82 Mile Loop: Seattle -> Snohomish -> Sultan -> Seattle

At 8:30 am, I pulled into Magnuson Park just off Sand Point Way in Seattle just north of the University of Washington (go Dawgs, woof, woof). Today's ride was going to be a total of 82 miles and the route had us heading northeast up to Snohomish, then east to Sultan, and then southwest back to Seattle. Thankfully, after a week of predicting rain for today's ride, it looked like the rain was going to hold off. But, it was freezing! I think it was 52 when we pulled out of the lot and peaked at 59 today (it's pleasantly warm on other days when I'm not riding....grrr). While in San Francisco, I used to complain about how hot the rides started to get this time of the year and I would push our start times out earlier and earlier (i.e., the rides that were outside of San Francisco and away from that awful fog). Now, it's the complete opposite - it's always cold on the days I want to do long distances and I want to start my rides later and later on in the day when it's had a chance to warm up. Sigh....always gotta complain about something. My legs were feeling a little tired after my hike up Mount Si yesterday and the cold weather was making me grumpy. So, I decided to ride with the group that was a slower pace than my usual. And, not only was it my longest ride so far, but also the hilliest. I gathered with that group and watched my faster paced group head out. Just when they were out of sight, the ride leader for our group said that it was probably going to take us 7 hours to complete the 82 miles. WHAT?!?! I finish 100 miles in 6 hours....7 hours on my bike today? Grr.... By then it was too late to try and catch up with the others. Well, I thought to myself, this will be a good benchmark ride to see how I'm doing on my bike and to determine the pace I should maintain for the Flying Wheels Century in a couple of weeks.

So, off we went into the arctic blast...ok, being overdramatic again, but I changed my gears and pedaled at a high cadence to warm myself up as fast as possible. It wasn't too long before we hit our first hill....a low grade but it was long. I lost count of the number of hills we climbed, but we basically had to ride up over some hills from Woodinville to Snohomish and then descend into Snoqualmie Valley, and then back over the hills to Seattle. There were a lot and with each hill, my legs felt stronger as my body warmed up. Soon, I was regretting riding with the slow group because they were sloooow going up the hills and then we would always have to regroup at the top because our group (which was probably up to 35-40 people?) would get so spread out. Sigh...a lot of hurry up and wait. On one of the hills, I finally had to blow by the ride leader promising that I would stop at the top of the hill and wait for them - I hate going up hills slow....just hammer and get it over with. As I cranked, I looked behind me and I got me some chasers....woot, the ride was on! At the stop, someone asked if I was a racer. After I got done laughing hysterically and wiping the tears from my eyes, I explained how I usually ride with the next group up but not really feeling 100% today. From that point on, I was referred to as a 'ringer.' (Now, why can't I get that nickname when I'm playing hockey?) Actually, there were a few 'ringers' on that ride so we hammered on the hills and chased each other to make it interesting.

This was a day of calamaties. First, minor....at our stops, we had a lot of people falling over on their bikes because they can't clip out of their pedals in time. Ha! That's something I usually do...in fact, my bike mechanic asked why my right hand brakes were angled in and I said it was because I always seem to fall on my right side which is the side I tend to stay clipped in at full stops. He thought it was because I had wrist issues....no, just brain issues....i.e., my brain just turns off when I'm at a full stop.

But, we also had 2 bikers go down. One headed back on his own (it was early on in the ride - maybe 15 miles out?) and his injuries minor, though, he was unnerved enough to know that he didn't want to do the full ride. The other was crazy scary. We were starting to descend on a steep curvy road where I could see us maxing at 40+ mph. About 7 riders in front of me, I see a woman go crashing to the pavement. She tumbled 3-4 times head over heels and her bike finally released and went crashing into the oncoming lane and she finally rolled to a stop in the middle of the road. It could've been worse. Luckily, there was no oncoming traffic or any cars trying to pass us. And, we just started our descent so there was enough time to maneuver around her and stop in time. We had a couple of doctors on the ride so they quickly came over and checked her over. Given the severity of her crash, I thought she looked ok - abrasions on her chin and fingers, and, most importantly, she was conscious. But, she probably broke her collarbone. Her helmet saved her life....to all my friends that cycle....*please* wear your helmets at all times no matter how short your ride is or how familiar you are with the roads or trails. Gloves are also good not only for the padding for the comfort, but it will help prevent or minimize scrapes and cuts on your palms when you use them to break your fall. We think that she slammed on her front brakes on the descent and lost control of her bike.

Needless to say, that accident left the rest of us a little shaken up, and our ride through the valley was quiet and subdued. And, we had strong headwind (wait, there's *always* a headwind whenever one is riding in a valley, no matter what direction your heading). We didn't do a paceline through the valley because there were too many people, so kudos to the ride leader who pulled us those 20 miles.

But, the mood lifted as we talked about some of the hills we had to ride to get back to the starting point - including one that was a 14% grade. Thankfully, it was really short and then the rest of the climb was less than 6%. We got to the top and it wasn't that bad but it was hard enough to make it real gratifying when you reached the top. Then, we had one more steep descent to go. I went down it way too tentatively and could feel my rear lift off my seat. But, we all made it down safely. We got back to our starting point at 5:30 - that's 8.5 hours after we started. Too many stops, and the accidents slowed us down a lot. All I could think of the last 15 miles was getting off my bike...I was D-U-N, dun. But, it felt great to finish and now I know that I'll be fine for my upcoming century. I also asked a lot of people about their rides after they switched from a triple chainring to a compact double and they all love it. So, I'm looking forward to getting mine replaced tomorrow and taking it out for a spin later this week. And, to the riders who went down today, I wish you a speedy recovery and I hope to see you on your wheels soon.