After an early lunch i zipped downhill to the Link light rail station downtown. The train arrived right as i got on the platform. I love trains and i always enjoy the light rail ride. I got off at Rainier Beach where Linda was waiting. We rode down the lake a couple of miles and then cut through some ugly streets in Renton to get to the Black River area, met Nadine there and connected through the old Longacres horse track site to the Interurban trail where we met Karen. Her son dropped her off. He just signed as a collage football player and we congratulated him. He has HUGE hands!
As soon as we got rolling south on the trail we realised that we were all hungry so we stopped in Kent at Pannera and enjoyed that. Then a nice, fast, ride down the very straight Interurban trail. It was a gorgeous day, a bit cloudy and 65 degrees, very comfortable and very welcome after the terribly hot days we've been having. The trail took us to Sumner and then we rode the West Valley Highway to Puyallup. It was somewhat fresh chipseal and we stayed on the white line and rode fast.
In Puyallup everyone else met their husbands and went into the enormous Puyallup Fair, i turned around to head home. (I was curious, but $11 for 30 minutes of fair didn't seem worth it.) I pulled up to the Sounder commuter rail station and the friendly attendant told me that the northbound train would be on the left track today. Strange. I rolled my bike on the Sounder and sat down. It was a wonderful ride. Smooth and relaxing. Looking out the window i could almost believe i was on a European train.
I was tempted to enjoy the train all the way to Seattle, but i wanted some more miles, so i got off in Kent, retraced my tire tracks a bit up the Interurban trail, connected with the Green River trail and then headed into South Park. At the end of the trail i encountered a rider with a nice bike, a flat tire and no pump. He said he'd been walking for over a mile. We quickly and carefully changed the tire, he had never changed one so i was a teacher, and were both on our way in opposite directions.
I ride through the neat little neighborhood of South Park frequently but i have never explored it much (except those times i got lost!) so i did a couple of loops just to look around and then was on my way again. Instead of going all the way to Alki, I crossed the Duwamish Waterway at Michigan street, rode 4th ave to Dearborn to Judkins Park and home, with a stop for a Salmon Burger a few blocks away.
Tired. Exactly 100km - 62.1 miles. Good company, fun trains and very nice ride.
No comments:
Post a Comment