Sunny Hilly (Chilly Hilly training ride)

Today I joined the Wooleaters on the hilliest possible ride on the north end in preparation for the Chilly Hilly next weekend. I did not want to ride at all this morning. I nearly canceled, having worked late last night, not being in a good mood, being sick and tired of riding after so much commuting in the dark and rain, and having a stomach ache. All seemed like good reasons to bail, especially since it's been raining nothing but cats and dogs all week. But, I made it out. And the bike gods rewarded me and the crew with warm sunshine our whole ride. 

• 30.4 miles

• 2:37 ride time

• 11.6 av mph

• 33 mph max

• 72 average cadence

• 1992 feet climbed

• 394 feet max altitude

• 145 average pulse

• 176 max pulse

Waiting for all the riders

Nobody here but me

This how the employee bicycle cage looks in mid-February at work. It’s how it looks on most days in February….and January, and December. Granted, not all commuters use the cage, and not all work the same shift I do, but just wait until I post a picture of the cage in May! It will be full! May is Bike Month, and everybody comes out and rides. What is it about Bike Month that gets so many people pedaling? Why don’t they keep doing it? A big, organized competition comes with a lot of social pressure, so that must me it. Maybe someday I’ll really understand. 

Ride the Rim?

If they do it again for 2016, this looks like it might be a fun potential ride. I love getting out to this eastern side of Washington. If I can spare the time, I'd love to go on a fun ride! 

New Training Page

This page is all about health and wellness in general; all the bits and pieces of cycling outside of the actual ride. The fact that I love the ride and love to be outside is only part of the reason I ride. I also love cycling because it is what I call a "lifetime" sport; something I can do up until the end (hopefully) that will always support my health. This section is about that; fitness, wellness, and all the angles toward getting better, stronger, faster, fitter. Check it out!

Training

Logging the Effort Behind the Goals 

5-Hand Friday

Drivers do this thing when they are turning from a lesser street to a major street; they steadily roll into the intersection while they look for traffic. I do the same thing. It really helps when the street has parallel parked cars or trees making it hard to see. However, drivers frequently also do this thing, where they look right at me just as the car is covering the bike lane, and don’t register me at all. When this happens, I give them “the hand.” I feel confident they will see me, and hope that the added movement of my hand will take my visibility to the next level- of actually being seen. I also use it in hopes the car notices that they have obstructed the bike lane, making me either brake and loose precious momentum, or swerve out into the car lane. Today I did this 5 times. How is it weeks can go by and I don’t need to use “the hand” at all, and suddenly I need to use it five times?

A woman downtown never saw me. She was turning left from the left on a one-way. I was in the left-hand lane as I would also be turning left at the intersection just ahead. She pulled out at full speed without once looking in my direction. I had to come to a full stop. I haven’t had to do that in a long time!

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 193

Indy 500 CDL (commuter ride report)

As I pedaled down a long straight-a-way, a semi pulling two trailers of gravel started to pass me as it decided to floor the gas. I looked at the yellow light ahead. It was clear that there was no way the semi would make it. I had already started coasting, knowing I wouldn’t make the light either. The semi was peeling down the left hand turn lane, and I thought it was pretty ballsy for a long truck with such a heavy load to take a left hand turn on a stale red light during rush hour. Some trucks take a whole light cycle just to make the turn. At the last second, the truck suddenly changed its mind and pounded the breaks. It made a loud stinking screeching noise and bowed out to the side, into the bike lane. It stopped in time. I was glad I decided to coast when I did or the truck would have bowed into me. This particular intersection gets a lot of bicycle traffic, so there is a designated green box for all the bikes turning left. The skidding semi covered the left hand turn box, the crosswalk, and the green way for bikes going straight. I had the option to either turn around and pedal to the end of the semi to wait for my left or sit in the car's right hand turn lane. Knowing the semi would take the whole green to turn, I opted to block off the cars wanting to go right. I sat there worried that a car wanting to turn right would come behind me and lay on his horn while I had to smell the overwhelming stench of the burnt smell brought on by the skidding semi. I was impressed how strongly it smelled! Luckily, no one came behind me until the light turned green. I signaled spastically (did the semi even see me? He could have swerved right on me while he was braking!) and pedaled out as quickly as I could so as not to be in the way of the truck’s wide turn. It all worked well. While the semi took the next stretch as quickly as humanly possible, we met again at the next light 500 feet later without alarm or craziness. I chuckled, the poor guy didn’t get ahead at all with all this. The rest of my ride continued without incident. 

Sunrise, sunset (commuter ride report)

It’s that magical time of year again, when I get to bike to and from work underneath the brilliant orange, red and purple that is the Seattle sunrise and sunset. How do I get to be so lucky that there is a sweet spot where I can see both in one day? I loved it when this happened in the fall, and hope this spring session treats me with clear skies so I can enjoy it while it lasts. What makes the Seattle skyline such a deep, dark purple? If there are any meteorologists out there, I am curious to know. I don’t remember seeing such dark purples anywhere else I’ve lived.

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 263 –Really! Look at that! Still over 100 more people than I’ve seen all winter!

Seattle riders are growing (commuter ride report)

I wanted to post an entry last Monday when the Fremont bike bridge counter soared up to 209. Up until that Monday, the variations in rider counts were mostly due to the time I’d cross the bridge. Days I’d cross over early, 7am or earlier, would be in the double-digits. Days I crossed late, you’d see the numbers higher. One day I was number 179 (not a blog day) and I wondered if I should also post the time I crossed the bridge to make my numbers more relevant. But, then, last Monday, I crossed at my usual time, and I was number 209. This seemed crazy. For months I was nearly always the same number at 7am, about one-thirty-something. And suddenly, the first Monday of February, the number of riders increased by 70! I haven’t seen a change that big since summer! I wondered if there was some secret code Seattle cyclists followed. How many cyclists decide to start riding in February? If an additional 70 made the decision just before 7am, just on this one bridge, the actual numbers seemed astronomical! And then there was today- 333!! I couldn’t believe it! The number has more than doubled! I guess cyclists like to ride in the light?! It’s not even light yet at that hour, but you can tell the sky is thinking about it, threatening to bring us daylight. Apparently that is all Seattle needs to get riding. I can’t wait to see how the numbers grow as the light continues to creep into the earlier moments of the morning!

Light, the light! (a commuter ride report)

Today I had the day off from work so I decided to ride my bike to the health club. As I pedaled home, something did not feel right at all. I pondered; was it my tires? No, they were well inflated. Was it because I rode without the load of breakfast, lunch, and a change of clothes in my panniers? No, that wasn't right. What made me feel so odd, so different? Why did the road and the cars all look so strange? Then, as I squinted in the overcast Seattle grey canopy- it hit me. This was the first day I've ridden my bike in the daylight in 4 full months! In fact, I have never ridden the route to my health club in the day light because I only joined a few months ago. No wonder everything looked so different! Hey, there's a lake over there! Looking forward to the oncoming spring and the return of the light!

Bike gadgets FTW

photo credit: http://www.monkeylectric.com

Last night a tall cyclist, I deemed him “fly white guy”, caught up to me at a traffic light. He commented on my colorful array of lights. I have 38 LED’s with my bike in 5 lights, so more than most. When I first starting riding I had nearly double that in LED’s, but I’ve upgraded in quality and lumens over the years so I am actually more visible with fewer lights. He still couldn’t figure out why my bike was strewn with cables and switches, so I showed him the air horn. I explained that it is useless any time you need it because you can‘t honk and brake at the same time. But then, as the light lingered red, I qualified that the horn was best for “green light texters”. He said that would be a good marketing slogan for PEMCO (local car insurance company); “Green light texter- you are not one of us.” I guess PEMCO’s current advertisements are based around a “We are a lot light you, you are one of us” campaign (great campaign for a local company). After that, we turned on separate roads only to meet up again at another light. We chatted again about the pros and cons of different side streets and then rode in silence for several blocks.

This morning “racing kit and backpack #53” (there are too many guys like this to tell them apart) gave me a thumbs-up as he passed me, hollering, “I like your lights! That’s awesome!” A few miles later “guitar case pannier” (how cool is that?!) passed me while hollering, “Great blue stars!” My monkey lights are in a star pattern at the moment. I’ve had them this way for months, and for some reason people are taking a notice now.

We are getting Rocky Mountain rains again. Except in the rocky mountains it only rains (or shall I say dumps) for 20 minutes or so, not the days on end we are seeing here. Potholes are springing up left and right on my route, and I wonder if the rain contributes to the road decay. Seattle certainly has a hard time keeping it’s roads in decent repair, it may be that the weather fights against it. This rain is uncharacteristic of the Northwest, however. Rains fall light here, we’ve grown to expect a constant dewy mist, the kind of thing that renders umbrellas useless. This rain breaks umbrellas!

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 143

Kali and the moon

photo credit: http://www.kalibhakti.com/

My morning got off to an unexpected start as my yoga instructor decided to channel the Hindu goddess Kali in class. She started out giving passionate, gory descriptions of a furious, fierce, blood-drinking woman wearing necklaces of skulls and a skirt of disembodied arms. The wakefulness and rapidity of the voice she used to describe the goddess didn’t fit with how I usually think of yoga; a quiet, meditative practice with candles and dark. All this everlasting hunger for blood and guts and digesting all the gory demons seemed more fitting for, perhaps, evening yoga. While most of my professional life included a large amount of blood and body fluids in some regard, I worried for any soft-stomached or vegetarian yogis who don’t often confront blood and flesh-tearing hunger stories. The ride into work followed the mythical morning. A misty, foggy nearly full (just 2 days after) moon illuminated the dark sky, making what is usually a black canopy around me a…brighter black canopy. My racing mind (and not so racing pedal feet) brought up visions of werewolves and all the hungry, hungry things we think up to scare each other with.

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 123

Registered for Bike MS Oregon

I am registered for Bike MS in Oregon! This is the ride of the year. This is what it is all about. I’ll be riding with Team Slug Fish again this year. Since I finished at $1820 last year, my goal for 2016 is to raise over $2000. I am pretty sure I can do it! Especially with the help of people like you! I also hope to ride a full 150 miles, in honor of how a started the ride 15 years ago; riding the "MS 150". I haven't actually ridden the full 150 miles in the last few years. With your support to motivate me, I think I can do it.

I have a whole page devoted to my ride and fundraising here. Check it out! 

Bike MS

Pedaling for my mother and everyone living with MS.

Running, pushing a wheelchair?

Data and technology to track said data drives my fitness goals as much as anything. I've toyed with the more automatic forms of electronic fitness trackers like phone pedometer apps. While not the most accurate, Google Fit won out for its style and simple interface.  

The advantage of Google Fit lies in its claim to automatically determine if you are walking, running, or riding a bike. No other app does this to my knowledge. It usually works pretty well, with the exception of missing any movements when I ride with my phone in my pannier.

Then things got wacky. I synced Google Fit with myfitnesspal, a food tracker. It seemed simple enough, and convenient to have the 2 pair. However, neither app imported the other's info with any accuracy. Google fit would seemingly randomly read calories, and myfitnesspal would import activities that in no way matched what Google Fit tracked. The funniest import was myfitnesspal translated a normal day (about 95 minutes of bike riding and some odd 40 minutes of walking) to "4 minutes of running, pushing a wheelchair". What is that? Do they have a division for pushing a stroller too? How did the app turn biking into running with a wheelchair? How would it even discern that? Does it consider the vast differences in effort between pushing an empty wheelchair and one with an average, or a heavyset person sitting in it? And lastly, who runs while pushing wheelchairs? Ahh! Questions abound! This hilarity of this recording actually encouraged me to stop syncing Google Fit and myfitnesspal, and I eventually stopped using myfitnesspal all together. 

Business, business

photo credit: www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2014/02/24/will-ferrell-lego-movie-man-upstairs/5770727/

Unlike yesterday’s reflective ride, today’s ride was all business. First I spent a long time draining, washing, hanging, and adjusting fans on every bike accessory last night to ensure I would have dry everything this morning. The sheen of the water on the black roads and twilight and first light make it difficult to see. The road become one giant reflective path making everything on it indistinct. I perfected every hand signal, every turn, every pace, making myself as visible as possible. My eyes scanned the horizon above me in rapid, mouse-like rotation, ensuring nothing missed my awareness. The potholes, filled with water made black puddles like little black holes dappled across the mirror that was the road. A flock of school children crossing the road appeared to be mere shiny pixels on the road-mirror. Today was all business, business. I often times these days identify with the Will Ferrell character in The Lego Movie, making what once was fun into work. I especially feel that way these days, comparing the feel and nature of bike commuting to the recreational riding of years past.

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 167

A wake honoring those before me

So much rain fell that my wheels made a wake in all the standing water. This morning’s city-sized puddle made for a new record of standing water I’ve seen in Seattle. Even on inclines I passed through enough water for my wheels to spray and ripple through like one giant puddle. For miles I could see a water line in the bike lanes as the curvature of the roads created edge puddles inches deeper than that in the middle. I pedaled along in joy, as the rain beaded up on my jacket and smothered my pants. Even though the drops pounded my face like little daggers falling from the heavens, for the most part it created the feeling of freedom, knowing I could penetrate the wet shield and move forward. It wasn’t until the 7th mile that I felt the cool water seep in through the tiny opening between shoe and pant leg at my ankle. I felt the wet trickle down my ankle to be absorbed by my fleece sock at the bottom of my foot. I felt the fleece sock slowly growing bigger, wetter, and more water logged. When the sock could take no more, I felt the water squish out from under the bottom of my feet with every down stroke. It was the same time that I felt water sneak in to the tiny gap between my gloves and the wrist of my jacket. I felt the water stream down my hand and pool into my palms. Braking distance multiplied by four even though the pressure of my hand squeeze doubled. Other than braking and that last soggy mile, I remained dry, warm, and comfortable the entire ride.

I waxed poetic at length, mesmerized by the wake around my front tire. I considered the alternate concept of wake; the morbid but celebratory vigil for the dead. I decided today’s wake would honor those ancestors who died and provided the fossil fuels to create all the things that made this ride in a downpour so pleasant. I felt so much gratitude for the plastic fender that kept the wake low. I reveled in amazement at how my Title 9 “ColdKiller” nylon/polyester/spandex pants and Pearl Izumi softshell and thinsulate gloves kept me dry and warm without leaving me hot and sweaty. I thanked the stars for my Showers Pass Artex rispstop  jacket that kept all water from touching my skin and somehow kept the sweat out too. I felt gratitude for my Salomon Gore-Tex shoes and Dana-made fleece socks keeping my feet cozy and dry most of the time. I thanked my Pearl Izumi fleece headband, plastic helmet, and plastic helmet cover for keeping my head dry, warm and safe. My lunch and workwear stayed dry thanks to my Ortlieb plastic and 3M Scotchlite panniers. With the exception of the aluminum frame of my bike, I was nearly entirely sounded in materials originated from fossil fuels.

With each ribbon of water I contemplated the circular nature of things. In some small way, the manufacture of each of these helpful items contributed to the global climate change that made today’s rain more like a Rocky Mountain rain than the Northwestern rain the earth here is accustomed to. It is the fact that I work for a living that requires me to purchase all these items, yet the expense of all these items is why I settle for a (higher-paying) job that requires such a commute in a major city. It all comes around. 

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 154

Unscathed!

Wednesdays have been bus days lately because I have an evening class in a neighborhood sketchy enough to make me want to avoid parking my bike outside. However, major construction started on the Aurora bridge this week. All north-to-downtown transit buses depend on this bridge and with it being shrunken down to one lane, I worry that commute time would double. Needless to say, Wednesday has become a bike day!

One of the potholes on my route vomited this morning. I dodge several potholes on Fremont Ave on the way to work. It’s a scary road for potholes because in the dark of night I cannot see them until my bike light illuminates them a mere few feet in front of my wheel. No street lights illuminate the little landmines. Also, the road is so steep that one could probably coast to 50 mph without using the brakes (I haven’t tried it, but I have gotten up in the high 30’s some early mornings by just braking a little). Lucky for me, I am so familiar with this road that I have every lump, bump, and pothole memorized. I could weave through the landmines in my sleep. However, today, it appears there was an attempt to fill one of the potholes as a spray of rubble poured out from the hole. It looked like the hole was filled, but someone forgot to seal the gravel or something. The little black pebbles sprayed out of the hole like broken glass on the road. Obviously, there is no hazard to my tires, but with the rain pouring down I could have slipped and slid all around. Luckily, I did not.

Closer in, I caught up to a tall gentleman riding with his bike rack seated behind his rear wheel at a 45-degree angle. I noted the rack wasn’t secured to the frame or seat post at all the way most racks are. It was only secured at the rear hub. He had 2 very full panniers strapped to it. While the rack wasn’t shaking, the precarious positioning of it made me want to stay clear of his trail!

Once again, I survived all threats to my commute and arrived to work unscathed!

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 158

2015 Year in review

2015 was a fantastic year for riding. I rode 2744 miles. I didn’t make my riding goal, but I did ride more than I did last year. I rode 1784 miles in 2014 and 3048 in 2013. I think with 2744 miles this year, making a goal for 3000 in 2016 sounds very reachable.

Miles aside, this was a great year. I rode in the Flying Wheels Century last May, and clocked in tons of miles during bike month in May. I did a few interesting rides around greater Seattle and got to see some paths I’ve never been on before. I rode all the way to Port Angeles via ferry for an overnight adventure. I rode my first Bike MS with Team SlugFish and raised more money for MS than I ever raised before. I rode in my first ever week long bike tour, Cycle Oregon. It proved to be an epic year for the ride, but a wonderful time for me.

Chilly Hilly

In celebration of the first year I've had Sundays off work, I am going to ride the Chilly Hilly this year in Seattle. This ride, sponsored by Cascade Bicycle Club (aren't they all?) takes place on the last Sunday in February (the 28th this year) and tours Bainbridge Island. 

While it wasn't an option for me to do this ride before without using a precious vacation day, I never really wanted to. Major Cascade rides have a tendency to be over-attended and under-fun. However, last year's Flying Wheels Century was so much fun that my views are changing a bit. I expect this one to be a blast.

Of note, the Cascade website states that this ride tends to be 25% female and 75% male. I have seen more female riders in Washington than any other state I've ridden in, so I find this statistic a little startling. As a female, I feel obligated to represent..and try to figure out why it is so unbalanced.

On a side note, the website also claimed Bicycling Magazine named the Chilly Hilly "One of Four Classic Rides in the Nation." This is a pretty impressive label, and, being a fan of Bicycling magazine, I followed the link. Sadly, the link took me to a landing page of click-bait, albeit bicycling-themed, not unlike the worst of the worst website out there. First I saw an article about Justin Beiber "nearly causing a whole cycling team to crash", when I fell for the click bait I read that it was merely a photo op for the team. Really, Bicycling? This is what you have reduced yourself to? To make it worse, on the bottom of the page were tons of links that I have to assume were sponsored ads and not things actually reviewed and approved by the magazine. First was an article about how women over 35 are bound to gain fat around their waists more than any other group of people, and how most exercises (including cardio!) will only make it worse for these doomed old women. Next to that was an article of nothing more than provocative photographs of healthy and fit women advertised for no other reason than being "hot/beautiful/sexy." There is nothing the media won't stop at trying to exploit women for their physical features. Bicycling, I was just starting to respect you as a magazine that strove to serve cyclists. Now, your website takes me back to your image of instead serving "men who like to bike." Do you see the difference there? But I digress.  

Back to the subject at hand, I am excited to ride in the Chilly Hilly! I'm excited to be a part of the 25% gender bracket and pull through those climbs and brave the temperatures. Maybe I'll be sexy while I'm doing, maybe I won't. I'll leave that up for the media to squabble over.

Emerald City Bike Ride

On April 3rd Cascade Bicycle Club is hosting the first-ever Emerald City Bike Ride. It boasts the first-ever ability for cyclists to cross the SR520 bridge and the I5 Express Lanes here in Seattle. Honestly, the ride sounds kind of terrible. The 20-mile urban bridge ride reminds me of the Portland Bridge Pedal. I rode the Bridge Pedal several times, with each year getting worse that the last. You simply can't fit 15,000 cyclists on Portland's streets. The last year I rode it I started later in the morning at peak ride time. I don't think both feet left the ground once. I had to keep stopping and balancing on my bike to avoid swerving kids and overly congested riders being pushed in my way. On top of that, I can't really support an event that closes down Seattle's major traffic ways. Sure, I love biking. The advertisements for this event say:

"Ever imagine biking through a car-free Seattle? You’ll have your chance in 2016! "

The problem is, Seattle isn't a car-free place. And Seattle seems more than willing to shut down major highways willy-nilly at the expense of it's thousands of commuters who depend on the roads to get around. Sure, the sports event closures only happen on Sundays, but there are still plenty of people who work on Sundays. A part of me feels like the city's eagerness to close down its roads is a form of wage discrimination. Closing roads discriminates those who can't afford to live close in. The farther you live away from downtown the lower the rent and the more people depend on roads to get to where they need to go. Also, people at lower incomes are more likely to work on weekends and less likely to have the option to telecommute. 

I just couldn't say no. This is the first time there is a ride like this in Seattle. I feel like its a part of history, and I am so excited to have the opportunity to be a part of it. I may never do a thing like this again. Also, I have never intentionally ridden across the 520 bridge. This toll bridge costs $4 to cross, and me being the cheapskate that I am would rather drive an extra hour than pay that amount. Sadly, I have found myself accidentally driving across the bridge those few times I got lost and disoriented downtown and next thing I know, there I am DRIVING ACROSS TOWN ON AN EXPENSIVE BRIDGE WITH NO WAY TO TURN BACK! So, I'm kind of excited to explore this area by bike. I imagine riding the express lanes on the freeway (which are shouldered on both sides by actual freeway) will be louder than all damnation, but it will be an epic experience I will remember and think about every time I go on the freeway afterward. 

I plan to mount the go pro on my bike or helmet to capture the experience on video. The views one gets on a bike are so incredibly different than in a car it's worth capturing. Check back in April for a full report!

Super clean bike

This week I had a flat that I kept not finding time to repair. Each day I went to bed without fixing the flat was another day I didn’t ride. To my rescue, a certain special someone took it upon themselves to fix my flat and then clean my bike while they were at it. What a treat! Every nook and cranny was scrubbed and shined, from the rubber on my tires to the cranks to the fenders! Even my saddle got a conditioning (Whee!) I think the bike looks better than it did when it was new!

The only odd thing about my ride this morning was that I hit 4 red lights on 5th avenue. Since I usually hit one, this was a little alarming.

Fremont Bridge Bike Counter: 168