Seven Hills pf Kirkland Pic

Ok, got this email that the SHOK ride was photographed by Woodinville Cycle. Click link. Page arrives by your regular ol' http internet transfer and pops up on my computer screen. Wow, 2983 pictures. Man I gotta find my pic. Click, click, click. I'm looking for what I was wearing that morning - fluorescent yellow rain jacket. JUST LIKE ABOUT 90% OF THE OTHER RIDERS! We cyclist seem to like that bright yellow gear! Any way, I found my pick... pic 763 of 1328 from camera one (there was three cameras at various spots for the ride). Hey... damn, that is a good pic... according to the S.O.! Look at me... lookin' all serious. Nicely color coordinated. Standin' on the pedals - the hill was a bugger!

 

So, I just had to share. Shout out to Woodinville Bicycle for taking the pictures.

Seven Hills of Kirkland... Another Year

So, Memorial day found me sloggin' through a persistent, cool Seattle rain... for four hours. Up down, up down, slog, slog, slog some more. I did the Seven Hills of Kirkland. The ride is a charity ride for a fundraiser for KITH, a charity which assists individuals and families on the Eastside who are caught in a homelessness crisis. A great cause. Yet, there is no charity on the 'Seven Hills'. I did the metric century (remember the 'Think Metric' campaign of the 70s?). But the horizontal is not the issue, the vertical is what sticks in your craw! A total of 4600 feet of vert riding over an offical 93 km by computer. Hmmm... seems like the 'century' mileage was miscalculated by the ride organizers.

No worries. Again, the total distance was not the issue, but the total elevation gain was... shall we say 'one tough bugger'. But, I did it. And each year (I thing this is my 4th), I get stronger. And this season, I have been training quite strong and the rewards are paying off.

And if just stewing in your own physical self doubts for four hours is not enjoyable enough, the Seven Hills ride has a bagpiper on top Winery Hill (one tough mutha of a hill) to provide piping motivation to keep going.  This is always a treat.

I am about 5 weeks out from heading out on the Grand Tour. Things are picking up... seems almost here. Just need to push through the last few weeks of training and all will be good. :)

Grand Tour, Vines to Bitterroots, the routes are in!

I have added in the 5 days of routes on the right side bar. Can't miss 'em! But below is the over view.

300 miles over the course of 5 days.
Over 12,000 feet of climbing.

Holy twisted spokes Bicycle Man!

Yowie!

The Devil Made Me Do It.

Today was one of those training season milestones, required, vital and Devillish. Midway through the training season, first ride yah pony up an entry fee and then to boot... road side Devils!. Rode the Skagit Spring Classic - metric century (100K). This is a nice ride in beautiful country east of Mt Vernon and south of Bellingham. The highlight of the ride is riding over Chuckanut drive. For years the ride has had the 'devil' stationed on Bow Hill Road to cheer you on. This year, I stopped and asked if we could get a pic. The devil said in a very nice (female) voice... "sure, if you dare!" Did not know the Devil was female! The devil was very gracious and gave accolades to our fine bicycles. It's the only pic of our ride today. BTW- I'm the guy in the green Jersey. My wheel mate is in the red... jersey. The devil is the one with the horns.

We were able to crush the route. Smoked it in 3:32:12 at an average of 17.8 mph. The total mileage was 62.86 mi and total elevation gain was 2,310 ft. This was probably the best day I've ever had on a long-haul mileage event. It really helped to ride with someone and you pull, they pull, you pull and they pull again and at some point you look down at the computer and realize you're moving at 22 clicks per hour! Freakin' brilliant.

After the ride, we rewarded ourselves in Mt Vernon at Skagit Brewing with a few pints of cold beer. Ahhh, was in heaven.

Finally. The length of my ride is not inversely proportional to the temperature!

What a day in Seattle today! I think it topped out at 78 degrees! I did a 55 miler today. And for once, the temp was proportional to the miles I road. Usually, it's the other way around. Last weekend, I needed to do about 50 miles and I swear it felt like 40 degrees out there. More miles... seems to get decreasing temps. But not today!

Here is today's ride stats. Courtesy of my new Garmin Edge 500.

Enjoy!

ORCOMM, On the Road Communication

So, I'm a big fan of on the road communication. With the ubiquity of cell phones and cell towers, we have grown accustomed to communicating at the push of a button. And now, at least on my Iphone, I can hail Suri and say - "call Mergatroyd" and by God that durn device knows to call the wife! No button pushing needed. Well, believe it or not, there are some places in this world, that cell signals are... wait for it... wait for it... flat-lined! Can you believe it? My ride last year (The 2012 Cascade Traverse By-Pedal Expedition to Save the Endangered Human Folly) did indeed see a fair amount of "dead zones". The good part, I did not bump into Christopher Walken. Ok, silly reference, I know. I did use a satellite tracking device that allowed others to see my progress as well as allowed me to issue an "SOS" to EMS if something went awry in my travels. This made me have some comfort on the road and Meragtroyd likes it too. This year, I am implementing a better COMPRO (aka communication protocol) and I have to tell you it's pretty cool.

So, on Lolo pass, in Idaho and Montana, there is no cell service. I dunno... must be pretty desolate up there. That is why Lewis and Clark had a whole bunch of problems in the late summer of 1805 trying to cross the Bitterroots. Enter 2013, enter technology. Or at least, enter... a different technology. This year, I will be usng the Delorme InReach satellite communication device. This baby allows two way texting, when out of cell service, as well as SOS functionality. I have been using the SPOT Tracker for a 5-6 years for motorcycle rides (my other two wheel passion) as well as last years Folly Tour, but it's pretty limited in its capability. The Delorme definitely ups the ante and I feel much better being on the road now. Of course, my rides are pretty tame in terms of adventure (I ain't going across Africa on my own), but as the Boy Scout motto says... be prepared.