The past couple of weeks have been a blur for me… I am sure for many others too. In my life I have been trying like mad to get the house ready for my trip to Seattle, train for the ride, and come to grips with an anniversary that no one wants to celebrate. I have also been thinking a lot about friends who I have met over the years, some through our experience through cancer, some of the great people Beth brought into my life, and those who have helped me in the past year making it through life’s roller coaster.
I went out on my ride today thinking and dedicating my wheel turns to a particular group, my friends from the various Harmony Hill retreats that Beth and I attended over the years. Specifically, I cranked out a couple hills and worked through a little pain thinking about two friends in New York. Beth and I met Lisa and Jennifer at the last retreat that Beth and I attended together. Lisa is an amazing survivor of a number of different cancers and is currently facing yet another battle. A new diagnosis of colon cancer will have Lisa tackling another round of hospital visits and decisions to make. She is supported by one very smart and loving partner Jennifer. The both have tackled any challenge put in front of them with everything they can throw at it and I draw from that inspirational attitude. I also want to send any healing power and strength that I can to them and all of my other friends from the ‘Hill’. You are all a part of my every day life and inspiration. Thank you for the wisdom and spirit in life that you have shared. Thank very much to Harmony Hill too and the staff for connecting us all.
So as the weekend approaches I have at least two more rides to put in on the bike. Team Bear has done a great job this year. We will have over 24 members by Sunday, at as of this morning we passed our goal of raising $10,000 as a team! Thank you to all who have supported Team Bear! Hope to see you Sunday if you can make it down to Seattle Center!
Memorial day is a big ride day on the east side of the lake since it marks the annual 7 Hills of Kirkland. I rode the metric century Monday to continue training up to 100 miles on June 20th. The ride starts and ends at Kirkland’s Marina Park and it was a bitter day to be out on the bike.
I started the morning at 5 am when the alarm prodded me out of bed to go eat some breakfast, pull on some spandex and gather my cycling gear. It was raining when I woke up but for some reason I didn’t just go back to bed, instead I grabbed my rain jacket. When I got to the park to register I spent about 10 minutes deciding what to wear – I had 4 different glove options, long and short sleeves, jacket or not. I went with a short sleeve jersey and my rain shell but I put the arm warmers in my pocket just in case. The rain kept the registration line short – there wasn’t one.
The route is actually quite hard and includes around 4,657 feet of climbing in just short of 60 miles. For reference on the 20th we’ll be climbing 3,930 in 100 miles so the 7 Hills is quite hilly. Oh and by the way the 7 is only for the 38 mile route. There are 11 significant hills in the metric century. I completed the ride averaging 15 mph with a max of 41 and an average cadence of 88 rpm. That means it was pretty hilly since I normally average around 95 rpm. Apart from a flat tire at mile 33 it was a clean ride and my body performed well enough to make me feel better about attempting 100 miles.
I rode part of the Burke Gilman Trail known to bikers as the “missing link” on Sunday. It’s the area in Ballard where the trail degrades to markings on busy streets and railroad track crossings.
My ride was cut short by a fall headed up the hill from Golden Gardens. I’m not sure if you’ve spent much time in the middle of the road tangled up in a bike but it’s an embarrassing experience. All I walked away with was a soar, scratched up leg and a bent rear derailleur hanger, which meant the bike had to go to the shop.
I don’t have stats for the ride other than a map so here it is:
I got out last week for a duce on the Magnolia bike loop, nice ride for 15 miles with a little over 1000 feet of climbing. I’m leaning to love the hills even though my bike is somewhat heavy (apparently roadies consider 20lbs heavy). I’m also trying to always ride with 2 full water bottles to add some extra work to my rides. I’ve considered filling one with concrete but I might try to drink it by accident.
Goal 2 – ride at least three 50 plus mile rides… not yet but the month is young.
Goal 3 – One ride that approaches 100 miles.
Today’s ride with Pete:
As close as I have been to 20 miles in a while. I am going to have to kick training into gear or I am going to be hurtin’ on June 19th! Working on the house all day doesn’t leave me with a ton of energy at the end of the day so the morning rides are better. Might have to consider getting up at 5 every now and then and put in more time. Anyone want to join me?
Pete and I got out before the boys were up the other day for a 15 mile ride out Sawmill Creek Road. Ran into our friend Alexei while he was out practicing tricks on his trials bike. Great ride as it was a beautiful morning. Looking forward to getting out on many more!
I think I have the best commute in Seattle and I can prove it:
When was the last time you saw a seal on your way to work? Here’s a closer look:
I’ve been trying to ride hard on the way to and from work since commuting is the bulk of my riding between working on the house to get ready for the new addition and visiting some friends in San Diego. Max on the other hand has been hard at work:
… at least he has a helmet on.
So I haven’t been doing a whole lot of riding lately. Most everything that we have been doing I would put in the cross training category, hiking, running, snowboarding (which included a lot of hiking), kayaking… chopping wood, working on the property, chasing my nephews. I suppose the list could go on. So I did find a day to get out and try out a longer ride on a new to me bike. A fixie/cruiser that my dad had. Here’s a little clip.
Since last Thursday evening it has been snowing off and on here in Sitka. Makes for sloppy bike riding and since my mountain bike is still suffering a broken front shifter, I haven’t really been out on the saddle…
So Friday, Pete and I decided to get out for a little cross training. We packed up the snowboards and a few snacks and headed for Verstovia to see how the snow looked up on the mountain. We hiked the 2000 plus feet up to Picnic Rock and strapped in. It took us just a little over an hour to make it up to the start point and then a quick ride down from the front side into the backside bowl. That first ride for me was pretty wild as I hadn’t been out on a board for a couple of years and we had some alpine scrub to get through. We then hiked back up the bowl to the South side of the untracked powder loveliness and made our second run down. The following is my attempt at a few graceful carving turns down the hill…
After working our way up to a sheltered spot in the trees and out of the wind, we had a bite to eat and left our packs for the next run. Stomping up one more time up the hill we cut in one more 600 feet of vertical down the bowl and our uncut 2 feet of powder. That last run was much better for me with turns coming easier and even a couple of launches off a natural half pipe. (of course the helmet cam footage didn’t work that run!) We had a quick bite before we packed back up out of the back bowl. One more quick run to the tree line and the hike back down.
All told with the hike up, three full rides down the bowl and the hikes back up and the final hike back down the mountain we figured at least 6000 feet of exercise! I am still feeling it a little in the hamstrings! Of course I am hoping to get back up there again… and with the snow falling here in town I am sure there is plenty up top again!
So finally getting out there a little… Pete and I yesterday and today, Pete, Uncles Frank and Bill and I. not really long rides but good climbing and at times pretty quick pace. The ride yesterday was a new loop for Pete and I as we decided to head out towards the Halibut Point Road end of town. We hopped on the cross trail behind the high school and made our way up north via the extra wide gravel trail. Some parts of the trail are steep enough to necessitate a granny gear and others a pretty quick ride down the other side. The great thing about this ride turned out to be that we only had to ride about 1/2 mile of HPR and mostly stayed on the backroad trails of the Cross Trail and the Bench Land Road that isn’t currently open to cars. One unfortunate thing happened as we were about two miles from home, my 16 year old grip shift for the front derailleur bit the dust… was stuck in the little chain ring the rest of the way home.
Todays ride was a pretty wet one at times. We parked at Thimbleberry Lake trailhead and headed up the way to Blue Lake road. caught sight of the brother bears at Fortress of the Bear and then headed back to the truck via Sawmill Creek Road. Just as we hit the SMC Road it started to pour. Bill and I were riding in a pace line, me following Bill and hitting what seemed to be every puddle! Keeping up a good pace Bill decided to hit a huge puddle and drenched me in his spray! When we arrived back at the truck I opted to keep peddling and headed for the house by bike. I would guess that the entire round trip was about 8 miles at most, though always preferable over giving a cat a bath! Oh, from the ride from the day before you might have been wondering about my derailleur problem? Well I was able to rig the bike so that I could at least ride in the middle ring on the front gears. Made the up hill a little more interesting and the down hills I was forced to coast a lot more. Also the ride home on the road I was keeping a pretty high cadence, though I sometimes like that anyway. Its good spin practice, better than doing isolation drills!
