Raleighdon's first "DimSum" ride of the season:
We had a late start since lunch was involved, we started at 10 from Gasworks, and it was almost 10 degrees colder than I expected and rainy. If I had any way of getting OUT of that ride I would have.
We got on the bike and the unpleasant feeling of being smacked by really cold rain kept reminding me of why I didn't want to be on the back of the tandem.
We rode along on the wet sloppy streets, with me as uptight as I could be, and finally Raleighdon started complaining about my jitteryness.
Of course, that didn't help. What did help is that the rain quit and we got into the rhythm of things. We were surrounded by gorgeous blooming cherries and plums and millions of flowers in everyone's yards, as well as Magnolias and even the Maple trees were beautiful. There were also some of the scented Clematis Alba, Seattle is just gorgeous this time of year.
At Seward Park, knowing the restaurant was near, I was feeling better; and I was clipping in and out slightly more often than Raleighdon was; but only missed his cue and unclipped late once, which is not a big deal on a tandem.
We went to a Mexican restaurant in Rainier beach instead of the DimSum restaurant (don't ask me why) It was only 11:15am when we got there, but we ate anyway, the food is excellent there (Maia's.)
As we were eating in the restaurant an amazing thing happened. The sun came out!! I would finally be warm!
We then crossed over to Beacon Hill and took the new Chief Sealth trail, it is nearly finished and no one except Raleighdon and I even knew it existed (our neighborhood). We left Beacon Hill by taking HOLGATE, which really terrified me, but thankfully, Raleighdon kept the speed down, I guess we never went faster than 32mph...Phew! from there we rode trhough the International district and through the waterfront (you want to talk about a traffic mess!?!?)
NExt we went through Myrtle Edwards park, where we discovered that due to sewer problems, the trusty restrooms were closed so I had to use a very over used portapotty.
We then rode up to Ballard, and had to cross the locks (on foot) and finished up at Gasworks park in the sun at 2pm.
31 miles.