wandering Magnolia

Nadine and i decided to ride to Magnolia. I hadn't been there in quite a while and she wasn't sure if she ever had. We hoped for a half day ride.

We met at Gas Works Park, her friend Karen came along. Karen is a strong cyclist even though she has only recently starting cycling and is still learning the ropes.

Nadine preparing to ride


Karen is ready to go!

We started out on the Burke Gillman Trail and rode to Ballard. This is such a standard, familiar route for all Seattle cyclists, that we almost don't think about it, but i try to remind myself how wonderful this route is. It's very beautiful, calm and friendly -- until the ugly railroad tracks at the missing link under the Ballard bridge.

Before we went into the locks, i showed them the new Salish Welcome artwork. That photo didn't come out but i really liked the drain grate in front of it and that photo did.


There was a fishing boat just entering the locks from Lake Union when we got there, and well, locks are really cool, so we stayed and watched the boat drop 23 feet in about 6 minutes and then head out and into Puget Sound!


We climbed up into Discovery Park, which is an old army base (Fort Lawton). And i do mean climbed! We're going up from sea level at the locks to about 450 feet in the park, pretty quickly. The park has many paved roads through the forests, meadows and beaches. It's a great place.

We took in the gorgeous view across Puget Sound and then instead of riding extremly scenic Magnolia Boulevard at the edge of the bluff headed along the center dip in Magnolia, admiring 1950s houses, and on into the village where we had lunch. We called a friend from Trek Tri-Island, and she was thrilled to hear from us and joined us while we ate.

Nadine & Carna

Here's the route we took around Magnolia.

We returned, more directly to the Ballard Locks, followed the bike route over the steep wooden bike bridge over the railroad tracks down to the Locks again. After watching another boat go through the locks, rising up this time, we took a brief detour out to Golden Gardens where we got another view of the sound and of about a dozen and half turtles sunning themselves in the lagoons behind the beach.


Back through downtown Ballard (with a stop at the Dutch Bike Shop).

artwork at Bergen Place

We talked about gearing and shifting a bit -- not an easy thing to figure out, and then pedaled back to Nadine's car at Gas Works Park.

I decided to run some errands in Fremont, about 5 stops later i had a muffin and soda but not much else, and i headed home. I decided to take the slightly longer but much more fun way up the hill via Interlaken. I frequently ride this way, i really like it.

This takes me around the University of Washington, where there was lots of bicycle traffic, past the stadium across the canal and into the residential Montlake neighborhood where i often pass this interesting bike art hanging in the trees.

The poetry changes regularly. Some cyclists feel it is anti-bicycle, others pro. I kind of like it.


Interlaken Park


my favorite ride through Interlaken Park

There has been some slope shifting this winter on the climb up through Interlaken park and so the park road is, happily, closed to cars.


The nicest sign a cyclist can ever see.

As i approached the road closed sign on the climb, i saw a line of five or six skateboarders coming down the hill - FAST. I was happy to stop and let them through the gap. I noticed that when each skateboarder saw me approaching they clapped their gloves loudly. I figured that was a creative way to warn the skateboarder behind them that there was traffic. I'm always fascinated by systems like that.


skateboard 1


skateboard 2


skateboard 4


full route - dotted lines are me alone, solid red is the three of us.

A fun ride, 34 miles total, 22 as a group. It wasn't half a day, but the whole day. And i got a little sunburn on my nose cheeks and especially my lips. I'm going to have to be careful as the weather gets warmer and clearer.

nice legs

Riding to my meeting this evening i felt sluggish, a little slow.

Riding home, on the empty streets in the dark, i felt strong going uphill.

It feels good when you ask and your legs for some power and immediately the bike surges forward. You are one with the bike, can go where you want, where you need. It moves. YOU move! You move yourself! It feels great, it feels free, it feels powerful.

And 14 more miles under my belt for April.

Doe Bay

I was lucky enough to spend the weekend at Doe Bay on Orcas Island.

I was with an Art Camp For Big Kids group. It was an intense weekend in a truly gorgeous spot. Good food, good people, forest, hot tubs, and art classes.

On the way out to Doe Bay we stopped at a pie shop i had bicycled past last September. They were out of the Salmon Pie i was craving, but chicken pie was amazing. By far the best i've ever had (and i don't say that lightly, i'm very picky!).

The weekend was spent in often intense, always social and fun art classes. I taught a chocolate tasting class as part of the event. The location was amazing and i really enjoyed getting to spend some time in the hot tubs in the forest.


table of art


photographing art installation


art installation at Doe bay


Art instructors Jenna Lori & Cherrie

On the way home we stopped in LaConner for frybread salmon tacos that were fantastic and then we drove through the tulip fields looking for tulips. They were a little late this year, but we did see a few. The Skagit flats are along the water on one side and the high mountains on the other side, and the clouds that day were amazing. As we wandered the tulip fields i could look up to the mountains, clouds sticking to them like honey, and i could see rain storms, rain coming down, in FIVE different locations. It was awesome.

I was glad that Gene was driving, i was really tired. I don't ride in a car very often and i don't really enjoy it, Gene's a very good driver, but i was quite happy to be home, although it was a bit discombobulating to walk through my urban neighborhood not that long after being in the forest by the bay on the island.

17 consecutive days

I look for balance in all things. That doesn't mean that i don't often have a drive, inside, to strive for some kind of extreme -- i often do. I consider it a flaw. Balance, i think, is the more healthy, and for that matter, more real path to follow.

Between the extremes is the path.
(Sign between the sauna and cold plunge at an outdoor spa i used to visit frequently.)

I ride my bicycle regularly. I don't like that i track miles, but i do. It's an obsession. An embarrassing one. I don't ride for miles, or for validation, or for pain or anything. I don't even ride for stories, although that is a great benifit.

I ride to get places and I ride to ride my bike. I ride because it is joyful and i feel better when i do. I ride to see the places my bike takes me, places i would never get to see otherwise! At the core of my personality, i'm a traveler, always learning, always trying to figure out now things and new places. I get to travel every day, my bike takes me places.

Some people are spending April trying to ride every day, and write about it. It's called 30 days of biking. I think it's great, it's good motivation, especially if you're not yet in the habit (or want to get the habit back). And it's fun. And cycling should be fun. It's a little extreme for me; i've bicycled in all but about a dozen months since 1971, but i've never, i think, biked every day. I kind of was tracking (quietly): Maybe i would get every day -- not to be extreme or anything.

Yesterday, April 12th, i rode to Bike Works to do some database work. 13 more miles for April. After that i had biked 17 consecutive days, 249 total miles, since March 27th.

Today i was sick. Bit of fever, runny nose, very tired, headache. I really don't want to be sick when i go to Orcas Island on the weekend so i took it easy, napped and read all day. I did get up off the couch in the evening -- i walked to get some dinner with a friend. But i didn't get on my bike. Not even around the block. Oh well. I'll still ride most days in April. I'm going out of town this weekend and will probably miss at least one day, maybe more.

Here's where i rode during those 17 days.


And a close up.


I'll post the same full route map for all of April at the end of the month.

planning a tour

Yesterday i taught a chocolate tasting class on the other side of the hill. I biked there (in nice clothing) with the chocolate and props in my trailer. It was maybe 6 miles on the day.

Sometimes i work as a bicycle tour guide for a friend who runs bike tours of Seattle. It's lots of fun riding around Seattle talking about the history and details of the neighborhoods.

Today i met with him at a coffee shop in Pioneer Square. Our plan was to brush up on our tours. We'd ride a circuit of central Seattle together, talking with each other about route choices and notable highlights. We both are interested in history, have been in Seattle for a long time and bike everywhere. We both talk a lot. It was a long day. I had lots of fun and i learned a lot. It was a successful day!


My regular neighborhood photo spot at I. Noguchi's Black Sun in Volunteer Park. Someday i'll do a post with photos of me here in all weather.


Dave at Cal Anderson Park


The cherry trees are in full bloom in The Quad at the University of Washington

Near the Ballard Locks there is a wonderful new piece of artwork called Salish Welcome. It is at the site of one of the major Salish settlements in the area that became Seattle.

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!

triple loop

I received the new wheels! It was pretty quick to put them on. I spent most of the day fighting with the front derailleur! It was frustrating.

My friend Joe came by and we spent several hours adjusting the brakes and the front derailleur. We got things pretty well set up and took it for a spin, a loop around the neighborhood ending at Joe's friend's apartment where he stopped and i continued on for a bigger loop of the neighborhood enjoying my 'new' bike. When i got back home, that wasn't enough so i rode another couple of mile loop. And lots of progress on the rebuild!



Eight miles on April 8th. Pretty cool.

Along The Lake

The Volunteer Repair Party at Bike Works was bigger than anyone could remember. Lots of people. A group of us, 4 or 5, often ride back to Capitol Hill together. Tonight there were 13 of us! It was a a great bike gang.

There are a variety of routes, most often we ride a route which takes us up the ridge to a wonderful view of above Lake Washington on 30th Ave S. But today we turned right and went down along Lake Washington. I was a little nervous about this dark route because i'm still riding with LED lights while i make change in generators; i haven't re-installed my halogen light yet.

We rode along Genesee park and into the darkness of Lake Washington boulevard. It was fine. It was in fact, amazing to be there in the night along the lake. Cruising fast in a group of friends. I felt lucky.

We swept uphill on the Olmsted Curves far faster than seemed possible, and then doubled back through the bicycle/pedestrian tunnel to Judkins park on the other side of which we picked up our normal zig zag up the spine of the hill towards home.

I love these group rides after events, because it's fun to ride together and it's really cool the way people slowly peal off along the route, the core of the group getting smaller and smaller. I'd love to have a graphic of that, i'm told that's really geeky. Anyone surprised? Didn't think so.

A gorgeous ride along the lake and good company really take the stress out of a day. I felt so much better afterwards.

There were none of the aggressive drivers i had to navigate around on the way south at 5pm. Riding at night makes you feel that the city belongs to you, it's quiet and spreads out under your wheels. The sliver of moon was beautiful, with earthshine on the dark section. I love earthshine!

The night was cold and clear and when the group had whittled down to just two of us and we got near our respective homes, we both wanted to ride some more, so we added a loop around Volunteer park.

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.