The day dawned clear and windy. Rain was predicted and we prepared for it, but when we departed it was dry. Both hungry, we decided that grabbing breakfast on Beacon Hill was the first order business. Capitol Hill was quiet on Saturday morning, although it wasn't terribly early. As we headed downhill on 12th Ave we both took the lane -- that bike lane is too dangerous.
In the international district at King St we encountered a group of drummers and a couple of dancing Chinese dragons, soon accompanied by half a million firecrackers. It was very cool, although it felt a little surreal. Last week was the lunar new year, so i'm not really sure what the event was, but it was fun and we felt lucky.
Once we climbed the hill to Beacon Ave, Auri picked a Filipino place where we fueled up on a great fish plate. We only had a tiny Kryptonite lock and it took some work to lock both bikes!
We picked up the Cheief Sealth Trail on top of the hill and followed it down the other side -- this is NOT a flat trail. We chose this route partially to keep as sheltered as possible from the strong wind out of the south. The prediction was that it was going to get stronger as the day went on. We did feel the headwind a little as we rode the trail but it wasn't a concern.
We left the trail at Henderson & MLK and zipped a few blocks across the neighborhood to the lake shore. Here the headwind was strong, 15 mph or so, maybe more. Despite fighting that headwind, it was quite a nice ride down to Renton. We explored a little bit where Perimeter road meets Rainier (looking for an earlier possible turn off and not finding it). Then we followed the standard bike route south around the airport on Perimeter road.
The Cedar River trail continues up through the Boeing factory grounds alongside the canal through which the Cedar River is directed into Lake Washington. We followed that to the lake and took a rest and took in the view.
As we pedaled through downtown Renton, into the headwind again briefly, we realized that we were going to ride right passed the giant Fry's electronics super store. I don't drive a car, i rarely get to suburbia. And i almost never shop at that kind of store. But we're both geeks and the idea was appealing. Also i needed to get a small flash drive to send some photos to my mother, so we went in and wandered among the masses for a while. It was a little scary. From there we rode to Gene Coulon Park were we got a big plate of french fries at the Ivars fish & chips. We were joking that it was the Fry's and Fries ride!
When we turned north and headed up the east side of the lake we had the wind at our backs, however it was no longer 15 mph -- we later discovered that it was 44 mph! It was amazing. We were really moving -- a couple of times on the 405 trail we were going uphill with out pedaling! The tail wind was very strong. When we got home we read that there were power outages and trees down right near where we were riding, we didn't see any of that, but we did get quite the push.
When we got to the turn off point for the floating bridge back to Seattle at Mercer Slough Park, we stopped to make a decision. Auri had been stronger than either of us had predicted. The rain had just started, so getting home dry was out of the question, and neither of us was very excited at the prospect of riding across the lake on the floating bridge in this strong wind. We decided to continue around the north end of the lake -- to make it a full circuit.
We continued to have a strong tail wind running up into and through Bellveue, and the rain just got heavier and heavier. By the time we were into downtown it was a serious downpour, much harder than it usually rains around here. I realized i had taken off my front fender to clean the bike the previous day and had forgotten to put it back on. We followed the new bike route signs through downtown Belleuve, but they left us at 112th Ave & NE 12th St with no obvious way to go. I knew there were two ways, a good bike route and Bellveue Way.
We turned on 12th and looked for the bike route in the heavy rain. We didn't find it. We did find Bellevue Way. That was very hard riding, even without the rain it would've been hard. I felt bad for Auri, i was embarrassed that i some how missed the right turn. We were on a very very busy 5 lane street with no shoulder and with cars all traveling above the speed limit and passing very close. In the rain. At the top of the hill we pulled into a residential cull de sac for a break and to try to search for a better route on Auri's smartphone, but there was nothing. The descent was pretty much traffic free, but it was very very wet. On that descent i made the decision to buy a full front fender -- i couldn't believe how much water was spraying up.
I love riding in the rain, i really do. I love the feel of the rain on my face. It feels... REAL. As we rode into Kirkland it was less riding and more swimming, it was, i think, the heaviest steady rain i have ever ridden in -- and that's saying a lot! The bike lane was good and it was a nice ride, but i was quite hungry and we were both ready for a break. Besides, i knew that Kirkland would be our last chance for food for a while. I wanted to find a coffee shop and while we were waiting for the traffic light in the center of Kirkland, Auri pointed out a very nice looking one on the corner. We quickly locked up and went inside to wring out.
Zoka Coffee was warm and comfy and friendly. We each ordered large breve hot chocolates. The extra cream from the breve was necessary, we needed as much fuel as we could get -- we had not eaten enough, only fries, and had been planning on 35 not 55 miles.
We were tempted to stay longer, but darkness was coming. We both were equipped with good lights, but I really wanted to be off of Finn Hill by dark. Auri was very nervous about the climb of Finn Hill. One reason for continuing around the north end of the lake was so she could try out the climb before her charity ride.
The rain let up a little as we approached the south side of Finn Hill. Auri did great, it was a nice climb, but there was lots of debris along the road. The descent however was another story. I'm not a huge fan of descending, i've learned, i've become pretty skilled over the years, but i'd actually rather climb than descend. It's hard, scary, takes a lot of focus and, well, i don't have a need for speed. This was one of the most difficult descents. There was debris on the road, it was raining, traffic was heavy and it was dark. We both did a good job and got down, but it was truly white knuckle time.
From there it was onto the Burke Gillman Trail. At first it looked like we were going to get a nasty headwind, that wind that had pushed us north on the other side of the lake, but it either was blocked or died down because, although we noticed it, we didn't suffer much. We did struggle because we didn't eat enough, but we were both so focused on getting home that we didn't really think to stop and eat. Not great, but it was ok.
Good company, good riding, and well, quite the epic ride!
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