Stumbling Through Adulthood

My boyo, all 11 years of him, rode 65 miles yesterday on those spindly legs of his! Yay Perry!

So, first the ride.

Flying Wheels Summer Century, or on MapMyRide which shows the evil 2000+ foot elevation gain. Note: 2000ft on a hike is bad but not fear inspiring. On a bike, it's terrifying!

We started from Marymoor Park at 9am. I waited in line to use the port-a-potties. Perry "didn't have to go". This is important.

We all started in windbreakers, and cycling jerseys. Perry had a technical shirt under his, dh and I had hiking silks under ours. It was chilly!

We left, stopped right away to set one of our ride tracking devices, and about 1/4 mile in, I realised that the other one wasn't tracking. Turns out the magnet was on the wrong side of the wheel, post-tire replacement. So we pulled off the road, flipped the bike over, and turned out the wheel. I love easy releases! The bike computer then started tracking nicely.

The first part of the ride is nice and flat, and pretty. The weather is chilly and damp, but not raining, so far so good.

Then, the first Evil Hill.

Let me be very clear about this ride. It's all hills. Not easy rolling hills that you can slingshot up. No, evil hills with sharp turns or stoplights at the bottom, that you have to take from a dead stop, with no momentum. Grades up to 12%, and that's a lot. Yeah, you get to go down them (wheee! 35!) but the getting up is painful. You know it's going to be hills when the roads you go up are called Inglewood Hill Road, Sillwater Hill Road etc.

I geared down quickly to my middle ring. Dh and Perry are going and I try to get down to granny-gear. Um. No, not so much. It didn't want to go. I could not get up the damn thing in 2, so I got off and pushed for a while until I reached a flat space where I could try to start again. About... oh 25-30% of people are walking. Started again, it still won't get into granny. Grrr. Push for a bit longer to another spot and get the damn thing onto the smallest ring essentially manually. Get on my bike and make it up the rest of the hill, meeting up with dh and Perry who of course made it up perfectly fine.

The next series of hills aren't that difficult, and we got up them ok. Then, after a long while, we're into the Snoqualmie River Valley, an area we know because we've biked it. Several times. Rolling hills there mostly, some grinds up, but they aren't too bad. Me, I'm slow on them, but that's ok.

Small King County riverside park. With two pit potties and a line of about 15 people, moving very slowly. With Perry in it. Because he has to pee. We're about an hour in and I was grumbling big time. Since we're on the slow side, as far as riding speed goes, we need to minimise stops. A potty stop with no food and no place to refill water bottles is not an efficient use of time.

Anyhow, onto Carnation. There we make The Choice. Take a right, and it's a 45 mile ride. A left, and we commit to the 65 miler. Needless to say, we didn't even pause, made the left and biked down 203 to Stillwater Hill Road. I did note, however that the food stop was 0.5 miles away if we went right (for the 45 miler) and 11 miles out if we went left.

That is the most evil of the hills, imo. The first... oh, 50 ft are almost impossibly steep. Seriously steep. Along with the Dan Henry's there was a big sign before the turn: Gear Down.

Well, I geared down to my second ring... and right at the bottom of the hill, just a few feet up, tried to get into granny gear. Which failed again. Grr! Not that it really mattered, since Perry stalled right in front of me. We both walked to the nearest flattish part, he was able to get going, I yet again had to coax my chain onto the smallest front ring. It went though, and bizarrely enough, I never had any issues getting in there on any of the other hills on the ride.

Stillwater Hill Road is one of the prettier stretches of the ride: wooded, rolling hills, a combination of rich people estates and rural makeshift shacks. We passed one accident, though Cascade came to help them out, though a fire engine was there, they didn't appear to be doing anything.

Ups and down, some really fast downs, and a long trek up the hill above Duvall to the food stop.

We all ate, including me. I mean, I was hungry, breakfast was a long way past, and I didn't want to bonk. I'll deal with the inevitable weight gain on Wednesday! But while dh and I ate, Perry? Ate.

Oh did he ever eat.


That is just some of what he devoured. They had little packages Danishes, he ate at least one and a half. Oreos. Granola bars. When I went to get in line for the bathroom, he had at least 5 bars etc to pack down, and he finished them all, unwrapped a few things to put in his pockets, and we headed off down the hill to Duvall.

As we crossed the valley, we saw a med evac helicopter. I told Perry not to pay attention to it, but it definitely landed back towards where we'd come from. :( I don't know anything more.

Anyhow, at the intersection of Woodinville-Duvall Road and West Snoqualmie Road, Perry realises that we're only a few miles from home, and we've biked that before (we actually often start rides there, leaving the car, but we've also biked to there). He suggested bagging the whole thing and going home, but he was clearly joking.

Off we go on West Snoqualmie Road. Rolling hills, mostly, with a few minor climbs because of stop lights. And here is what got me.

There was this guy? Drafting off of Perry. An adult male on a regular bike drafting off a kid? Come on, asshole! Back off. Perry lost him at one point, but after a long hill, I got stuck "pulling him" for a while too. Then I caught up with dh and Perry, we rode for a while, as a paceline of four, doing between 15 and 17. I finally told dh we were going too fast, and we slowed to about 13, and the guy passed us and caught another group. I can almost see helping yourself to someone's paceline, but drafting on a kid is beyond the pale.

Anyhow, soon were were on roads we'd done earlier that day, because of the way the ride loops, then into Carnation the food stop there.

Where Perry ate some more. And more. And... Wait. What did he say? OMG. Perry said, "I've had enough carbs." And he tossed about 1/4 of a chocolate chip Costco muffin.

The next part of the ride was the most difficult. A long stretch by the Snoqualmie River, in a full headwind, and then.... Issaquah-Fall City Road. That's the climb about 50 miles in on Map My Ride. It's long, not very very steep, but omg long. I biked the whole damn thing, something I hadn't been able to do in previous years. Perry and dh did fine.

It got warm in that bit. Perry was still wearing his technical shirt under his cycling jersey, and I still had on my silks. Dh has been in just his jersey for a while, we'd all taken off the windbreakers long before. So Perry took off his shirt, and I did too. At that point, I don't care if I flashed my bra at half the county! Hee.

A few more climbs, some downhill, then the last food stop. We got fresh water. I'd not noticed the water at the other places was filtered, and I'd gotten burned before on that ride, filling up my water bottle with plain water and having it be nigh on undrinkable. So I'd gotten whatever electrolyte replenishing drink they were offering (Nuun?) and it was vile. Got water at that stop, and away we went.

There was one more biiiig uphill, then the steep, fast descent to East Sammamish Parkway. Into a roundabout, which dh sailed into, with a smile of apology to the car he kinda almost cut off. Dh insists I point out that he was under full braking but still not able to slow down enough to obey the right of way.

Headwind on the last part of the ride. And this paceline of women in pink who tucked in behind us and just drafted, never pulling ahead to help or anything. Grrr. Rude people....

The freeloading drafters were the exception, really. Most of the people on the ride were good riders, careful riders, and so many called out encouragement to Perry, and congrats to dh and me for having him along. Felt good!

Other interesting bit: you really do start to see the same people. I mean, people who started at the same time as us this morning? I saw them finish about the same time we did. Groups that we passed, and passed us etc, over and over. It's funny how that works.

Anyhow, eventually, we got there: back to Marymoor Park. Total distance on the bike computer was 63.83 miles, which agrees with the phone app which gave 103km. Total time was about 6.5 hours. Time on the bikes: 4h59min59sec. No, really!



So, Perry's first metric century! Yay Perry.

I am so proud of him. He did so well, and he did it, ya know? Long day for his skinny little legs! He's a good strong rider, though, and I think he'll do fine on the Seattle-to-Portland next month!

Yesterday, dh, Perry, and I rode a 40 mile loop down by Lacey: we left Lacey, headed to Yelm on highway 510, and then at Yelm, got a bike trail back to Lacey to close the loop.

That trail? Best bike trail I've ever taken. Despite beautiful weather, it wasn't too crowded (my previous gold standard was the Sammamish River/Burke Gillman trail), it was nicely paved, not too many bumps, and went through some beautiful scenery.

Despite the distance (Lacey is a bit over an hour away), we'll probably do that trail again. We didn't even do the full trail!

Perry did very well, kept up with no problems. He probably could have eaten more, but then, Perry can always eat more.

Today, despite the nice weather and the infinite probability of loads of people on the B-G, we headed out there for a short ride. We had Linnea on the trail-a-bike, and a head wind to start out, but we made good time for a reasonably fast 20 miles. Yay for Linnea for biking 20 miles!

There were, as expected, loads of people on the trail. Most walkers and families were reasonably cautious, but as usual roller bladers think the whole trail belongs to them as they swoosh from side to side. Still, it was a pleasant time.

Dh is off picking up AC from her weekend trip, then we'll call my MIL and SIL and family to come over, we'll have dinner and cake, and if we're done early enough, maybe we'll wander over to the park for a walk so the kids can play on the swings and play equipment.

I'm seriously thinking about buying a pair of bike shoes. I could use them for spin, at the very least, even if I never want to use them on trail, but gah, they're expensive! Perry's are, btw, on his old bike, but he's having a hard time clipping out of them yet. Once he's gotten good at it, we'll put them on the real bike!

AC is home! She had a great time and was apparently responsible with the brace! Yay! I don't have to mention a thing to the surgeon at the follow up tomorrow! Heh.

I am SO proud of my spindly legged little boyo! He biked 40 miles on roads today, and did incredibly well!

( This is going to be long... )

Back in 2004, I sent an email to my mailing lists with the subject line of "Putting my money... where my pedals are". We went on to bike the Seattle to Portland that year.

We're setting up to do it again.

And we put our money were our pedals are, and $600 later have a bike club membership, and registration for the Seattle to Portland and Flying Wheels for us, dh's aunt G, Perry, and AC.

OMG.

We are, to be clear, insane.

If anyone is curious: Cascade Bicycle Club. There are details about the rides etc.

Umm... Anyone else want to join us?

... the 2012 biking season!



(Yes, that is me, and no, AC is not taller than me, that's perspective. Just to be clear here.)

We're still in the middle of snowshoeing season, but I guess things will overlap a bit.

We got the bikes out, found gloves and helmets, and headed out on the Sammamish River Trail first, joining up to the Burke-Gillman later.

We ditched Linnea by the side of the trail about 3 miles in We met up with my MIL, SIL, and nephew at a park by the side of the trail and ditched Linnea. She was trying so hard, poor little nut, but wasn't nearly as fast as the rest of us.

Then dh, Perry, AC, and I headed on, much faster this time. It felt good.

Perry, btw, does not know the meaning of the words "gear down".

On the way back, we left AC at the park with MIL, SIL, nephew, and Linnea. She didn't have her inhaler (it's in her locket at gym, and she couldn't find another one, sigh...), and she was starting to cough pretty badly.

Then I told Perry to go ahead and go as fast as he wanted back to the car, only about 4 miles from where we were. As Perry took off at full speed, dh called to me, "Are you insane?" and we both had to accelerate to catch up with the boyo! We did, and we made it back to the car in short order.

It was loads of fun, a bit less than 2 hours on the bikes, and something between 17 and 20 miles, so nobody should be too sore tomorrow!

The current plan is that AC and Perry will bike the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic with us this summer. Dh's aunt G might join us.

And, btw... my sister and BIL may as well, though my BIL may never speak to me again. I was talking to my sister who does want to do it, and she said BIL had said that they couldn't because they didn't have road bikes. I told her that we didn't, and hadn't the previous times we'd done STP and other ride: we get slicks on the mountain bikes. She laughed and said there went BIL's best excuse.

I'm so excited.

It's a weekend. We're going hiking. Yay!

Yesterday evening we went to the Velodrome. We were supposed to be doing some volunteering for Perry's team, and were assured that someone would be there to show us what to do. Umm... Nope. Could not find anyone who knew anything of what was going on, what we were supposed to sell etc. Bah.

It was the first evening of the Marymoor Grand Prix, so good riders from all over. Lots of nice butts, btw, as long as they are in black or other dark shorts. Cycling is nice for that.

So we watched (most of) the races, and it was loads of fun. We left at 10pm, because it was too cold and Linnea was tired, but it was cool.

My favourite race was the Miss and Out race, called "Devil Take the Hindmost" in Britain, apparently. They start with 25 riders, and eliminate the first 20, whomever is last on a given lap. When five riders remain, it's the final sprint. I was fun to focus on who was going to be last for a change.

We got to see Perry's instructor take a second place (to a world champion) twice. It was very interesting to watch, actually. In all three races she was in (semis and finals for the Keirin and 20 lap scratch race, she hung back. Never in the tippy back, but never EVER up front. Always on the side, which means, of course, a slightly longer path, but means you won't get boxed in. Then, towards the end, she'd sprint right up there, and win. If you weren't looking for her you'd never think that she'd ever be that close. It was pretty cool.

Anyhow, loads of fun, and excitement. We screamed a lot. Heh.

Today, we're headed up to Lake Twenty-Two. It is going to be packed, because it is a VERY popular hike. The kids haven't done it before, but dh and I did... years before kids. It's not too long (about 5.5 miles), but a bit on the steep side.

Whee!

Two Linnea things to relate today....

Linnea's birthday is in a few weeks. We are having a hard time figuring out what to do for a party. She wants one, but nothing we come up with is suitable (or easy to book.) Today she suggested a Pig Party. Remember, she loves piggies. Which of course made dh, AC, and I laugh and suggest a wallowing in the mud party. Tell 'em to come in bathing suits, make mud pies, get hosed off, eat mud pie cake, and go home almost clean. Hee. I doubt anyone would let their kid come to a Mud Pie Party, but that would be SO much fun.

Next.

LINNEA LEARNED TO RIDE HER BIKE TODAY!!!!!!

OMG. It's been... a long time coming. See, Perry and AC both learned when they were around four, but Linnea has had... a hard time. We've tried several times to get her to actually ride, but it wasn't very successful. We were at the velodrome today, and I tried one last ditch effort, with no success, on the grass. Then dh and I tried again, this time on pavement... and after he patiently got her to first balance, then coast... all of a sudden she was riding. There was very little tentative and hesitant, and unlike both Perry and AC, she seems happy to ride in control. Heh. Anyhow, we clapped and cheered, and called AC over to see, and when Perry's velodrome class was over, call him over to admire. She was proud as proud can be, which she damn well should be!

We did get to the Skagit Valley today, and it was great.

We parked at one of the big tulip festival venues, left the car there, which is apparently frowned upon so we had to get clearance from one of the owners/bigwigs, ooops, and headed out for an hour or so ride among the fields. There was a stiff headwind, but at least it didn't change directions, we got the benefit of the tailwind later. We stopped a few times to take photos, enjoyed the tulips, and the fact that the vast majority of cars were very aware of cyclists, and gave us plenty of room. Perry did great.

After the bike ride, we went back to Tulip Town, and walked in their fields. It was so pretty, of course. Rolled our eyes a few times at the number of people who send their kids tromping through the flowers to get a photo, and who don't scold when the kids pick said flowers. Sigh...

My full set on flickr and there are some more photos under the cut.

( Lots of photos... )