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wickedwordsRide Length: 26 miles (approximately)
Elevation: 1900 ft, according to bikely
Where: West Lake Samammish Parkway around to East Lake Samammish Parkway
Start Time: About 11:00 am
How long: 2.5 by guesstimate, 11 mph avg speed including a short stop.
Calorie guesstimate: 1200
My second outdoor ride of the year, and another chilly one. As it wasn't actually raining today and the sun shown some, I thought it was a good day to hit the road and try some rolling hills.
I picked the loop around Lake Samammish, the one that starts at Marymoor Park, heads around West Lake Samammish Parkway (in the direction that has a bike lake), around the bottom of the lake and Lake Samammish State Park, then up around East Lake Samammish Parkway and back to Marymoor again. It was a beautiful ride, if a bit chilly--mid 40s all day--and the lake sparkled in the cloudy light.
If you've never biked it, West Lake Samm is actually a horrid road to ride on. There's a bike lane in one direction only, and it's usually got a lot of junk in it from construction and whatever the latest storm has brought down from the tress, plus there's a lot of traffic. There are a few hills, nothing too tough though; I think the worst of them tops out at 250 feet. Still, if you're willing to pay attention to the road as well as the scenery, it is a gorgeous ride from Marymoor down to Vasa Park. At that point, you climb the big hill on the route, the 250 ft one, which ends with you doing a left hand turn at a roundabout. I was going to stop at the roundabout as some other cyclists had done, but damn it, I forgot I couldn't just put my foot down when I was read to stop. So I proceeded into the center of the roundabout and just hoped that the truck following me to the entrance behaved appropriately.
Which is what happened. The driver didn't do anything weird, and I didn't do anything weird, so I was able to make my left just fine. While I finished my climb, the guys that had stopped passed me, and headed down to the state park at the bottom of the hill. I puttered along and found the restrooms that were open at this time of year, and had myself a nice little break.
One thing I noticed was that I wasn't drinking water the way I usually do in the summer. I'm not sure if that's because I was just so chilly that I didn't need it, or if I've just gotten into bad habits with all of the indoor work I've done. I did snack on a couple of fig bars too, while I was at the park, but I didn't stop the whole rest of the trip. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but I remember that last year I stopped a couple of times on the loop for a little snack. I'm going to have to monitor myself as I get into longer distances and make sure I keep up with the eating/drinking.
By the time I hit Marymoor at the end of the trail, I decided I was really pretty cold, but I hadn't hit my 25 mile mark yet. So I tacked on another mile of Sammamish River Trail, just to get to my usual starbucks. There was already another couple of cyclists there, so I had said hi after I called Lar for a pick up. It wasn't until I started to thaw out that I realized how very, very cold I was, and that my feet were kinda numb from the chill. So I sat inside and ate my turkey sandwich and hot chocolate while I waited, and I felt nearly human by the time Lar arrived. We loaded up the bike on the back of the truck and headed home, where a lovely hot bath awaited me.
My bike in the back of the truck
P.S. If anyone has suggestions for warm cycling socks for someone who is mildly sensitive to wool, I'd really appreciate it!
Elevation: 1900 ft, according to bikely
Where: West Lake Samammish Parkway around to East Lake Samammish Parkway
Start Time: About 11:00 am
How long: 2.5 by guesstimate, 11 mph avg speed including a short stop.
Calorie guesstimate: 1200
My second outdoor ride of the year, and another chilly one. As it wasn't actually raining today and the sun shown some, I thought it was a good day to hit the road and try some rolling hills.
I picked the loop around Lake Samammish, the one that starts at Marymoor Park, heads around West Lake Samammish Parkway (in the direction that has a bike lake), around the bottom of the lake and Lake Samammish State Park, then up around East Lake Samammish Parkway and back to Marymoor again. It was a beautiful ride, if a bit chilly--mid 40s all day--and the lake sparkled in the cloudy light.
If you've never biked it, West Lake Samm is actually a horrid road to ride on. There's a bike lane in one direction only, and it's usually got a lot of junk in it from construction and whatever the latest storm has brought down from the tress, plus there's a lot of traffic. There are a few hills, nothing too tough though; I think the worst of them tops out at 250 feet. Still, if you're willing to pay attention to the road as well as the scenery, it is a gorgeous ride from Marymoor down to Vasa Park. At that point, you climb the big hill on the route, the 250 ft one, which ends with you doing a left hand turn at a roundabout. I was going to stop at the roundabout as some other cyclists had done, but damn it, I forgot I couldn't just put my foot down when I was read to stop. So I proceeded into the center of the roundabout and just hoped that the truck following me to the entrance behaved appropriately.
Which is what happened. The driver didn't do anything weird, and I didn't do anything weird, so I was able to make my left just fine. While I finished my climb, the guys that had stopped passed me, and headed down to the state park at the bottom of the hill. I puttered along and found the restrooms that were open at this time of year, and had myself a nice little break.
One thing I noticed was that I wasn't drinking water the way I usually do in the summer. I'm not sure if that's because I was just so chilly that I didn't need it, or if I've just gotten into bad habits with all of the indoor work I've done. I did snack on a couple of fig bars too, while I was at the park, but I didn't stop the whole rest of the trip. I'm not sure if that's good or bad, but I remember that last year I stopped a couple of times on the loop for a little snack. I'm going to have to monitor myself as I get into longer distances and make sure I keep up with the eating/drinking.
By the time I hit Marymoor at the end of the trail, I decided I was really pretty cold, but I hadn't hit my 25 mile mark yet. So I tacked on another mile of Sammamish River Trail, just to get to my usual starbucks. There was already another couple of cyclists there, so I had said hi after I called Lar for a pick up. It wasn't until I started to thaw out that I realized how very, very cold I was, and that my feet were kinda numb from the chill. So I sat inside and ate my turkey sandwich and hot chocolate while I waited, and I felt nearly human by the time Lar arrived. We loaded up the bike on the back of the truck and headed home, where a lovely hot bath awaited me.
P.S. If anyone has suggestions for warm cycling socks for someone who is mildly sensitive to wool, I'd really appreciate it!
