because I almost feel a few times!
The tulips were in full tulippy glory, which was nice.
AC was using clipless pedals for the first time. She fell twice, which is pretty standard for a first time out on those it seems. Both times at intersections when dh didn't signal a stop as quickly as he should have and she couldn't unclip fast enough. Perry did that before he got used to his pedals, but since his are different (he has racing cleats), he would turtle, and I'd have to pick him up, kid and bike, and right him. I don't think I could do it any longer. Anyhow, poor AC has a bruise on her hip/butt that she refuses to ice. "I am NOT going to ice my butt!" :-)
And Perry clip funny. Stopped at a rest stop. Leave rest stop. Make turn, head straight up overpass. We're in single file paceline, and Perry can't get his right clip in (again, he has racing clips, which are much more finicky that SPDs. I may buy him a second set of shoes/clips for road rides). So he flipping powers up that hill, right leg held out, pedalling madly with his left leg to get up because he's the head of our little paceline! It was so funny, and, to be honest, quite impressive.
The weather was supposed to be crappy starting at about 11am, so we got out early, and finished the ride at about 11:30, literally as the temps dropped, the wind picked up even more, and the skies opened. It didn't last long, but boy was I glad we were under the shelter of the door of the SUV as we got gear off, done with the ride. I do feel for the large number of people who were still riding.
Also, note to self: just because people have expensive bikes and gear does not mean they are experienced riders. I always fall into that trap, and then I'm shocked when they don't understand the rules (like, oh, pull off the road to stop, stuff like that.)
Skagit Valley environmentalists have a slogan about the presevation of farmland: Pavement is Forever. Which is why, I assume, Skagit County does not beleive in repaving its roads! Which in previous years resulted in a bad case of road shock (ie numb tingling fingers) that lasted a few hours after the ride. This year, with my new spiffy carbon fiber bike, I had no issues.
Anyhow, after the ride, we met up with my mom, sister, and Linnea. We had a picnic... in the car, because wind and rain, and then drove around the fields. It was so pretty. Got some photos, and yet again, dh's Nokia Windows phone proves itself to be an excellent camera.
The entire Tulips 2014 flickr set.
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Date: 21 Apr 2014 18:45 (UTC)I am, as always, impressed at all of you biking together. I would love for our family to be able to do that when Maya is old enough.
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Date: 21 Apr 2014 23:30 (UTC)