This is our last ride before the 2013 one-day STP. We gathered up at Marymoor Park – a rather small crew, but enough to do some pacelining. Peng started out at a pretty fast clip, right up at 20 out of the park and onto the trail. He missed one turn, then the next – I figured he was pretty enthusiastic or maybe he needed to get home right away. I took up the lead next. I tried to keep it at around 18-20 trying to dodge the walkers, runners, and other cyclists. Eric Y. reminded me to rotate out, so I did and Eric lead up to the join to Woodinville. Then Peng lead again through the heavily wooded area, dodging the ducks/geese and going around the tight turn after the bridge. Shortly after that we were on the B-G (Burke-Gilman trail). Here’s a fun fact: Did you know the G in the B-G is the same G in Gilman Blvd in Issaquah? We then kept up a pretty fast pace on the B-G to Log Boom Park where we stopped for water. We took a few minutes and got back on the B-G. Our next stop was the Metropolitan Market near Sandpoint, where we took a bio-break. About 15min. later we were back on the B-G. We did some rotations and made our way toward Lake Washington Blvd negotiating our way through the notorious switchback in Lakeview Park. We made our way along the lake. I didn’t see my speed drop below 18. We made a short stop at Seward Park. While Chao waited, Phillip and I got our water and Eric and Peng hit the hill. Phillip said he’d sit behind me up the climb. These little hills are short but steep, but after that it was mostly downhill to Rainier Ave. Peng got us up to a nice 22mph pace to the airport. Our next stop was at Coulon park where we got more water saw a bunch of Cascade riders and then headed up the trail along Lake Washington. I hadn’t been on this trail for quite a while – in fact, I think it was my first time this year. Chao led us along until the short climb to exit 9 where Peng led off, but Eric followed up. I chased Eric up the climb – so Eric is a good descender and he’s a fast climber! We cruised along until the short little hill near Factoria where Phillip took off. We caught him at the light but then he took off again up Honda hill. I chased after him, but he’s got “young legs” and I’ve got these “old-fart” legs. I got to within about 25 yards of him and that’s as close as I could get. We rode onto 161st and somewhere in that neighborhood Peng dropped off to his house. Shortly after that my chain fell off the big ring – it really disrupts the rhythm! I finally caught up to the guys, but by that time Phillip had gone home and Chao was turning off too. Eric and I made our way back to Marymoor following the “green arrows.” My final stats show we did about 57 miles in 3:22 riding time. ‘Sorry – no pictures, it went pretty fast!
Pretty fast for me, but it was great weather and good paceline practice. We started at around 8:15am and finished around 12noon.
Jul 06 2013