P12 - 6th 100 k ride this year 6 to go!

[Biciclista]

This past month I have not felt well. Between a cold that knocked me out for a week and a frozen shoulder, I have felt, well, under the weather. Not sleeping well, that's for sure. But of course life goes on, and I had to do my 100 k ride for June. 100k=62.5 miles, right?
So when one of the ladies that I know that is also pursuing a P12 sent out an email, i thought, wow, great, perfect weather, let's do it. I blithely ignored the fact that it went through some hilly areas and was 120 Km, hoping that it wouldn't matter. I got my husband involved as well, I suggested we take the tandem since we are doing a big ride in 2 weeks.
It was a new route, that means it hasn't been ridden by anyone except the author of it before. That sounded kind of neat at first.. but then as we continued to find ourselves on roads no one really likes to ride on (like hwy 99 in seatac!!!) and making left turns onto other busy streets we became less and less impressed with the ride. At about the halfway point, this particular ride became VERY hilly after being mostly flat. We had to get over Burien hill. I found myself feeling shaky and nauseous but we pushed on.
When we found ourselves at mile 70 something in our own backyard, we were dismayed to find that the ride author didn't go along the lake (completely flat) but went up yet another hill to avoid the road with a bike lane!
For the most part, people in cars were incredibly kind and patient, how about that! And finally we found ourselves turning into the supermarket parking lot where we started. We had ridden 79 miles or 129 kilometers and are totally beat..
only 6 more to go. I will pick a shorter one for next month!

[maillotpois]

Great job - halfway there!!!

[Biciclista]

the wildest part of the ride was when we came upon our second for the day traffic accident. The police had blocked off the road we wanted to take, there was the crashed car and 6 feet away from it was a barbeque. We went between the car and the barbeque and a cop walked up to us and said "REALLY?" and we just kept on going!!!

[maillotpois]

Fearless RD. No police barricade is stopping him!

(PS remind him we are all waiting for his 600k ride report - though at least he has a good excuse for being late....)

[Biciclista]

he's working on it. over 12 pages so far!!

[Biciclista]

the scene of the accident

[HillSlugger]

Congrats on toughing out your ride!

Was the grill involved in the accident?

[Biciclista]

that is part of the mystery. by the way we were in a posse of 9 cyclists, 5 women, 4 men, a statistical oddity in the world of Randonneuring. We wanted to ask the cop that very thing but he was busy saying "REALLY"

[Susan126]

What a ride you had yesterday! I'm happy that you toughed it out and finished Mimi! Congratulations on number 6! I may start over in July. I was thinking of waiting until the fall but I've been feeling much better and the FW ride on Saturday gave me a positive feeling that I am on my way back.

What route was this again so I know not to do it. I hate hwy 99 especially the Seatac area! I love the back roads and quiet scenic lanes!

[Biciclista]

It's 1132. More than one person said they'd never do it again. Donald said it over and over and over.
It seems to me that anyone familiar with the area would have made different choices and god help someone who had never ridden there. Crossing from the HOV lane to Des Moines Way on 99 is not for the timid, let me tell ya.

PS I look forward to riding with you again, and so does Teri.

[Tri Girl]

Congrats on #6! Sorry the ride wasn't quite what you were hoping for. The grill at the scene of the accident cracks me up. I really wonder how it's involved.
Congrats on toughing out your 129K. There's almost nothing worse than doing a ride that's longer than it should be. You're a stud, tho, that's for sure!

[redrhodie]

Over the hump, halfway there! Hope the rest are better routes.

I bet that cop is blogging about you somewhere in cyberspace right now. and then these crazy cyclists rode between the grill and the accident. Now I've seen everything.

[Susan126]

Mimi I look forward to riding with you again and Teri too!

July is filling up and my best times will be the beginning and end of the month. The middle is crazy full!

[Biciclista]

we're thinking around the 4th of July.

[Susan126]

July 2nd or 3rd? Let me know! I will be off for the summer as of June 22nd!