Sunday, sept 13th rides

no ride thread?
DH & I got on our bikes and rode from Seattle to Tacoma. We rode the tail wind all the way to Puyalllup on the FLAT FLAT interurban trail and then west valley highway. We then cut through Fife along the river and magically appeared in Tacoma. We rode over these great bridges and ended up at the glass museum. After we were finished being tourists; we hopped on a bus (2 blocks from the museum) and were back in Seattle in 30 minutes. I took a little nap on the bus :p
and we used our bus transfers to ride the light rail to our neighborhood (cut 2 miles off the ride home :D:D ) where we went to the library and shopped for dinner. 46.5 miles total, we had a screaming average of about 15mph until the winds shifted in Puyallup.

I was waiting for someone else to start the thread! :D

I went to Mercer Island and did the big loop there. The weather was perfect, and the rolling hills were just what I wanted. My route guide says it's about 16 miles but my odometer came in a little under that, probably because I missed the turnoff to the beach.

Mercer Island loop? It's a great ride, and yes, can be less than that depending on which streets you take.

Rode to the North Shore of Long Island with dh and a friend, a route our bike club rides. Stopped at a bakery that the club stops at and got something to eat for the first time. I had a danish that had to be the most delicous danish. This was a nice 30 mile route with a couple of hills thrown in to make for a ride with some challenge.

~ JoAnn

Met up with the MeetUp group for a bike ride to Lyden, WA. Map of the route can be found here: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path...n-to-Lynden-WA

We met up at the Peach Arch Parking lot around 9:30am. There were 20 of us in total. From there, we bike all the way along 0 avenue to Aldergrove. That's an AWESOME ride. It was quiet, not a lot of traffic at all. Once we cross the border at Aldergrove, there was more traffic but it was still relatively quiet. The group stopped at Nuthouse Grill but we (another friend, DH and I) went to a Mexican restaurant next door since we didn't want to leave our bikes unattended. Food was average but Daniel really liked his burrito. The beef was very tender.

The ride itself was relatively easy. There weren't a lot of hills. And with our road bikes, we managed to go really fast downhill to build up momentum for the uphill part along 0 ave. Fastest I got was 59km/hr before my bike felt squirrely. DH thinks I should hold on to my frame with my thighs next time. It could be my riding style or the shorter stem. Don't know.

I broke out of my comfort zone a bit and rode around the other end of campus. This included making it up my nemesis hill. It's not terribly steep, but it's long and the pavement is terrible. I made it up, huffing and puffing and averaging about 7 miles per hour. DBF was waiting at the stop sign at the top. He grinned at me and said "Well, I see you're still alive." Then he said "Nice job." I gave him a "huh?" look, as I was too busy emptying my water bottle to talk. Then he pointed out that I was still in the big chain ring. No wonder! I also made it back down the hill, which had freaked me out more because the pavement is even worse (if possible), except for a line in the middle of the lane. I rode my brake most of the way down, but I made it. I cut it short to five miles because I ran out of water, but next time, I'm making it a longer ride and taking another bottle with me. :D

I rode with 5 guys on Sunday. We met in Parkland near Pacific Lutheran University and cycled through Fort Lewis to Yelm where we stopped at this wonderful Mexican restaurant and had a delicious lunch! After we finished eating we headed back to Parkland. 55 miles on a sunny, warm, and beautiful day! Cruising along between 19 - 24 mph on the flats in a head wind.

After last week's fiasco (my first major bonk on a ride) I was somewhat gun shy, so on Sunday I only did a little over 16.5 miles on some pretty level terrain. It was VERY windy!!! And threatening to rain the whole time, but thankfully I only encountered a little drizzle here and there. All in all it was a very pleasant ride and helped to erase the unpleasant memories of last week. :cool:

Did the Assault on Sugarloaf this weekend in Clermont, Florida. This is the closest we can get to "mountains" in Florida. I really enjoyed the 60 mile ride despite the rain. Guess I'm hooked now and will have to sign up for the Horrible Hundred in December.

Well, we had about an hour to ride. So... after inviting our son over, who has been commuting/riding for about a month, we decided to take him on an 11 mile hill ride.
We have created a monster.
He stayed right behind my DH going up Strawberry Hill, on his mountain bike, with sneakers and flat pedals. I was barely keeping up.
He dropped us both going up Annursnac Hill (our street, which SheFly calls anneurysm hill), as we were tired. His average was 14.7. Well, I guess the fact that he is 29 years younger than me counts.
It was really fun and we look forward to more riding with him. He was eyeing younger son's classic Serotta hanging up in the shed.