Sun, bikes, and Copper River
It’s been a great Saturday, even if Pete tried to kill me today. Well, that’s not entirely fair, or even fair at all. My misery was self-induced.
Sunshine has returned to Seattle - it was about 85° F today, so I biked to work on Thursday and Friday, and decided to go for a longer ride today. I called Pete up, and he was game, so around noon, close to the peak of the midday heat, I set out through Ravenna and met up with him on the Burke Gilman by Husky Stadium.
The plan was to do the north end of the lake, which is a little longer (35 mile loop or so) than I normally do, especially considering I haven’t ridden that much this year, but I wasn’t expecting problems. So, we headed north on the B-G, through U village, towards Matthews Beach, through Lake Forest Park (and all their damn NIMBY stop signs), around the tip of the lake, down towards Kirkland (through Juanita).
All pretty good so far. Biking through Kirkland was entertaining - lots of people out and about at Juanita Beach, and pretty much identical story at each beach we passed along the way.
Past Kirkland, there are a few hills, which were starting to give me trouble, but I thought I had things under control. Once we got to Bellevue though, I was really starting to feel the burn. It turns out I didn’t really eat much - a bowl of cereal for breakfast, a granola bar before I left, and a power bar when we stopped near St. Edwards Park. Lack of eating was likely more of a factor than my lack of riding a lot this year.
Anyway, I got through the last hill in Bellevue, cruised at a mellow pace across Mercer Island and the I-90 bridge, and was tired but ecstatic to take a break when we got to Pete’s house in Leschi.
I hung out with Pete, Taryn, and Haedyn, who was a little cranky from lack of sleep and amusingly, after crying it out, crashed on the floor. Poor Haedyn. After replenishing a bit with some grapes and water, I decided to head home for the final leg. It was a struggle, and I didn’t do myself any favors by continuing along the waterfront past Madison Park, which ended up being a dead end due to the 520 connector and the Arboretum, so I had to circle back and head up Madison.
I finally made it home, 49 miles in all, a pretty good effort for not riding much. Despite my depleted energy, it was a fun ride and good to catch up with Pete. When I got home, I quickly said hi to Meagan who was studying outside before I ran inside to grab any food I could get my paws on. Some salt and pepper kettle chips (”cocaine chips”), a string cheese stick, a granola bar, water, and a diet coke fit the bill quite nicely. Meagan had a amused look of disbelief and disapproval at the primal way I was eating what was effectively lunch.
After catching my breath, I went for a short walk with Meagan near Green Lake. It was quite pleasant, aided by the fact that the sun had gone down a bit and the lake wasn’t quite as crowded. I added a iced mocha to cool off and refuel further. After sitting on a bench near the lake for a bit, we headed home.
The fun continued when I went to Whole Foods to pick up the first-of-the-season Copper River salmon for dinner. When I got home, I fired up the grill, and cooked the Chinook fillet on a cedar plank, served with boiled potatoes, spicy mushrooms and arugula, and some artichokes. Coupled with a nice Oregon Pinot, it was pretty fantastic.
Just to make things over the top - it’s time for a little raspberry shortcake….