Smokey Ride Aug 20, 2023

 Smokey but just good enough to ride!

Too Hot Today! Did a short ride only. Aug 15, 2023

 Too hot today!!

Scouting Ride on a Glorious Day - Aug 17, 2023!

 The Pacific Northwest was at its finest today!  Scouting for future rides and how to get around the Stoneway North construction....

Cascade Group Ride, August 13, 2023

The weekly Woodinville Sunday ride for coffee rode northward to Mill Creek today with  Brisk group and a Moderate group. Due to some unusual circumstances today with the Roubaix, I ended riding my ebike for half the route (thanks to my Bride for shuttling me to the halfway point).  Since I wasn’t in front, I had the opportunity to sweep the second half of the ride which allowed me to observe more of our group during the ride. I was pleased to note we had well versed riders in terms of group riding skills including hazard callouts, traffic alerts, group spacing & cohesion, and signaling for both turns and speed changes. This group today was very good in adhering to both the letter and the spirit of SMART riding.  

Special thanks today for co-leading to Jeff, Allan, Karil, and Dayle

Cascade Group Ride, The Kirkland Social, August 10, 2023

 I elected to use the CrossKirkland Corridor / Eastrail largely gravel route to head over to Kirkland to join the Volta’s led Thursday Social Ride. The route they took had some novel segments in Bellevue and Kirkland which I think would fit well into some of my future Sunday rides! Always glad to learn new route ideas to spice us up our traditional rides. 

Cascade Group Ride, TREATS, August 8, 2023

 This week’s TREATS* free group ride explored some relatively obscure routes north of Woodinville. While the % of unpaved route was small, the single track was quite unusual for this ride! But it was all part of the adventure today and some new route options were found. Our lunch stop ended up at the Maltby Park before we returned to Woodinville. 

A The route had some “interesting” hills at the start, so I felt I would be kind to myself and use the ebike. After climbing up Fales Road (north to south), the bike selection seemed amazingly good! :>)

TREATS - a regular Tuesday ride of the Cascade Bicycle Club - TREATS: Tuesday Regular Active TourS

Cascade Group Ride, Aug 6, 2023

 Our Sunday ride from Woodinville this week had two pace groups, a Brisk pace and a Moderate pace. While our coffee destination was originally planned for the Starbucks in Madison Park, one of our riders (Thanks! Polly) had been there this last week and found it to be closed for renovation!  We quickly developed our Plan B which was to head south from our earlier planned route for a short distance to Leschi for our coffee stop! While this location is often pretty busy, today it was quite manageable perhaps because Lake Washington Blvd was likely closed a short distance away due to the Seafair Hydroplane Race today. In any event, the alternate stop worked well for both groups.  

Cascade Group Ride, July 30, 2023

Our weekly Sunday ride from Woodinville for coffee went through Kirkland, Medina, Bellevue, Beaux Arts with our coffee stop at Snyder’s Corner in Kirkland (Rose Hill). We had two strong groups today riding at Moderate and Brisk paces. The few low clouds we experienced this morning were welcome as they help keep the temps moderated as we are now in the period where we expect the higher summer temps for greater Seattle. 

Thanks to Jeff Samiljan for leading the Brisk group and Allan Albright and Karil Morrissey for co-leading the Moderate group.

Friday Ride for Errands and Scouting, July 28, 2023

Decided to do some follow-up to yesterday’s ride and also to see how I liked using the ebike for local errands like going tomthe Library and putting votes into the ballot box.  In good weather and without having to leave the bike, running errands seemed like a good use of the ebike. It was just under 4 miles to the library.  Probably it won’t be much more mileage either to the PCC store or to Safeway!  I am going to have to find my old lock and see how I will feel about leaving the ebike locked outside the store for the time I would be shopping. Theft has always been a worry for the Bride and me. 

Scout Ride on ebike, July 27, 2023

 Decided to take the ebike (perhaps a lack of enthusiasm for solo riding today?) and did some route exploring on non-paved routes near our home.  I am thinking of using these for some future local mixed surface group rides.  The forested area on Redmond Ridge and by the Redmond Watershed were delightful today and most road bikes could handle the surfaces.  A good albeit brief ride today with more of a “fun” factor than a fitness factor.

 

Cascade Group Ride, Lake Sammamish Loop (TREATS), July 25, 2023

 19 of us joined this week’s TREATS* ride around Lake Sammamish on this delightfully cool summer morning. I had almost forgotten how much we enjoy a smattering of clouds….must be a Pacific Northwest thing! Our destination was the Issaquah Coffee Shop which, although a bit busy, was able to handle our orders with reasonable dispatch. 

* TREATS - Tuesday Regular Eclectic Active TourS

 

Cascade Group Ride to Edmonds Waterfront, July 23, 2023

 Our Sunday Free Group Ride left Woodinville and headed to the Edmonds Waterfront for coffee on this especially fine summer day. This has become our “classic” route for this destination and it is hard to beat. Our group was pretty similar in abilities today and we didn’t need to split into subgrouops as sometimes so when riding into Edmonds on Olympic View Drive. Well, I say similar in abilities in the sense that I didn’t (couldn’t?) drop anyone today…..and well over half the group dropped me on all of the climbs! So perhaps it would be just as valid to say that the group overall slowed down so I could lead them. :>)

In any event, it was another great ride and our riding conditions continue to be exemplar and perhaps the best in the country for now.  

Scout Ride with Dayle, July 21, 2023

 Dayle and I headed out on our scout ride on Friday just about noon (after my weekly Bridge game). The weather was as close to perfect as we could expect! Just after we started, I noted there was a new Park installation in Kenmore....a park whose name I can't spell or pronounce!  It had good restrooms but the park was pedestrian only so we didn't bike through it.  It looks to offer some good access to the water however.  Worth exploring another time. The climb up Juanita Hill went well (albeit slowly for me!). We noted that the Kirkland Summerfest will be held the weekend after next......I will have to change my planned rest stop for the Sunday ride based on that info.  Carillon Point was a great coffee stop when we have good weather - Starbucks and a cafe with easy fare at Carillon Kitchen.  Our route was to return via the gravel Cross Kirkland Connector and our proposed routing actually worked out better than what others had recommended...this might be the new "normal" for access from 68th St.  Yeah, we got dust on everything but it was largely a nice slow downhill grade most of the way.  The new overpass by 124th St was epically good although I hesitate to guess how much it cost to do! We took a detour through Totem Lake Park which has restrooms and which could be an optional stop on a return route in the future. We decided that the trail crossing they have is too wonky for most of us and decided to cut over a block onto a road and then cross above the trail onto a road which will take us to the return section of the Eastrail.  That seems like a better to take a group through there at least on a Sunday.  Lastly, we stopped at the Lavender fields adjacent to St Michelle Winery and talked to the people there.  Very pretty fields, they sell plants as well. Admission to wander the fields is $10 however which struck me as high.....but then everything is high these days so what do I know?  I did note that the parking lot across from St Michelle was charging $40 to park for people who wanted to attend the concert that evening.  I'll stay home and enjoy some classical music on King-FM.  :>)

 

Overall, we learned enough routing info to put together a new Sunday ride and a new TREATS ride (slightly shorter) so in addition to the great company and riding conditions, I ended up a bit smarter than when we started the ride!  Always a good thing.