Another couple of rides this week. Today I did the loop trail at Discovery Park, Seattle's largest and wildest park. I will take the camera next time. Very beautiful (if you like green, lots and lots of green). A long ride for me, about 3.5 hours, including stops at the Locks and at the bike shop (just looking).
I did some window shopping, they tuned my bike for me for height, leg length, etc. I got the lowdown on a new seat, a bell, Ortleib bags, computer, heart rate monitor, front fender, ... maybe I better get a job.
On the loop trail, I defeated one hill--very steep, for me. But on two others, I ran out of traction a little bit before I ran out of power. I actually spun the rear tire for one power stroke, WOOF! and momentum dropped to zero. Time to walk. Oh well. Something to shoot for next time. Attaaaaaack!!
The locks were awesome! Did I mention it's been raining a lot here lately? 27 straight days, 13+ inches, then Sunday, a break, then rain mon, tues, wed... whatever. Well, 4 of 5 spillways were open, from 10 percent to 50 percent and the area downstream of the spillway was boiling! Very very cool. The whole ladder save the highest 4 or 5 steps was entirely underwater. I saw a commorant swimming in the fish ladder about one third the way up and he had plenty of room to paddle higher. Rested through a couple of lock cycles and pedalled home.
I'm learning that I live on a hill relative to my local geography and everything is downhill from home, meaning there's guaranteed to be a punishing finish UPhill.
Hey! I found the
online copy of the City of Seattle bike map (warning, 1.5 MB pdf). We live at about D3 and from there you can see the trips I've made to Greenlake (east), to Carkeek (north), To Golden Gardens (west) and to Discovery Park (south). I noticed that all of them are water destinations. I don't know where I'll go next, all the other big/water parks are pretty far away for a morning ride. I'm sure I'll be repeating these four many times. They are some nice rides.
Griff, I thought of you during today's loop trail at Discovery Park. I really will bring the camera next time and take some pics. You'd love the ride.