Keep the (Bike) Light On

The pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice centers around keeping a light lit from sunset to sunrise on the longest night of the year, to encourage the Sun to come back. Over the last 15 or 20 years i've tried several times to stay up all night with a candle.

About 5 years ago it occurred to me that it would be a cool twist, and a hell of a lot of fun, to celebrate the Solstice by keeping the bike light on all night. With a dynamo headlight, the way to keep the light on is to keep the wheels moving. I could celebrate by riding all night!

I was really excited about the idea, but i didn't think i could manage it alone and besides, that wouldn't be any fun. So for a few years i tried a little to find someone to ride with me with no success. After Winter Solstice in 2009 i heard that Seattle International Randonneurs had for the first time done an overnight 200 km 'permanent' on the solstice and about 4 people had showed up. I liked that idea, so last year (Dec 2010) i 'gave up' trying to find people to ride with and decided to join the Rando ride.  Although i had a very good ride i didn't exactly make it to sunrise.I certainly didn't want to try that again. I'm just not that competitive and i don't like riding alone.

This year i was very interested in doing a relaxed, collaborative overnight ride. Mileage was absolutely not an issue. I wanted no goal of a certain distance to accomplish, no speed to achieve, no place to get to. The goal was simply to enjoy riding thorough the night, and it would be riding pretty slowly. I'm slow.

Partially through more effort on my part and partially due to better resources available, i managed to collect a couple of friends to go with me. Kent eagerly signed on as soon as the email went out. He and i had a couple of conversations about possible routes; both of us were excited about night time riding on some of the east King County trails through the forest. We've ridden those trails during the day many times and were intrigued about trying it at night with good lighting.

We decided that our basic route would be to ride from a central meeting point (Mercer Island along I-90) out to Preston, Fall City, North Bend, into the foothills of the Cascades beyond the farthest exurb, and up to Rattlesnake Lake at the edge of the wilderness. Because there are good gravel (and paved) trails along here,  this would keep our small group off the roads and away from cars for almost the entire route. From Rattlesnake Lake, we'd have a variety of options: return, go south to the Cedar River trail, go north on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail or go up and back the Iron Horse Trail. We would decide on the fly.

On  the shortest day of the year i was nervous but excited.  I had prepared everything the day before:  the bike was in good shape and i was bringing a lot of food and clothing.  Sunset was at 4:19. I left home at 4:12 pm. Sometimes when i leave for a very long ride, as i am riding right out the door from home i feel the enormity of the undertaking. It can be a little overwhelming that first 3/10 of a mile of a 100 mile ride. But today i didn't feel that. I was excited and ready to roll. And the first goal, the only goal, was to pedal.

I'd start by meeting Scott at the tunnel. I rode through Central Seattle down to Judkins Park and took the trail to the I-90 bike tunnel where he was waiting. It was good to see him and it helped eliminate any nervousness. I was really glad he came along, i met him on Kent's Tour Divide departure ride about 18 months ago and we rode together well.

Once through the tunnel we crossed the floating bridge to the meeting point at a coffee shop along side the trail on Mercer Island, arriving just before 5pm. I got a breve' hot chocolate for fuel and as the sky got darker we waited to see who would show up. I really did spin my wheel every few minutes to keep my headlight shining!

Before long David, who i had never met but had been talking with Kent at the bike shop, showed up. Kent arrived soon after.  With a bit of light left in the western sky the four of us departed eastbound, joking about our goal. At one intersection we were discussing which way to go.  

David asked, "Where do we need to get to?"

I responded: "7:55 am".

We all laughed.

We didn't have a place to get to, we didn't have a distance to achieve. It really was a different way of thinking from almost any ride i've done. Not having a goal of any kind was really freeing. We were relaxed, just riding together through the darkness. Being in the moment. Experiencing the forest, and the night. Catching up with old friends and making some new ones. This was our social network, and we got to pedal the whole time.

Kent was riding his much beloved Trek Allant, i was riding my rebuilt Bianchi Volpe with Velocity Chukker 700c rims, with Schwable Marathon 35 mm tires, Scott was riding his beautiful orange lugged Rawland cSogn with 650b rims and 32 mm tires.

We crossed the highway on the ped bridge at Eastgate as Kent wanted to detour around the LDS temple to try out a trail back there. We sped through the dark forest on the trail. That's when we ran into the Boeing fence.  Not literally, but we didn't see it until we were right on it. Barbed wire across the trail -- blocking our path. We doubled back, crossed through a parking lot of what turned out to be a large Microsoft facility and then picked up the I-90 trail again.

When i was doing some microfilm research (that's what we used before Google) at the library back in the early nineties, i learned that sixty years ago, when Sea-Tac airport was being planned, the location south of the city where it is now was the SECOND choice. The top choice was Phantom Lake airport in Bellevue - now a very rich suburb.

Phantom Lake, Bellevue WA

Until i was drawing the map of this ride today, i never knew where the Phantom Lake airport had been. But that was it, right where we ran into the Boeing barbed wire and when we crossed the Microsoft parking lot we were crossing the old runway!  If the City of Tacoma had not protested, that might have been a major international airport!

Instead of the commuter route over the shoulder of Cougar mountain on Newport Way, we took the narrow bike trail on the north side of I-90, and very carefully navigated the frozen leaves on the tight switch backs downhill. Our first stop of the night was at the semi-secret Timberlake Park in Issaquah. We rode down through the forest and stood on the dark bank of Lake Samammish eating Kent's Nutty Turtle Bars. They were yummy and the view was amazing.

From there we passed through the newer sprawly business district of Issaquah where there an airport was when i lived in Issaquah in 1992.  Interesting that we cycled right through two former airports, both of which appear on the c.1983 USGS maps in my Topo program. We stopped briefly at the IHOP where the SIR overnight 200km was about to depart. There were 45 very serious riders there, we said a quick hello and good luck before pedaling on down the road.

It was only another quarter mile through the strip malls before picking up the trail. In town this trail is paved, but as we left Issaquah to the east, the trail starts to climb, enters the forest and turns to gravel. Most of us had never ridden on gravel at night, (except for Kent, obviously) so there were a few minutes of convincing ourselves that it was all OK, but that didn't take long.

From that point onward we were on trail most of the rest of the night. It was glorious being in the forest in the dark. Riding on the gravel was not a problem, and the vast majority of those trails are smooth dirt. That’s a really fun trail in the day and i quite enjoyed it at night. We rode through the dark woods, two pairs of bikes cruising along chatting. It felt good.

A couple of trails later we quickly crossed through the quiet little town of Preston, continuing east, downhill, on the Preston-Fall City trail. This trail is paved and we really tested the speed of our lights.  It's not too hard to get ahead of the light and on this narrow downhill trail in the dark; and that's not a good idea. We aimed our powerful beams further ahead and quickly covered the ground to the end of the trail near Fall City.  We had to ride a couple of miles downhill on the main road to get into Fall City; rolling in not much after 10 pm.

In Fall City we met up with Brad, who had been putting in daddy bedtime duty; he has two toddlers. We attempted to grab a sitdown meal, but although the waiters at the Fall City Roadhouse were excited and supportive, they had already closed for the night. It was for the best i think, it kept us outside and on the road.

So like Tour Divide riders we grazed at the convenience store before the, now five, of us rolled out of town, around the roundabout and back into the forest.  We rode up Rutherford Slough Road which connects to a gravel logging road uphill to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. This road was blocked due to a property dispute for a couple of years.  Thankfully it has recently opened again and it was very useful for us.

The weather started off pretty chilly and got down to 27 degrees by about midnight but we were all pretty well dressed. We didn't even have to stop to add layers.  Riding through Fall City the roads were a bit icy, but the gravel trails were fine.  At some point i noticed that i had left one of my two water bottles back on the steps of the restaurant in Fall City.

It was a cold, clear night and if i looked up above me while i was pedaling along i could see a strip of stars between the trees towering on either side of the trail. At one point along the trail we heard hooves ahead and to the side of us, and caught a fleeting glimpse of a group of Elk galloping alongside the trail. Good company, the cold forest, a wonderful trail, the bright stars, and turning the pedals, it was a joyous celebration.


Kent and David were using battery powered lights that were very bright with a narrow beam. Scott and Brad and i had super bright, wide beam dynamo powered LED headlights. Mine is a 2010 Schmidt SON 28 Classic hub generator with a Schmidt Edelux light, Scott had his Shimano Dh-3N72 generator hub with a Busch and Müeller Lumotec IQ Cyo R+ light. We really lit up the trail as we rolled through. It was bright.

We stopped along the trail once or twice to eat a bite and catch our breath. The forest got dark and a little scary as our bike lights either dimmed or went off when we stopped. We didn't stop for long at any point and my dim standlight kept burning. We were in a different world there, just a few hours of pedaling from downtown of a major city we were isolated in the forest with just our human powered lights. There are millions of people in the Seattle Metro area but we felt very alone. It was humbling and invigorating.

I tremendously enjoyed the trail, but it was very different from riding it in the daylight. The darkness snuggled around each of us.  I mis-counted the trestle bridges and was very surprised when we got to the end of the trail.  The Snoqualmie Valley Trail is interrupted by a gap near the town of Snoqualmie. Finding the little 100 yard hiking trail up to the road in the pitch dark was a challenge, but with people like Brad and Kent along, anything is possible.

From that point Snoqualmie Falls is just a quarter mile out of the way, and we couldn't resist the detour, after all, we had nothing but time. It was about 11:45 pm and there were still a handful of sightseers looking over the falls. Most were dressed up (there is an expensive restaurant at the falls) and they all looked at us strangely and gave us lots of space. In addition to the low lying fog along the river, there was a huge frozen fog being kicked up by the giant roaring waterfall and it was an amazing sight in the powerful lights they have focused on the falls. We enjoyed our little break and the pedaled on, skipping the small town of Snoqualmie. Instead we took Mill Pond Road to the spot we could pick up the trail again. Mill Pond Road is a lovely, quiet, dark (and in the daytime, tree shaded) road on the other side of the river from town.

The trail starts again on a trestle bridge with stairs up from the road. Those stairs were very slippery on this cold night. The trail is straight and flat through farmland and the town of North Bend. We turned off the trail and rode through North Bend, although we did not stop. As we rode out of town, Brad sprinted off to the right, chasing a group of Elk with his very bright light.

Where the road crosses under the freeway it meets up with the trail again, which we joined.  Now the trail enters really thick temperate rain forest and starts to climb significantly. We were all starting to get a little tired on the climb up the gravel trail. I warmed up a bit and had to take off a layer to let my head cool. The group scattered a little, our human powered lights cutting through the darkness in a line stretching through the forest.

While it would have been ideal to stop and eat sitting next to side Rattlesnake Lake, we were a bit worried about being there, as the park is officially closed at night. We stopped and used the potties and looked out over the lake for a moment, but we continued up through the park to the beginning of the Iron Horse trail where we found a plastic picnic table where we could settle and eat for a bit. We hadn't noticed how cold it had gotten until we stopped and we all pulled out some clothing when we got there. It was a cold, clear night. Very beautiful. I added a layer, an extra sweater, when we stopped and i didn't take it off for the rest of the night, i only made one other layer change the whole night.

Everyone dumped their food on the table. Various sandwiches, granola bars, nuts, cookies and bread covered the table and we all dug in. Kent started to fire up his Kelly Kettle, a nifty metal bottle with a fire pan at the bottom and an internal chimney which funnels the wind to increase the fire and boil water quickly. He shoved some sticks in the chimney, started a fire with paper and soon water was boiling. He made some tea and poured water in my dehydrated backpacking meal and Brad's pot noodle.  We passed them both around.

The next fire in the Kelly Kettle was proving to be more difficult with the wet, and frozen, sticks that we could collect. Scott and i stood back and watched, but pretty soon there were three guys around the Kettle all trying to make fire. It was funny, at first, but it started to get worrisome. The fire would not start and we had a bunch more things that needed hot water, including cocoa. Eventually we decided it wasn't going to happen.

We sat back and chatted, enjoyed the rest and ate up what we could. I spun my front wheel frequently to keep my light burning. There were a couple of times it went out briefly, but we had candles, the Kelly Kettle and flashlights so i think it still counts as keeping the light on.

The cold was seeping in and before long we came to the easy group decision that it was time to mount the bikes and roll out. When we started packing up we discovered a problem:  the Kelly Kettle had been sitting on the plastic table when it was hot, and now it was cool and it didn't want to move. We pushed and pried to no effect. We kicked at it. The Kettle itself came up easily, but the fire pan it sits on was seriously fused to the table. We struggled with it for a few minutes before the idea to heat it up again arose. Perfect idea, but we'd already had trouble with a fire.

Suffice it to say that a long time was spent trying to get a fire going again, to no avail. That frozen fog was preventing even the paper from lighting. After starting a somewhat disheartening discussion about riding down to North Bend, buying lighter fluid and riding back up the hill we pulled out our tools and after a tiny brief paper fire were able to pry up the pan with a screwdriver.

As we rolled back through Rattlesnake Lake Park, just a few hundred feet away, a ranger car came driving through and looked at us long and hard.  Surely they thought we were crazy.  It was one of the few times all night we saw headlights. The descent through the forest was downright cold. My toes got numb for the only time all night, but of course i had been standing still for an hour before that. When we pulled up to the all night mega-sized grocery store i went in the back and put on long johns. I was fine after that.

The five of us were a motley crew of overdressed, tired, dirty cyclists wandering around the huge, clean, brightly lit store for a few minutes. I grabbed a fruit juice, but other than that we could not find any ready to eat food that was going to work for us and i think the staff was glad when we left. On Rando rides you are often required to show dated receipts to prove you covered the route, so i thought for fun, i'd put the store receipt here.

We went down the street to the Quik Stop where the high school girl working there was very pleasant to us, but it became clear soon that she was in the middle of a drama of some sort and we had interrupted a flirting session with some boys. We got microwave burritos and bad cocoa and Kent got his famous 3 day old hot dog and peanut M&Ms. We scarfed it all down and happily headed back out onto the trail again, leaving the relieved teenagers to flirt in peace. Back on the trail we saw plenty of deer before getting to the trestle again and heading back down the slippery steps.

We were retracing our tracks, back down the lovely Snoqualmie Valley Trail. Although we were getting sleepy, our good conversations were continuing and keeping us alert. We heard, but did not see, an owl as we sped down the dark gravel trail towards Fall City.  It reminded us all just how wonderful this experience it was.  It was truly a blessing being in that forest in the night in the winter.

When we got to the turn off for Rutherford Slough Road, where we had come up, we stopped and had a talk about route choices. Earlier in the evening we had floated the idea of continuing on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail to Duval, crossing up over Redmond ridge on the roads and picking up the Sammamish River Trail on the other side for the ride back to Issaquah. Now was the time to decide and as we discussed it we were all concerned about icy roads, and especially icy pavement on the long, steep descent. We decided not to risk it, and figured once we got to Issaquah we would go up to Redmond for coffee and back on the flat gravel lakeside trail.

When we got down the hill to Fall City around 3:30 am we started seeing riders on the Rando ride go by; they were covered with frost and looking a bit worse for wear. I stopped at the Fall City Roadhouse to grab my second water bottle, which had been sitting there since 10:30.  The full bottle was frozen solid.

Brad left us at that point; this is where he had parked his car.  We went into the Quik Stop for potato chips, ice cream and other fuel. We spoke with a couple of groups of the Randonners who also stopped in. They were enjoying their ride but they said that the roads were extremely slippery and it took a lot of energy to focus on keeping from slipping. They said couple of people had gone down. We were glad we were on gravel trails most of the night. We also noticed that the elevation we had gained, in addition to keeping us warm, with the additional effort, pushed us up above the thickest of the frozen fog which they were really fighting with on the low lying roads.

As we rode out of town, towards the southbound Preston-Snoqualmie trail, i had an idea and suggested we take the north(east)bound spur of the trail across the road, which heads through lovely forest and dead ends just a quarter mile from Snoqualmie Falls. Since we were aiming for 7:55am, we decided it was a good idea. So we walked our bikes up the 4 steep switch backs to the trail. (When this was a railroad, there must have been a huge trestle here!) It was a lovely ride and we had a nice view of the valley from the bench at the end in the forest, where we ate more nuts and chocolate. This trail spur is paved and returning to the road was a significant down hill and it was frosty. That descent was pretty hairy, i was glad when it was over.

Fall City Trail Loop

By now i was getting pretty punchy. Much to my surprise my legs still felt strong and my blood sugar was fine, but it was late at night and i was quite tired.  I was feeling a bit distant. Scott and i pedaled up hill on the Preston-Snoqualmie Trail towards Preston occasionally seeing things that were not there. Kent was the only one of the four of us with Rando experience so this was new for us, this riding while almost asleep. As we neared the end of that trail dawn started to break. We started to see a bit of light in the sky in the openings in the forest. It was beautiful and in my happy but tired state i found it astonishingly profound.

In Preston as the sky was starting to brighten we stopped for coffee at a typical small town coffee shop with some serious characters in it. Kent was having some very entertaining conversations as i went out to stand with the bikes and take in the beauty of dawn.

As we were saddling up again a guy got out of his truck and asked what ride we had done. When we told him we'd ridden sunset to sunrise he said, "You started yesterday?!?"

I had to stop and think for a long time before i said, "Yeah, i guess so." It didn't really feel like tomorrow to me. It was still today. I was keeping the light on. Only about 50 minutes to sunrise. It felt good.

We felt fast on the frontage road out of Preston, but the deep gravel on the new trail connection to High Point slowed us down a lot. The High Point to Issaquah trail that we had started on was a very welcome section as we enjoyed the end of our ride. We got into Issaquah at 7:48, about 7 minutes to go before actual sunrise, so Kent took us on a brief tour of his neighborhood ending back at his front door at 7:57.

David lived nearby and he pedaled off quickly for his bed, while i crossed the street to the bus stop. I didn't feel like i had the 16 miles to Seattle left in me and my goal, 7:55 am, had been reached.  My legs might have been able to do it, but not the rest of me. Scott was pretty punchy and was thinking we were only 3 or 4 miles from Seattle, i had to talk him into riding the bus, but he was quite thankful. Again on the bus we got the question "So you started yesterday?" It still seemed weird to me.

We got off the bus at the tunnel entrance where we had met 15 hours previous. We went our separate ways, i had 4 more miles to ride. I was happy to get home and i had breakfast and a shower before trying to get some sleep. I slept about 4 or 5 hours, and was pretty worthless the rest of the day. I wasn't as dehydrated as i expected.

My odometer recorded 10 and a quarter hours of riding over 15 and three quarter hours.  I found it interesting that when i got home that i had NO IDEA how many miles i'd ridden until i looked at the map! I'm not a mileage fanatic, but i really can't remember the last time i did a long ride where i had no idea how far i'd ridden. That's pretty cool, i'd like more of that.

I've wanted to do a Solstice ride like that for years! It was a blast. We had a great group. It wasn't lost on me that in my pagan celebration of the Winter Solstice i was joined by two Mormons, a Lutheran minister and the husband of a lay preacher.   I loved the riding, the stars were sublime, the forest magnificent, the crisp air invigorating. The company was great.  I really enjoyed catching up with old friends and making some new ones.

And we celebrated Winter Solstice by keeping our lights lit from sunset to sunrise. We brought the sun back on the longest night of the year!!

Full route 2011-12-21 Keep The Light On Ride

elevation profile 2011-12-21 Keep The Light On Ride (group portion)

The GPS coverage was pretty spotty so most of the map i drew by hand.

My full 'day' was 92.5 total miles with 4,057 feet. That was 38 miles on gravel trails, 19 miles on paved trails, 24 miles on paved roads.  82 miles with the group, from Mercer Island to Rattlesnake to Issaquah.  Plus the 10 miles to and from Mercer Island. Interestingly, last year when i tried to ride with SIR, i rode almost exactly the same distance (91 miles).

Urban Section (first section)

rural section (8pm to 7am)

3.4 mi home to tunnel (add Scott)
3.4 mi bike tunnel to Mercer Island (add David & Kent)
25.1 mi Mercer Island to Fall City (add Brad)
19.6 mi Fall City to Rattlesnake Lake
19.7 mi Rattlesnake Lake to Fall City (lose Brad)
17.6 mi Fall City to Issaquah (lose Kent & David)
15.3 mi bus ride to bike tunnel (lose Scott)
3.6 mi ride home

Making our own story

"Let's meet for coffee", Kent said.

I've just finished reading Anathem by Neal Stephenson for the second time, and i really enjoyed it. I found this quote, which resonated strongly with me.

He did a new thing with a new set of people every day of his life. And that made him just as different from the people in the traffic jam as I was. ... Thousands of years ago, the work that people did had been broken down into jobs that were the same every day, in organizations where people were interchangeable parts. All of the story had been bled out of their lives.

That was how it had to be; it was how you got a productive economy. But it would be easy to see a will at work behind this: not exactly an evil will, but a selfish will. The people who'd made the system thus were jealous, not of money and not of power but of story. If their employees came home at day's end with interesting stories to tell, it meant that something had gone wrong: a blackout, a strike, a spree killing. The Powers That Be would not suffer others to be in stories of their own unless they were fake stories that had been made up to motivate them. People ... had to look somewhere outside of work for a feeling that they were part of a story, which I guessed was why [people] were so concerned with sports, and with religion. How else could you see yourself as part of an adventure? Something with a beginning, middle, and end in which you played a significant part? ...

[He] got all of this for free by living his stories from day to day, and the only drawback was that the world held his stories to be of small account. Perhaps that was why he felt such a compulsion to tell them, not just about his own exploits in the wilderness, but those of his mentors.

-- Neal Stephenson, Anathem page 414

So we met for coffee. And after sitting on the sidewalk and chatting, we both felt a ride was in order. Kent's suggestion was the Cedar River Trail (30 to 50 miles) -- quite a bit longer ride than i was expecting. I was dressed for hanging in the city, not a long ride, wearing mostly cotton. But i was game.

I was pleased that my bike, my clothes, my legs and my food stocks were able to be flexible enough to take on a ride like this with no notice. All performed perfectly.

We rode through the bike tunnel, down Lake Washington Boulevard past Seward Park to Renton where we found a wonderful Mexican restaurant where we eagerly fueled up.

The Cedar River trail alternates between peaceful riding through the forest and riding along side (but not on!) a major highway. We chatted about life, the Universe and everything as we pedaled along the trail, turned and climbed up Cedar Grove road where we took a brief, but lovely detour into a favorite secret park for a bit of trail riding. The Log Cabin Reach Natural Area is beautiful, gave us a fun taste of off road riding and we saw cougar tracks along the stream.

After mistaking a powerline marker ball for a para glider we cruised into Issaquah, finishing our conversation, and our ride right as the Sound Transit #554 bus rolled up, allowing me to make it to a database consultation in downtown Seattle with perfect timing.

It was a great ride, and a lovely day, a day where we made and lived our own, small stories.

Diversity in 60 miles.

Auri was just back from traveling and wanted to get some miles in. She wanted to visit Kent's bike shop and we'd been talking about a ride to Issaquah for awhile.

AND she had a new bike she wanted to try out, so we started off by taking some time fitting her on her new-to-her Terry road bike.

We got a late start and didn't really have much of a plan. In the end had a wonderful wandering 13 hour ride.



Since it was almost noon by the time we started, we had to have lunch and decided to stop in the Central District for lunch at Catfish Corner -- a favorite or mine. It's yummy and very authentic. Run by couple from Greenwood Mississippi. Catfish, hush puppies and fried okra! It was great. You'd think you were in the Mississippi Delta! But Seattle has far more hills and we needed the fuel!


On the floating bridge leaving Seattle


My Bianchi on the trail.


Auri on her new bike on the trail on Mercer Island.


on the trail on Mercer Island

We spent an hour or so at Kent's bike shop. They were very busy, but in the end we got to visit with him for a while.


Kent & Auri at Bicycle Center of Issaquah

We had many options of routes, but we all three (Kent weighed in) agreed that the route home would go via the Cedar River Trail. We grabbed a quick buffet lunch at the grocery store in downtown Issaquah and headed south past the skatepark that the bears like, into the forest.

Issaquah Hobart road from downtown Issaquah down to Landsburg is mostly rural, forest, with a few small villages. It's also quite hilly. I had predicted 8 or 9 miles, it was 12, but felt much longer because we gained almost 1000 feet! Auri's new bike is obviously a good fit, she was dropping me on the hills!

My good friend Nadine lives in this area so i sent her a text message saying hi. Her response said that she was at a picnic with friends. They had been hoping for a warm sunny Saturday, but were enjoying the picnic despite the chill.

Finally we noticed that the streams were flowing south, not north. We'd topped the hill and the trail was close by. We stopped for a quick photo at a bit of roadside artwork.

At the Yellow Submarine in Hobart Washington.


Auri at the Yellow Submarine

From Landsburg, which is a river crossing, a park, and the entrance (on the east) to the City of Seattle watershed, we turned west and got on the Cedar River Trail. The first few miles of this trail are crushed gravel and head through gorgeous rainforest beside the rushing river. It's one of the most wonderful places to ride that i know.

We stopped for a snack and a couple of photos

timer shot photo along the Cedar River


Auri along the Cedar River


Cedar River

In Issaquah Auri had bought a new bell for her new bike and now she found that it dinged all the time, not just when she wanted it to. It was kind of a proximity alert that she was there: ding, ding, ding. It was driving her nuts, so we rigged up a small fix with a little twig.


The effective road fix for the dinging bell.

About this time i got a text from Nadine asking where we were. When i told her, she said their picnic was only a few miles down the trail. In fact she rode out to meet us!

Now this ride, as so many do, was turning into a very diverse experience. That's one of the things i really like about cycling, is that you go through, and interact with, experience, a lot of very different places, often in quick succession.

We had started off in our urban neighborhood of apartment buildings, pedaled through (and had lunch) in an older neighborhood of affordable houses (an area that some people who don't understand it are actually afraid of) -- then we were on the trail along the freeway, with a detour through a wildlife refuge. A climb through sprawling suburban stripmalls, then through a quaint 1950s subdivision, down a forested mountainside to the charming small downtown of Issaquah. Rural farms, and the Cedar River rain forest followed that. Now as we were riding across a crumbling red brick bridge watching someone do donuts in the mud in an SUV in the field next to us Aurilee asked Nadine where we were. Nadine said, "Redneck Country!!"

We went to the picnic, ate some 'smores (fuel for the rest of the ride) and visited. It was very nice. It was a good rest, we were flattered to be invited and we had a good time. But it was about sunset and we needed to get on the road.

We rode an hour or so down the Cedar River Trail in the dark. I have not installed the generator light on my bike yet. That light gives a great cone of light that allows me to ride anywhere. My little LED battery light was ok for riding the trail, Auri's was brighter. It was fun riding along the trail in the dark, and this part of the trail is usually not as much fun, being as it's right beside a busy highway. Very little traffic at that hour though.

Neither of us drank enough water on this ride and were constantly looking to pee as we got more dehydrated and what water we did drink went right through us. I've got to do something about my drinking problem.

Once the trail ended in Renton we pedaled past the skatepark, this was the second or third one of the day, but in this one there were no skateboards. In Issaquah the skate park seemed to be mostly BMX bikes. Here it was all razor scooters.

Some back alleys took us through the city to the airport we had ridden around back in Feburary and up on to Rainier Ave. We felt strong and were going fast as we headed to Rainier Beach. Now we rode through a neighborhood that is active, busy and certainly doesn't have the best reputation. It's considered Seattle's ghetto (we weren't uncomfortable). It was lively in the glow of the neon on a Saturday night when we stopped at a Mexican restaurant to, once again, pee.

We arrived at the light rail station only moments before a train came.


My bike on light rail.


Ok, maybe that's more like it.

Off light rail at Beacon Hill we flew down the hill and climbed the last few blocks to home. It was a great ride, and we saw so much from an active urban ghetto, suburbia, a redneck picnic to a rain forest!

The Octocog goes home.

Took time out of a busy, stressful day for a great talk with Kent .

He had lent me his legendary Octocog for a few weeks while my bike was disasembled. It was extremely helpful (and fun). I owed him a profuse thank you.

He came to Seattle by bus and retrieved his bike to ride home to Issaquah, so i figured i'd pedal down to the bridge with him. We stopped for photos of course. I had hooked up the trailer both to test how it worked with the new fenders and so i could stop by the food co-op and load up on a few weeks worth of groceries on the way home.

Kent's Bikes

My friend Aurilee and i both felt like a bike ride, even though it was getting late. Auri had borrowed Kent's cool little folding bike for her upcoming trip to San Diego and she needed to unfold it and test ride it. I'm happy to have my bike back, but i figured it only made sense to ride Kent's Octocog. So we did the Kent's Bikes ride!

We unfolded the Dahon on the sidewalk and the tires seemed low. Now there is a lot that is cool about this little folding bike, but the coolest thing is that the seat post has a built in pump! I got a funny look from a guy walking down the sidewalk as i was using the seat to pump up the rear tire!

The front tire didn't, however, behave as well. As much as we pumped, it wasn't inflating. It was time to change a flat. Now there's no doubt that cycling in the rain, in the cold and in the dark, is really quite enjoyable. Changing a flat, not so much. So we rolled the bike a block to my apartment for the repair.



I flipped the bike upside down and got out the tools.



Auri removed the wheel, no quick release on this folder!



And she took the tire off the rim to get at the tube...





and discovered a MESS! The valve had broken off and the tube was filled with slime. Slime is a green goo designed to fill a small cut or puncture so you don't get a flat. A big cut, or in this case, the valve base tearing, is something Slime doesn't fill. But it does leak out and get all over everything. It's pretty gross.



But my man Kent is always prepared. There were two 16 inch tubes in the seat bag. Auri quickly replaced the tube and put the tire back on the bike.



Once we had it pumped up (with a floor pump, not the seat post!) we were ready for our ride!

It didn't take Auri long to decide she liked this bike.



"This is FUN!!"

We did a nice circuit of the neighborhood, maybe three and a half miles.



"Weeeeeeeeeee".

The wee wheels really turn tight!



Kent's Bikes



The two of us with two of Kent's Bikes at Cal Anderson Park.

It was a very enjoyable ride!

A Hard year on The Divide

(originally published on Kent's Bike Blog in June 2010.
While Kent was away racing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Race, i was substitute blogger.)

The most important thing anyone has ever told me is what my camp director Tay Gillespie repeated constantly when i was a kid: "Happiness is a path, not a destination." As i've rolled through life since then i've discovered frequently that she was correct. I can't seem to always live by those words, but i've never heard better advice.

This is a very challenging year on the Divide, due mostly to lots and lots of mud, but also to cold. I spoke to Kent yesterday and he said that he's in as good or better riding shape than 5 years ago. But the trail is in worse shape.

The snow and mud not only slow riders down, often to the 24 inch gear (2 feet, aka walking), but the deepest mud can strip off derailleurs, break chains, snap spokes, trash brakes, and just generally clog the bike to the point of making it luggage, a load to be carried rather than the most elegant transportation.

It took Kent 4 days to cover what took 3 days in 2005. Most of the other veterans are experiencing a similarly longer ride, and most of the Rookies are staggered and amazed.

An awfully lot of them, including some still riding, were not NEARLY as well prepared for this race as Kent was. Over a dozen racers have dropped out, so far. (More than 1/4 of the starting contingent.) Many dropped out because of the physical challenge - it's a REALLY hard race; some have had equipment failures. But for most, it was mental. The goal paled against the challenge of the road.

Kent stressed that he's having a great time -- just talking to him made me wish i was there riding with him. He's riding, and walking, hard. He is motivated by the finish line, but he's enjoying his trip through the mountains. He's gaining strength from the fantastic scenery.

About the fast guys way out front, he said, and i will quote in full: "holy cow".

This is a race, have no doubt, and Kent is pushing himself hard. He's got goals and dreams of the finish. But the Mountain Turtle knows, and constantly remembers my camp director's mantra. It's about the road. Who knows what the destination will be.

Kent is enjoying the road. Every time i have ridden with Kent over the years, he has embodied this philosophy (although he's never stated it in those words). That's the key that makes it so much fun to ride with him. He enjoys the ride, the road, the path. And that's why he's such a good Divide racer.

Hasten Slowly Mountain Turtle!

Mark

The Ultimate Cycling Food

I was riding with a great bunch of tree-huggers on Boxing Day.

Most of the time i'm middle of the pack, but this bunch was fast, i was the second slowest; and midway through our 64 hilly miles the slowest guy got dropped. It was fast, but it was fun. Right after we dropped the guy from Kansas (Vashon is not flat!), we came to the highway and turned left. Jon, who had never been on Vashon Island before asked which way the food was. He sighed when Kent said that it was the other way. I needed food too, but i didn't say anything. I usually eat almonds or granola bars on the bike, but my pockets were empty.

It took a little extra effort, but i stayed with the group on the loop south and back around on West Side Highway. When we turned back north, Brad turned off to catch the ferry from the south point of the island. I was having a really great time but eventually it happened: i bonked. And it was a serious dropping-off-the-cliff bonk; one minute i was powering up the hill with these randonneurs and 4 minutes later i could barely the turn the cranks a flat half mile to the highway.

They waited for me. On the last hill up into town Mark rode up next to me, put his hand on the small of my back and just pushed me up the hill. I really don't know how i would've made it otherwise. I was extremely thankful, but i could only grunt one word: "Milkshake".

At the top of the hill Jon and Kent were standing there pointing to a sign on a quaint little local burger bar. The sign said: "Come in and eat or we'll both starve!" Even forgetting the economy for a moment i found that to be very deep. It was advice that none of us could resist.


In addition to a garden burger and fries, i got my milkshake. It made me happy, but more importantly, it brought me back.

Once we were at the table stuffing our faces i explained why i believe Milkshakes are the ultimate cycling food.

First of all it's got fat. Fat is the oak log of energy. It burns slow and it burns long. This might not be so great if you're sitting at a desk, in a car or on the couch, but it's exactly what you want on the bike. It stays with you. For most people a milkshake will continue to fuel you for about 35 miles. For me it's about 20, but i'm weird.

Second, it's got sugar. Simple sucrose. This is the kindling, the fast burning twigs and paper of energy. It burns very quickly; you feel it almost instantly. (It goes away very fast too!) So if you're starting to drag, it gives you power to sprint down the road, if you're bonking, like i was, it restores you.

Third it's got lactose which is a complex sugar, about half the way to a carbohydrate. It's a medium burner, the dry pine log of energy, and will last longer than the sucrose.

And as the American Dairy council never misses a chance of telling us, milk has protein. Not only does that help restore overused muscles, but it helps to create the enzymes that regulate how quickly the energy, the glucose, is fed in to your bloodstream over time. It regulates your fuel flow.

Of course a milkshake also has fluids which you always need on the bike, no one ever drinks enough. And it's easy and quick to consume, i've even carried them in my bottle cage!

All of that is really important, but there are two other very important reasons why milkshakes are the ultimate bicycling food. They taste good. This sounds basic, but it's actually really key. I don't know how many times i've seen folks, even some who were actually bonking, holding on to a Power Bar, a gel, or some other gross non-food. But they weren't eating it, they were staring at it, and that doesn't fuel your body. So tasting good is great because you eat it: you actually consume it, probably quickly; and you finish it.

And lastly, in the US at least, you can find a milkshake almost anywhere. Every town, no matter how small, is going to have a restaurant, burger bar or establishment of some sort where you can get a milkshake, often a good one. Even between towns on the lonely roads there is often a possibility. This might be the most important feature. Showing up is 80%. If it's not there, it can't fuel you. Milkshakes are great fuel, they are yummy and they show up.

The rest of the day i rode hard. I had half the milkshake at the burger bar and the other half went in my bottle cage for me to enjoy on the ferry. We rode until the shadows were long. It was a good day.