chilly hilly pre ride

We took on Bainbridge Island this weekend so we can get a feel for Chilly Hilly. This has got to be the most work I've put into a bike ride in a long long time.

See that hill at the beginning? That isn't officially on the Chilly Hilly route. I didn't really know the route and just went for it, and as I turned the corner, the route guide that dieter printed out for me fell out of my pocket (1st of many times this ride), and I was half way up the hill by the time I noticed. We rode up to the top until we passed Valley and realized that Valley wasn't supposed to come up as a turn for several more miles, so we turned back and took the correct turn at the bottom of the hill. My bad guys, but I'm not that sorry. I'm pretty sure this is going to be a new favorite route for this summer. Sorry Mercer, you've been replaced. Below are other ride maps/information. ~36 miles not including commute to the ferry from Udistrict(me)/Tacoma(otherdudes)

Le Tour de Gig Harbor

I threw Fox Island in there for you Deetr. Let me know what you guys think. But I'm not changing anything. ;)

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/wa/tacoma/989126498644888086

because i'm in a thesis writers block...

guh... what happened... we did this last week?

i liked this ride a LOT. i'm a big hill climber, that could be why. we also came upon our most formidable hill yet. i marked it with the hors category marker.

oh. and i mapped it.

so yeah, 20% grade, that sucked. keeg and i just started to power up it and by the time we got most of the way up (about where the HC marker is) we were sucking air so bad that we had to stop. alex got really pissed off at us about that hill (i still secretly like it).

further on the route there's an area on Banner Rd. that is supposed to be fairly flat, but as keeg and i came up on it the slope kept getting steeper. i was on my brakes the whole time maxing out at 38mph because i didn't want to hit keeg if he spilled going down it, but going up the other side i think it's well established that we will be able to handle the rolling hills of chilly hilly, as long as we choose our pace correctly.

i've been doing intervals on my trainer at the ends of my bi-weekly workouts, which is supposed to lead to something about better VO2... something... i think what it leads me to do more though is sprint down hills as i set my new max speed of 42mph.

the ride concluded with a few short climbs, mad props to dick for passing up keegan on the last climbs and coming in second (something i didn't really expect, dick was a good length back in the last 5 miles). mad props also to alex for doing this ride on his first ride since stp last year, my condolences to his ass, knees and legs.

normal props to keeg.

Commute Home

Here is my ride home from Renton. I got a little lost in the beginning (thanks a lot google maps...) but it all turned out alright.

The interurban trail is awesome! Away from roads, a nice wide trail, nature on both sides most of the way. About 12 miles with almost no stops. Sweet.

Everything was going good until I got off the Interurban. Jovita blvd has ZERO shoulder and is a windy, uphill, busy road. On the plus side, I powered up about 200 feet of elevation without even thinking because my mind was focused on not dying.

I made it up my hill at the end with minimal problems. I didn't get off the bike the whole time up which I was proud of. I did some serious out of the saddle work...


Anyways, it took me about 2.5 hours and my bicyclotrometer told me that I went 31.78 miles which is roughly -1 boner miles :/

If Deetr would EVER post our Saterday ride then I could total my miles for this week ;)

btw, here is the link:

http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/wa/renton/526126447253029322