01-10-10 - What a Difference a Week Makes!

What a difference a week makes, yes indeedy! Thinking back just a short 9 days ago when we rode 125 miles in hard rain, this morning’s gorgeous sunrise simply left me breathless and determined to take advantage of the best weather we’ve seen for a while.

As much as it genuinely pains me to say it, the weather in Seattle today was absolutely ideal. I started out from the house about 9:00 for a 25 mile loop over to Lincoln Park, Alki (with a stop at Tully's for some coffee and a donut), then home again. It was 46 leaving the house, so I had on a long-sleeved silk underlayer and one of my old Perlizumi long sleeve jerseys with a windbreaker, wool knickers and short wool socks, and long fingered gloves. The first 3 miles from my house is pretty much downhill, followed by a couple of really nice climbs (1 is 11% for almost a mile) and by the time I got up to the top, I had to stop to take the jacket off. As I did, I was treated to a really nice view of Mt. Rainier behind me.



About a half hour or so later, it was even more spectacular as I saw it from Marine View drive just before the descent to Lincoln Park (I'm at elevation +/- 600' above sea level here)



The view out over Puget Sound to the south with Des Moines (left) and part of Vashon Island (right) was pretty nice, too.



Off to the west, the pristine Olympic Mountain Range was showing off, as well, with the Fauntleroy/Southworth Ferry heading in toward the Fauntleroy dock below me.



After a nice fast decent, I got down to Lincoln Park where I took off the busier roads and rode around by the water for a while where the temperature had warmed to a very pleasant 51 degrees. .



After coming out of Lincoln Park, the route follows along the waterfront to Alki Beach, where I went by one of my favorite places, the "blue bottle house"



and then stopped at the Statue of Liberty to reflect a little bit on what it means to be an American these days.







Several of my favorite American heroes are quoted here, including these two:





Of course, no ride is complete without a stop for some coffee and (ya think MAYBE???) a donut. I get so excited about my pastries sometimes, I just can't focus my blackberry very well.



When I rolled up to Tullys, though, I got to see one of my favorite vehicles, the famed TRIKE



I had a great time chatting with the owner of this fine steed (and his sister), who gave me a great demonstration on how the bell worked. Sis was really impressed with how my bell worked (complete with a thermometer) and told me she didn't have a bell for her baby stoller, and spent a bit of time introducing me to all of her dollies - sure wish I had some pics of those kids!!! They were really precious.

After working my way aroung Alki Point and south along the Duwamish Trail, I crossed the First Ave. S. Bridge for another great view of my mountain



and then headed home after riding around through the industrial district for a while where a few of the other pieces of heavy equipment found out that my bike isn't easy to crush





And as I rode along Michigan Street (this is one street NOT recommended for bicycles) I couldn't help be amused by this car wash sign



Thinking maybe I could get an explanation of just what this "CHEW BUSH" sign meant, I pulled into the parking lot and examined the other side

Now I'm even more confused than before. What the heck is a BASIC CAMEL?



ONE HUMP OR TWO????

The temperature at Alki when I came out of Tully’s was 53 degrees and by the time I got home, I'd seen 55 degrees once briefly coming up Swift toward Beacon Hill.

2010 is off to a great start!

01-01-10 Permanent 202 on Highway 101

What could possibly motivate 7 otherwise sane, rational, adults to go to bed early on New Year's Eve - after having read the weather forecast that said "100% chance of rain. Winds SE 15-25 shifting to SW 15-30 in the afternoon" - so they could be sure and wake up at 3:30 in the morning to get ready for a BIKE RIDE. Really! This just all seems a bit extreme doesn't it?

Well, When Dr. Codfish



called for a ride on New Year's Day, riding the Olympia-Brinnon-Olympia RUSA permanent route #202 which is mostly on Hwy 101, I couldn't resist. Obviously, I wasn't the only one, since my friends Joe Platzner, Lyn Gill and Chris Heg also decided to make the 60 or so mile drive south to the start line. Two other guys from around the area were also foolish enough to brave the elements and I was mighty glad they did, since I would need each and every one of them to pull me along before the end of the day.

Lyn showed up with her customary huge smile and excitment to be out on the bike



Joe showed up hungry enough to eat the most brazenly decorative doughnut known to the human race



and the rest of us just showed up.

Ken Ward


Chris Heg


James (?)


We all exited the parking lot at 0630 hrs prompt - well one of us (and I won't mention Lyn by name here) started at 0633 but quickly caught up to us - with about an hour to ride before it got light. Our first informational control came at about mile 6, where we had to answer one of two questions on the controlle card.




It had started to rain pretty steadily by this time, but we were all still in the dark about what was ahead of us.



This ride is really a 3-segment out and back. 35 miles to Hoodsport, 50 miles from Hoodsport to Brinnon and back (with a stop in Brinnon to get controlle card signed) and then 35 back to the finish line in Olympia. The first 35 miles went pretty fast, with most of us sticking pretty close together and a light tail wind pushing us along. I think James had a temporary moment of sanity at that point and decided to call it a day. Dr. Codfish was off the back a mile or so and as the other five of us rolled into the Hoodsport Coffee Company, Joe decided to forge on ahead while Lyn, Chris, James and I stopped briefly for quick refills and drainages. I have to say, the folks at this espresso bar are some of the nicest people I have ever met in my riding. They are always so warm and inviting, and never give us crap about making big puddles all over their floor.

After less than 5 minutes, we're off and rolling and it didn't take Lyn and Ken long to drop Chris and I off the back end, and not much longer before Chris dropped me. The rest of the way into Brinnon, I rode along content in the solitude, listening to the wind howl in the trees above me, thankful that the wind was at my back so the rain wasn't driving into my face except on the descents. This 50 mile stretch is never flat but never really steep climbs, they just keep coming at you. The rain really started to come down with a vengeance near Eldon and I was thankful that I'd made a decision to bring along an extra set of clothes in a pannier, knowing how good it would feel when I got to Brinnon to change into warm, dry clothes for the return trip.

When I rolled into the control, there were the gang of four all either eating and drinking or getting ready to. I decided to get another 25 miles out of the soggy set of clothes I had on and so made a quick trip through the mini-mart, picking up a Snickers Bar, bottle of chocolate milk, and then after making a beeline for the porta-potty and was back on the bike, but not before walking into the store and announcing to nobody in particular, "We're not nearly as intelligent as we look" and snapping this picture of Joe and Chris.



Lynn was still all smiles.



Everyone saw me roll out and quickly saddled up and chased me down. Chris was a little slower getting mounted up, and with the severe headwinds we were going to be faced with, I decided to let the other three go ahead and I pulled off into a nice little pullout where I was sheltered from the wind and waited for him to catch up.



We actually got a pretty nice reprieve from the hard winds, as the wind did shift and we got a little shelter from the hills and big trees, but there was still a pretty good headwind all the way back into Hoodsport. I needed to stop one more time just outside of Lilawaup to take advantage of a little immediate wild relief station, and parked the lovely Katrina in the shade so she wouldn't get sunburned



When I got into Hoodsport finally, I grabbed my pannier and made an immediate entry to the bathroom where I stripped down buck naked (sorry, no photos of that) and changed into a nice, warm, dry set of clothes. I even had an extra pair of shoes in the pannier. A harsh lesson in reatity began to soak in about this time, however. The dry clothes feel really good. The wet clothes now weigh about 5 pounds more than the dry ones, and they're in the pannier. Don't suppose I'll want to do that again any time soon.

The proprietor of the coffee shop loaned Lyn a hair dryer



and Joe pulled on the remaining dry layers of clothes he had with him (over the wet ones!) and devoured not one but TWO bagels - don't know what this affinity for round doughy things with holes in them is



We rolled out as a gang of five now, with the thought we should try to stick together the last 35 miles, as the wind was picking up and we'd do a lot better together than apart. The crew had to wait for me twice on climbs and I was mighty glad they did.

We made one more roadside stop so I could make a slight gear adjustment to put on my helmet light, and I noticed that the rain was finally lightening up a bit. It felt mighty nice to finally get off of Highway 101 and onto the back roads again, where we could actually hear what each other was saying again, and just as it was getting close to dark, we rolled back into the finish line, drenched but totally happy with the day.

I think Lyn has been riding with Vinny Muoneke a bit too much, though. There's just something way too similar about these smiles.



M: 125
T: 9:09
TT: 10:23
E: 4,444
A: 13.5 or so

Scio Frozen Bridges

Well, seems there’s been a lot of carpin' 'bout the frigid air (and I ain't talkin' 'bout the one in yer kitchen) so I might as well talk about yesterday's little fiasco. Mind you, this ride was MY IDEA, so I can't complain.

I decided I wanted to go to Oregon in December and do a permanent with one of our new board members, but when I emailed Cecil Anne, she couldn't ride on Saturday, but could on Sunday. Well, doing a ride of 125 or so miles on Sunday is tough enough for me, but having to do a 4 hour drive back from Portland to Seattle in heavy Sunday nite going home traffic is pretty much unthinkable, so I organized one of Susan France's routes, the Scio Covered Bridges. I've wanted to do it for a while, and thought this would be a good chance. Relatively flat, not up into the higher hills so if there's cold rain and snow in the foothills, I'll probably be okay.

So Greg Sneed told me in late Oct. he wanted to go for his R-12. November we did 3-Rivers Cruise. He was signed on for this one, as was Ron Himschoot and John Vincent. Two Oregon Randonneurs, Sam Huffman and Bill Alsup signed on as well. Bill needed a ride in December to make his 2nd consecutive R-12. Sam hasn't ridden anything long since May, but is strong and young.

Then the weather forecasts started to bear watching. Dropping temps, threats of snow, freezing fog and wind. First Greg bailed. Then Ron. I told 'em I'm probably better prepared than some guys since I now have studded tires. So I loaded both bikes in the truck and headed off to Portland late Friday afternoon. 31 degrees when I got to Wilsonville about 9:00 pm. 27 degrees when I woke up, and freezing fog. Still dark, but there's a sheen of frost on the pavement. Susan had granted me permission to delay the start a couple hours if I needed to, so we decided to roll out at 8:30. As we went out to start getting ready, John says to me, "Boothby, there is ice forming ON my tires - just since we've been here. I'm packing for home.' Now we are 3.



Sam, Bill and I started out and rode the first mile along I-5 on frosty pavement. When we got off the highway and started down the back roads, I said, "Boys, I'm not doing this." Sam 'llowed as how he was with me. Bill? Well, he decided to soldier on.




As Sam and I got off the northbound freeway, I decided I'd go get my ice bike and do a short ride anyway. Maybe go along the course down to Silverton and back - that's about 40 or so miles. Once I had those studded tires under me, I felt pretty doggone good. No slip slidin' and very comfortable with that magic red saddle on it. The sun had come out around Wilsonville,



but as I got south a little ways, the fog settled in again, and there was a bunch of ice pretty much everywhere.







All the fog and ice made for some really spectacular sightseeing, though my teeth were chattering pretty good for a bit in the below-freezing temps.



OK, to make matters worse, when I changed bikes, I forgot to move my Spiz and Cytomax bottles from Katrina over to Iris, and just outside of the first little town, I reached down to grab a drink and my water bottle was EMPTY! So I stopped in Barlow at the little mini-mart and grabbed a cup of coffee. Hot and fresh, but too hot to drink, so I put a little ice in it. Then a little more, and drank a nice warm coffee. Before leaving, I topped it off with iced coffee which tasted great for the next several miles. Still had ice in the bottla 2 hours later.



And I found these beautiful black horses standing in the snow white fog. Very mysterious scene, with them emitting clouds of steamy breath and steam rising from their wet coats. I'm convinced they are responsible for all the fog.



And the huge Oregon Live Oaks were pretty awesome looking, too.



I overtook Bill in Silverton, and he convinced me (took a lot, right?) to ride on with him. And from there on, no clouds or fog



This is the Scio COVERED BRIDGES permanent:

The first of the three is just before coming into Scio



They do love their High School Football team here, too:



Scio beat Kennedy 14-7 to take the championship - this game was in progress as we rode through.

http://highschoolsports.oregonlive.com/news/article/-551907838358710884/kennedy-vs-scio-215-pm-saturday/

Bill dropped his camera and broke it right by that first bridge, so stopped at the Scio Market and bought a very patriotic adorned instant camera he was very pleased with



After a snack, it was off to the Hoffman Bridge



And then into beautiful downtown Crabtree, Population about 250 maybe, but our brevet card has a secret control here and we weren't sure if we were supposed to count the doors or the reindeer, so we counted both



After a bit of wandering about, we finally got to Gilkey Bridge





The temperature had jumped up to about 40 degrees in mid-afternoon, and we now had another 35 miles to go to get into Salem. We picked up the pace a little, trying to make it through Salem before dark. At least we arrived before Sunset, in time to take our pictures at the Capitol (where I was sworn into the USMC on 6/12/69)



OK, I aplogize for you having to turn your monitor on its side to see this one.



And now with 40 miles to go, the sun is down, the night air is chilling rapidly and we're ready to roll out. The Salvation Army bellringer must have told us 20 times to be careful. She told me the story of her brother getting hit by a car 3 times.



And at 8:10 pm, after 11 hours and 40 minutes, one false start, one bike change, no serious missed directions and a whole lot of hot coffee along the way, Bill Alsup finished his R-24



and Raleighdon the insane was there to witness it.

Now for the post script.

I went back to the hotel and got in the shower. I had stopped and picked up a chicken teriyaki to go and was really hungry, but wanted to get under a nice hot shower first. So I did. Now, normally, I'm a 3-minute shower guy. But I didn't want to get out. But I wanted to eat. But I didn't want to get cold again. I was seriously conflicted - probably a bit tired, too. I finally had to turn the water up so hot I couldn't stand it in order to force myself to get out. Hotels never run out of hot water. After eating a little bit, I crawled into bed still chilled. I pulled on clean wool base shirt and a clean pair of wool knickers and kneesocks. I was still chilled. I pulled the bedspread back up and started to get warm. Then I started to get leg cramps, and twitches. So I got up, drank a bottle of water with NUUN. Then ate a banana, took 2 advil and got back in bed. 10 minutes later, still having small cramps. Drank a bottle of warm cytomax. Crawled back in bed and finished watching Santa Clause 3 on Disney and everything got better. I think I was a little dehydrated and electrolyte deficient, but mostly, think I just had trouble getting my core temp balanced.

But at the end of the day, I'm now at R-6 and don't have to worry about getting anything else til January.

Rest In Peace, Earl C.

On November 8, 1984 I was transferred into the drug and alcohol treatment facility on the 7th floor of Cabrini Hospital. I had been in the hospital for 4 days and it was obvious to pretty much everyone around me that I had a pretty substantial drinking and drug problem. That first night, after dinner, we were told we had to go to the dining room for a Narcotics Anonymous presentation. I didn’t want to go, but had to. That night, a guy came into the treatment center and talked about having been on death row in Huntsville and how he’d gotten a second lease on life, managing to get off of death row and eventually out of prison. He had been free for about 7 years and drug free for a little over 6. He spent his time going into treatment centers and prisons, carrying a message of recovery.

When I left the treatment center a couple weeks ago with a group to go to an "outside meeting", Earl was the first one who reached out to me, welcomed me to the meeting and actually remembered my name. As I got more involved in NA over the next few years, Earl and I got to know each other a little bit, and I even had a chance to go to Walla Walla with him one time where we took meetings to minimum security, and then to the maximum security inmates. Earl was able to relate to these men in a way few can.

Earl was a remarkable man, who always encouraged newcomers to recovery, always demonstrated a love for others who were trying to make meaningful change in their lives and always modeling total dedication to the 12-step way of life. He said things like “Just pick a birthday and keep it.” And he did. For 31 years.

Friday evening, November 7th, almost exactly 25 years to the day after I met Earl, this wonderful man and good friend passed away. Attending the weekly meeting of Friday Night Alive in the South King County area of NA, Earl was asked to speak. He went to the podium and shared with the group about recovery. Then he sat down again. A few minutes later, Earl suffered a massive heart attack and left the group.

While we never like losing our friends, our mentors, our leaders, it seems like this is a good passing for Earl. Sitting in a group of people he loved and who loved him. Doing the thing he loved most in life. He lived a good life and will be sorely missed.

Rest, my friend. You earned it.

Autumn is Here

So last night I'm riding home from work. I tell Mimi I want to ride long since I didn't get much of a ride in before work, and I'm heading out to the Duwamish, where I'm gonna ride down through Renton and back up along the lake. Everything is really lovely this week with temps in the mid-70's to mid-80's predicted all week. I have Mimi's new Pentax camera with me since I wore mine out (over 10,000 photos they all seem to quit functioning for some reason). I turn onto Spokane St. heading toward the bridge and hear a train coming. Not a problem since they are on tracks I don't have to cross and have their own bridge. I see a nice break in traffic that allows me to hop across 4 lanes of roadway onto the bike path/sidewalk going onto the swing bridge. I hear the bells start to ring, and think to myself they're gonna lower the train bridge. It is always up and I would really like to capture a shot of it down for a change, especially with Mt. Rainier so big and bright today with the winds we've been having to blow the smog away. Gorgeous afternoon!!! I start up the bridge and see the train approaching, but the bridge isn't moving. The bells keep ringing their warning, but no action yet. Then I see the sand barges. I think to myself that I should really stop and get a shot of this, as it is really beautiful out this afternoon. I generally will take 4 to 6 shots to make sure I have one I really like. I get almost to the top of the bridge and stop. Grab the camera and zoom in to get a good shot of the barges and mountain, since the train bridge isn't dropping (it's a single leaf drawspan) and had taken my first photo when I hear a voice on the loudspeaker. I don't think much of it, thinking it is coming from one of the boats below me. I'm getting ready to take another photo when I hear it again, only this time it sounds a bit irritated. Still don't give it much thought, but then I hear it again, "The bridge is preparing to open. The guy down there on the bridge with the bike needs to keep moving!!!!" OH, they're talking to ME! It's MY bridge that is getting ready to move, not the train bridge. I look behind me and the gate is closed. Oh, they're waiting for me to get off the Spokane St. Bridge (a double leaf "swing bridge") so they can open it for some big ship to go through. NOW I GET IT! So I carefully place my camera back into my jersey pocket, hitch up my shorts so they won't get caught on the saddle, straddle the top tube, click in, and ride off, waving merrily (with ALL of my fingers extended) to the bridge tender and ride off down the other side of the bridge. As soon as I was "almost" safely out of the way, he triggered the button to close the gate, and continued on with his work. I, of course, continued on down the exit from the bridge, turned sharp left onto West Marginal Way and went merrily along my way, satisfied with just one beautiful shot of the mountain.

Later, as I rolled into Renton, I turned off Grady Way onto the bike path by the Waste Water Treatment Plant and was greeted by yet another pretty scene, as the sun was now low in the sky, giving off a wonderful golden glow to everything. I remembered Machka's "First Day of Spring" post earlier, so stopped to grab yet another pretty shot of the LAST DAY OF SUMMER-2009!

Though this week is supposed to be in the 80's it won't be long now before we are pulling on all the layers of wool, booties, rain jackets, ear warmers, long gloves with wool fingerless 'overgloves' and heading out looking like Ralphie's little brother in his snowsuit in that wonderful Christmas movie. For now, however, I'm sure digging the first day of autumn that more resembles mid-July except for the shortness of the daylight hours.

WELCOME TO AUTUMN!!