Beautiful Weather

It sure feels like spring is here! We had a good group on Saturday - 7 riders. Hooray! We did Cougar Mt but I turned around before the last bit because some people had time constraints. We went a nice easy pace which made the legs feel good. It's fun to ride fast with the guys but I like the laid back pace of the women's ride. And then I get to do more climbing because I'm not toasted.

On Sunday I did a practice time trial on the computrainer to get ready for Ice Breaker next week. I hope the weather stays nice!

Where are my teammates?

The weather was awsome today - sunny and in the high 40's - low 50's. There were only two women on the ride due to vacations, snow, relatives, world cup racing, and injuries. Anyway we scheduled our ride to coincide with the men's ride so we'd have some company. We are getting a bit smarter. The ride was really nice - the guys were going all the way out to High Rock so we just followed them until the top of Hollywood hill and then looped back - taking Perkins hill instead of the trail back. I didn't realize Perkins hill had a river along it. It was so nice it reminded me of riding in Switzerland because you could hear the water around the corner and the road twisted up. When I rode in Switzerland there were an uncountable number of water falls and twisty forested roads. The air smelt really fresh today too.

On the way out we took 40th/35th and just got on the trail for the last block. The last block was full of dog walkers, pedestrians, joggers, and recreational cyclists. I think it's that season again. I'm glad there is an alternate.

When I got home I stopped to check the crocuses - and they were blooming!

Which is better wind or rain?

We were debating during our ride if it was better to have rain or the really windy day we had on Sunday. We agreed that wind was better but not much better! I screamed when one gust surprised me on the little bridge heading towards logboom from Woodinville. There were some times where it felt like we were barely making forward progress.

It was a long fun ride though - here is some of it - http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Welsh-Road-and-trail-detour .

We were heading down Elliot and the road was completely out - a 20' deep ditch that had a 1-foot wide muddy ledge on the side. I was all for turning around but Sharon bravely tested it out for us and jumped on the side a few times to make sure it was stable ground. We hoisted our bikes on our shoulders for about 100 feet of mushy stuff. I knew I would have trouble with the speedplay cleats after that. We got across and everyone was cleaning off the cleats and I yelled "car back" - just for fun. I got everybody to look - hee hee.

After log boom Jen and I took a nice detour to avoid the trail. I especially liked the part along Ravenna Avenue. I'll have to do that one again.

Team ride with the Garage

There were just four of us on the ride today and we were taking turns slogging through the wind two at a time when the Garage mens team came by. We couldn't resist jumping on their wheels. They were really nice about it and we all rode to Coulon together. It's much funner in a big group and they are nice and smooth. After Coulon we took off up MacDonnalds hill and then the Garage team caught us just before the top. I turned around at that point because I wanted to make my caucus. Two of the Garage guys (Neal and Wick) rode back with me. It was great because otherwise I would have been all by myself. They even waited for me when I got dropped on the bridge. We had a strong tailwind through the arboretum and I actually ran out of gears! That was the first time this year I've needed to go to my biggest gear.

Caucus Report

I went to a caucus today and it was crazy. The caucus was across the street at a public school. I figured I would head over there at 1:00 because there might be a lot of people. It was insane. There were masses of people all converging on the school. I have to admit that it gave me goosebumps to see so many people took the time and effort to go.

There were multiple caucuses at the school and at 1:00 it was already packed. There were five caucuses in the Gym alone. We got in there and you could barely hear anybody it was so loud. I am sure we exceeded the maximum occupancy of the room by at least 2 if not 3. I found an empty spot on the floor to wait. It was steaming hot. I looked around and saw two undersized ventilation openings on the wall. There were windows high up on the walls and they were covered with condensation.

We started by having everyone say the pledge of allegiance together. Then they shouted the official rules and proceedures. Then each group did an initial tally of the sign-in votes. No one in my group was undecided. A person volunteered to speak for each of the candidates for 1 minute (the maximum allowed time). Then there was a chance for people to change their vote or try to convince others to change their vote. I don't think anybody was discussing the candidates but if they were I couldn't hear anyway. I don't think anybody changed their vote. Most of the time was spent waiting for someone to add up the votes by hand. Finally we did the second tally and had to elect people to represent us at the next tier. I left since our caucus seem to have a clear winner (my candidate).

I think it was actually dangerous to have so many people packed into one space. I hope they change the process before the next election. I respect people's right to vote for a different candidate than me and I do not believe in trying to change people's minds.

Carbon Offsets?

I was in the garage of the office building where I work downtown and one of the guys from another office was going to his car. He joked that maybe he could buy carbon offsets from me so he could reduce his footprint. It sounded like a great idea to me. Maybe someday it will be a reality and I can profit from riding to work.

Help with a flat

I have a tight schedule on my way home, I leave work go home pick up my books for French class and I have about 5 minutes to eat something before heading to class. So when I went to leave yesterday and I had a rear flat on the fixie I figured I would be late for sure. I rolled the bike out of the garage so the garage attendant wouldn't try to help me. He knows nothing about bikes but is too chilvarous to let a woman work on a bike with a wrench. So I'm on the sidewalk changing the tire between the buidlings with 50 mph gusts of wind. The tire is really hard to change, it's is so fat that you can't get it between the rear breaks with out smashing to through un-inflated. I ride a fixie but I also have rear brakes for extra safety but this makes it tricky to line up the wheel right because the rear dropouts are horizontal. You have to put the chain around the gear pull back on the wheel and tighten with your wrench. Not hard if you have three hands! So I get it almost fixed and I'm at the hardest part which I always screw up and it's getting later. Then a messenger pulls up on a sweet Bianchi Pista (the same bike as my new track bike!) He had the wheel fixed on in about 30 seconds and I was on my way with the 50 mph tail wind at my back blowing me home. Nice! I wasn't even late for class afterall.

Sprints

It was really nice this weekend eventhough snow was predicted again. It wasn't freezing around here but I guess the men's group ran into some ice in the high rock area. I saw some snow on the road still up by the church at the top of the hill after Bothell.

The women's group practiced attacks on Saturday. It was fun but I really fried my legs. I think I have to re-introduce short hard efforts to my body. I was pretty wasted and was not going to ride on Sunday. Then I went to the bowling benefit for Kenny and Kele's world cup racing and ended up telling people I would ride on Sunday. So I had to show up. We did more sprints and my legs were really really fried after that. It was a fun ride though even if I didn't know where all of the sprints were supposed to be!