New (and Clueless) in Seattle...

[teigyr]

Oh please oh please oh please???

Remember that ride offer! I'm off sun-tues and am always up for whatever distance someone wants to do.

Have FUN! And do you have a name for her yet?

[dex]

Heh. I was planning on pictures tomorrow when the sun is out (because my apartment is, um, well...a disaster area, really). Maybe I'll try to snap a couple tonight, just to see how they come out...

And yeah, I'm a perpetual namer of things, so I knew she would be getting a name as soon as she was mine. Her name is Lola. (Feel free to sing...I won't be offended.)

I'm so excited (and a little bit nervous). Provided I don't hurt myself tomorrow, y'all can probably count on me piping up for a ride pretty soon.

Yay!

ETA: Ok, I tried to snap a picture. Don't mind the dirty floors. I'm just a horrible housekeeper..I can't even tell you the last time I swept the floor. We won't talk about the dust on the shelves around my place.

[sgtiger]

Dex, welcome to Seattle! Welcome to TE! Both Anabelle and Lola are very pretty girls.

I also signed up for the STP even though before this year I haven't biked very much at all. I'm excited and a little apprehensive about taking on such a big (for me) endeavor. I try to take it day by day, and increase my distance a bit every week. And I doubt you could be slower than me. I'm averaging 9 mph right now and I don't even have very many truly steep hills around here.

[KnottedYet]

OOOOOH! Pretty bike!

Hey, the Tulilp Pedal is next weekend. (link is in the NW fforum, and I'm too lazy to go get it) Lets go!

[HipGnosis6]

Welcome to Seattle.... no need to worry about holding me up, either. I haven't ridden in months and months, and my bike's starting to look pretty inviting as the weather gets better. I like to ride Myrtle-Edwards park and then go out to the bluff and get some lunch at Maggie's (which totally offsets the value of getting a little exercise, but that's OK) and if you'd like to make that relatively short and totally flat ride with me some time, just give a holler.

[dex]

I did it. And I didn't hurt myself. Granted, I only went about ten miles, but the important thing is this: I didn't hurt myself.

(I am far from a picture of grace and coordination, and am constantly bumping into things and yelping with surprise/pain, so this was a real concern...my co-workers have been teasing me all week about starting a betting pool to see how many scrapes and bruises I'll end up with by Monday morning when I return to the office.)

I'm going to need some more practice getting in and out of those pedals, though. That was much with the awkward.

Off to check on this Tulip Pedal thing. Now that I'm over the initial trepidation, I think I may be up to that.

[dex]

Just poking my head back in here to say that today I managed my longest ride so far. Fifty miles. Yay, me! I actually only meant to do thirty, but the weather was so nice, I was having fun, and I felt so good that I decided to go longer. I'll probably be a little sore in the legs tomorrow, but I think it was totally worth it.

I started on the Burke-Gilman from Gasworks, then the Sammamish River Trail out to Redmond Town Center...where I turned around and went back to my car waiting for me at the Gasworks parking lot.

I guess I have to start tackling hills next. They scare me, not as much because of the effort (I know they'll get easier over time), but because I'm not very good at shifting. I have some kind of brain block there that I haven't managed to work through yet.

Anyway, just babbling now...