The Pacific Northwest finally got a dose of spring this past weekend! Whee! That meant it was time for some serious time in the saddle. And, I no longer have ice hockey games on Friday and Saturday night so I can hammer on my rides. Friday, I rode an easy 30+-miler from my home (note to self - must get new cycle computer...ugh). I rode north along Lake Sammamish, through Marymoor Park, and then got on the Sammamish River Trail up to Lake Forest Park which is the northernmost part of Lake Washington. It was time to turn around when Julie called to find out what time happy hour was (LOL). It was a good out-and-back, though, a relatively flat ride (except for the hill back up to my place). Didn't matter - I knew that my ride on Saturday was going to be harder.
Saturday morning, I joined up with the Cascade Cycling Club for their weekly series of rides designed to prep for multi-day bike rides like the STP (Seattle-to-Portland) and the RSVP (Ride from Seattle to Vancouver and Party) with each ride a little bit longer than the last. I missed the first 3 rides because of snow and hockey tournaments so I joined up on the 4th weekly ride that was going to be 55 miles. This was my first ride this year that was going to be longer than 40 miles so I wasn't sure how I was going to feel. And, I also signed up for the group with the fastest pace (we were going to average 16-18 mph) so I was nervous about keeping up - I *hate* being last. I showed up at 9:00 am at the meeting spot and it's a good thing they broke us up into smaller groups. There were easily 150 people and maybe 50 people in our pace group alone. That is why I named this blog 'Critical Mass' - it reminded me of the last Friday of the month bike rides in SF that would clog up the traffic in the city after work. Actually, we were the antithesis of a critical mass because we had ride leaders and it was organized but we managed to clog up a few of the tighter streets down by the lake, nonetheless.
I had fun despite the ride being in the middle of this crazy urban jungle (thankfully, Seattle is a very bike-friendly town). We rode around Lake Washington with enough hills in the last 20 miles for some billy-goating . Today, it felt easy passing people on the hills....but there were a couple of people who would blast by me on the flats and I'm thinking..."why do you do that when I'm just going to pass your ass again on the next hill" which I did and finally left them behind after the third consecutive hill. I know, it's supposed to be a laid-back ride, but I can't help it :-) Besides, I needed something to occupy my brain for the last hour of our ride. I like to hammer on the hills because I just want to get the pain over and done with quickly! Why gear down (or is it up...I always forget) and drag it out? By the end of our ride, the temperature was up to 75....an absolutely beautiful day for a ride. I finished 56 miles in just under 4 hours and I felt great afterwards. I would've preferred to be away from the city enjoying some mountain and water views....but another time - there's a whole season to look forward to. Instead, I settled for great views of Lake Washington, Mount Rainier to the south, the Cascades to the east, the Olympics to the west, and Mount Adams to the north - not too bad in this urban jungle.
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