A week and a half ago, I was scheduled to do a fun ride on Mt Rainier with my husband and a friend--but woke up with a cold instead, and spent the day in bed I was really disappointed to miss the ride for training reasons, and because it's just a beautiful ride.

Between various commitments, today was the only time in a several week span that I could do it, as long as I got up early enough and didn't dilly-dally so that I could get back home in time to head to work in the afternoon... So painful as it was, I jumped out of bed at 5:45 and hit the road soon after. (I am NOT a morning person!)

The route I did starts at the Crystal Mountain turnoff, then enters Mt Rainier National Park to go up to the Sunrise Visitor Center (highest paved road in Washington State!), comes back down the mountain, then turns to go up to Cayuse Pass, continuing on to Chinook Pass, and then 13 miles of descending back to the car, with a respectable 55 miles and 5,500-6,000' of elevation, depending on who's counting. It's challenging--hardly a flat moment--but also stunningly beautiful, and the weather today was perfect for it--views for days.

I had a great time on the ride--no pictures, because I was trying not to stop (15 minutes to buy and eat food at Sunrise was my only time off the bike)--so you'll have to take my word for it that the wildflowers on the mountain were riotously beautiful. The range of colors and shapes was constantly engaging, as well as the contrast with the dark evergreen trees behind. On the last bits of the climb up to Sunrise, you're facing directly towards the summit of Mt Rainier, and it's just HUGE. Even from Seattle, it can dominate the landscape--up close, it's incredibly awe-inspiring.

I had a little more excitement than I wanted partway up to Sunrise. About 50 feet up the road, a bear emerged from the trees and started casually crossing the road. I immediately stopped and waited. And sure enough, a couple bear cubs soon followed. They lingered a bit, eventually crossed, then hung out on the side of the road for a while before heading up the hillside. The cubs were so cute--but that was way closer than I ever needed to be to a momma bear and her cubs!!!! Had I kept biking instead of stopping, I likely would have been directly between her and the cubs when they got to the road. Yikes!

And now... Now my legs are tired. We're doing a road trip this weekend, and sitting in the car for a long time suddenly sounds really really nice. Sitting anywhere sounds really really nice.

But I'm glad I made myself get up and go--it's a great ride, and was so worth it!