Cycle the Wave

[sookiesue]

Urinal, schmurinal. This is what you see in a portapotty on an all-women's ride:



(I can't figure out how to rotate the photo right-side-up)

What a great ride! The weekend leading up to the ride ended up crazy for me and I didn't get back online until this morning, so missed the chance to connect with other TE riders. But I had a great time riding solo anyway....although everyone was so friendly and there were so many riders that I hardly ever really felt like I was riding alone.

I did the 59 mile ride, called the "Burly Girl." The first 15 miles or so were rather wet - not quite raining but wetter than a heavy fog. After that it dried up and the sun even came out a bit! There was the threat of thunderstorms that day so I rode faster than I usually would, in an effort to finish before the sky really opened up.

There were tons of ladies in great outfits - wigs and tutus and wacky socks and flowers...great fun to see everyone's creativity. At the first rest stop was a woman giving out flowers to attach to your helmet or bike, and so all along the rest of the ride there'd be an occasional flower on the ground that had fallen off of someone. It was like a breadcrumb trail! As long as you'd see a carnation on the ground now and again you knew you were still on the right route.

Add in the cheerleaders (actual cheerleaders, in outfits with pompoms and everything!) at the starting line, the marching band, and the live music and food and booths at the end, and it was an amazing day.

I'm hoping to get a group together to do the ride again next year, and hopefully connect with some TE ladies as well!

S

[salsabike]

It IS a great ride. I've done it every year since the start. I am so proud of the Cycle the Wave organizers for developing and supporting such a great ride. This year they had over 1000 riders, lots of them new, a bunch of beginners, mom-daughter teams, you name it.

And as usual, because I am easily amused, I would like to add a couple of photos of what you see when you sit in one of their portapotties.

[AppleTree]

I love the pictures. Those are the little things that make this ride so fun. I even got a tattoo at the finish line festival. My DH said "that's just a temporary tattoo, right??"... I just smiled.

We were SO LUCKY with the weather. I was almost to the first rest stop and decided it was so wet, I was going to call it quits when I got back to the high school, but by the time I got there it was clearing up. I also heard the thunder, and that was worrisome.

I was on the last hilly loop of the Middle Sister and taking a break about halfway up one of those long hills. One of the helper guys must have thought I looked pretty forlorn, he stopped and said he would PUSH me up that last little bit... well.... why not?? I've never had anyone do that for me before, and that guy was strong too, pushing a chunky middle aged lady up a hill... after that it was more or less downhill to the finish line. Such a good deed, ha ha.

I love that the finish line is so oriented to women, lots of fun stuff. Food was good. Got a kick out of the ladies that were doing the spin class thing. I also bought a cute little book by a local Seattle lady, called "Pedal, Stretch, Breath - The Yoga of Bicycling", by Kelli Refer. I'm just a little ways into it, but it is about incorporating yoga moves ON your bicycle.

Can't wait to do it all again next year.

[rebeccaC]

Sounds like wonderful fun with a lot of thought put into the small things that make you smile….AND all for a great cause!!!!!! I've been in the PNW a couple of times this year for great rides. If I wasn't so addicted to year round sunshine and good weather I'd move

Appletree, Kelli Refer’s book really is a gem!!!

Hoping Sharon (azfiddle) reads and gets some inspiration from this thread.

[TrekDianna]

I did this ride last year and had a lot of fun. This year it was the day after Cycle Oregon ended and there was no way I was going to be able to do it. I'm still recovering even though I did a short 15 miler on Sunday and commuted 13 today.