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Weekend in da hood

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Although there were some “glitches” to the weekend, it was a pretty awesome time to live in Tacoma.

I woke up bright and early on Saturday morning ready to go to the farmer’s market with Francine.

As I walked into the living room, still slightly blind and not yet caffeinated, I heard an odd noise in the living room. I wandered in, dazed and squinting thinking that I was going to have to deal with a mouse or something.

The sound was too distinct, too rhythmic, as I got closer, it sounded like “drip… drip… drip…”

It was barely drizzling outside, nothing should be dripping.

That’s when I found the leak just inside my front door (the only flat part of my roof)

a few buckets and an emergency call to Guardian Roofing and my house is now graced with a lovely white tarp (hey, it’s only ghetto if you use a blue tarp right?)

At least it didn’t happen during the actual rainy season. It will all work out.

I still managed to have a lovely girls afternoon with my long time friend Betsy having her birthday pedicure at Club Biella and a nice lunch at Dukes on the waterfront.

I came home to catch up on writing and to clean my office (my desk now resembles and archaeological dig: I think my PSE bill is in the Precambrian layer)

Ah, but that was not to be. My phone rang and it was my manager. She has only called me at home twice in the last five years. The last time was an emergency with a suspect in the act of committing fraud. This time was no different and after three hours, I had the satisfaction of seeing someone who has been the bane of my existence for the last three years lead away in handcuffs.

After that, I headed North to meet up with some friends from high school for a mini reunion. We graduated [cough] 30 years ago in Ventura California, but two of us live up here in the PNW and another friend who now lives in San Francisco was up visiting family

Sunday morning was another (unfortunately) early wake up call because the guy that was going to stain my fence and pergola couldn’t do it on Saturday as planned and came early Sunday.

I was ready for a slug day, when my friend Janet showed up on her bike wanting to go for a ride. It was just what I needed (to get off my ass) after 3 months of escrow, moving and rehabbing a fractured foot/big toe.

We wandered around the garden grazing on blueberries and peas and marveling at how Tagro creates mutant like vegetable growth.

We rode out to Proctor to check out Jubilee Cupcakes. I had tried the place once under the old name/recipe and was disappointed by the dry (almost stale tasting) cupcake. I had heard that they reworked their recipe to make it more moist, so I was anxious to try it.

We arrived at 11:45 to find a huge sign on the door saying that they wouldn’t be open until 11:00. The door was unlocked so we went in.

We were excited to try the cupcakes and sip some coffee on the porch.

We chose our cupcakes and asked for cups of drip coffee.

They couldn’t do it because their espresso machine was “being serviced”.

They had “french press” coffee on the menu so we said that we’d like that.

They couldn’t do that.

So is it that they can’t boil water without the espresso machine (no stove, no microwave?) or that you can’t grind coffee without the machine.

I can tell you that if it was my business, I’d have walked the one block over to Metro Market or Safeway and purchased ground coffee. If it was a water issue, I’d have grabbed a microwave or teapot form home.

Sorry Jubilee, but this may have been your last chance.

It’s too hard to try and love you.

We rode out to the Antique Sandwich (where we have NEVER been disappointed), and had pie and coffee out in the garden.

After that, we had a lovely ride around Five Mile Drive amongst the old growth trees and Puget Sound and then headed over to the HUB to enjoy a happy hour Buffalo Chicken Pizza and a Harmon beer.

We meandered back towards my hood (Hilltop) and stopped off at my friend Francine’s house. I could smell the unmistakable scent of roasting coffee beans.

We wandered her garden for a while and then headed back home.

Francine and I then went foraging.

The alleys of Hilltop are ripe with opportunity and culinary delights. We picked (and ate) our fill of blackberries, checked on the overgrown grape vines that will provide us tasty treats in a few weeks and also visited some apple trees.

When I got home (with the few berries I didn’t eat) I engaged in an experiement.

I didn’t have any small tart pans, but I did find a funky little pan that bakes little bundt cake shaped brownies.

I rolled out some pie crust with a bit of extra butter and moisture, cut it into little circles with my water glasses and lined the mini bundt forms with the crust.

Then I made a tart filling out of sour cream, fresh eggs (from the back yard, it doesn’t get any more fresh that pulling it out from under a chicken) flour, sugar and vanilla. I topped the tarts with blackberries so fresh and sweet that they didn’t need any sugar.

They turned out awesome (now I just need to figure out how to replicate the recipe).

I’m tellin’ ya…

Heaven is a little slice of Hilltop.

~L

Mood: exhausted



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Life August 10th 2010

My Arrhythmic Auburn Adventure

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What a day! Numerous things that could go wrong, did go wrong.

I had a pretty stressful week last week. Between the weather rapidly changing, extremely high pollen counts and my girly hormones I had a sinus/migrainey headache for nearly three days. The time change kicked my butt in a big way, so I was sleep deprived and I wasn’t eating as well as I should have.

Add to this the fact that I’ve been trying to get a hold of the public administrator that’s dealing with my Mom’s stuff only to discover that she doesn’t work there anymore and you get one very stressed out tired Lisa who doesn’t feel well.

I was looking forward to the Tacoma Wheelmen Training ride this morning (I didn’t have to lead this one) and set my alarm nice and early (but still went to bed early enough to get a full 8 hours sleep for a change).

Of course, the alarm went off and I fell back to sleep.

I ate a quick breakfast, slammed down my latte and ran out the door with my bike gear.

That’s when I remembered that I needed to get gas. No way was I going to make it in time.

I called Carla’s cell to let her know I was running late (even though I was not leading today, I was supposed to give the safety talk) and did my best to get there quickly but safely.

As I arrived at the Sumner Library, I saw the group I was going to ride with (the 15-17 mph group) leaving, and the slower group in the parking lot. I had my race bike and I wanted to ride faster than they would go, so I grabbed a queue sheet from Cynthia, hopped on the bike and hauled butt down the road.

I was cruising at about 22 miles per hour when I passed my turn off (I was riding the route I knew, not the route that was on the sheet). It was then that I realized I felt funny.

I looked at my Garmin and discovered that my heart rate was 190 and rising.

Not good.

I turned around, got off the bike sat on a grassy area near a gas station and did the Valslava Maneuver to get my heart rate back down. info for those interested in PSVT and the above mentioned maneuver here

Uh yeah… can you say stress, lack of sleep, too much caffeine too quickly and hauling ass when not warmed up?

Dork!

After few seconds, I got my heart rate back down to 145 (reasonable for someone riding 22 mph) I got back on my bike and continued hauling butt to try to catch up. At this time, I was certain that I was probably now behind the slow group.

I followed the queue sheets and did fine until I got on 15 NW in Auburn. The queue sheet said right on that street and then left on another. Well, in order to get on that other street you need to take a right and loop around under the bridge. I didn’t know that, so I crossed the bridge and kept on going.

Off into the busy busy heart of Auburn I went thinking to myself, “I wouldn’t have planned a route through all of this traffic.” (well duh! That wasn’t the route)

I finally figured out that I was way WAY off track and looped around back to where I thought I could pick up the road I missed. I never found it, but did find a parallel road. I turned to get to West Valley Highway about where I figured I should be turning if I were on track.

As I turned onto the highway, I found the group, MY group, the one I was trying to catch stopped at a gas station (thank goodness for one rider’s self proclaimed weak bladder).

I had ridden one mile more than they had and had stooped to deal with the heart rate issues and still caught them. I was feeling pretty happy about that.

It was a fun ride.

twbccenturytrainingride03-20-10

TWBC Level II Training Ride 03-20-10 004

TWBC Level II Training Ride 03-20-10 005

TWBC Level II Training Ride 03-20-10 006

Near the end, when I was taking these pictures, I turned to tell one of the guys (amazed that I could take picture and ride) “My first horrible crash will most likely involve a camera.”

He said, “I don’t want to be involved in that” and gave me a bit of (good natured) crap about it.

About ¼ mile later, I heard a crash and the sound of a head (in a helmet thankfully) smacking the pavement. He had turned to look for some folks that couldn’t keep up, lost his balance and went down, HARD.

We got him and his bike checked out and they were fine. He’ll need a new helmet though.

Give me crap will you? ;)

Not proofreading this, just getting my butt to bed. Today was insanely busy and I have to be up early tomorrow for the Wallace Falls Hike.

Moondance party photos (just a few) are uploading to my Flickr’ page

~L

Mood: Tired



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cycling March 20th 2010

Disjointed

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Sheesh, what a week (or so)

I’ve been working on this update for several days, running out of time at each attempt, and decided to use this morning’s break time to get it posted.

Oh, and if I owe you email or a phone call, sorry. I’m really behind on all correspondence.

Saturday was a fun ride with the Cascade Bicycle Club-We started out at the Red Hook Brewery in Woodinville, rode down the Sammamish River trail, around the lake and back to the brewery for lunch (and a beer or two) at Forecaster’s Pub

Red  Hook Lake Sammamish Ride

The ride was 35 miles and the group I was with averages about 15 mph.

After that, I headed over to the Y for a swim workout. I could barely feel my legs after a few rounds of dolphin kicking.

I killed my bike computer some time ago, and have been relying on my Garmin for bike data. Since I use it for multi-sport/triathlon, it’s a wrist model and it’s difficult to view my current speed. It also doesn’t stop the clock when I stop so my average speed doesn’t calculate correctly.

I sucked it up and bought a Sigma wireless bike computer. Since I’m going to be leading rides for Both Cascade and the Tacoma Wheelmen, I need to make sure that I’m riding the advertised pace of the ride and I need to be able to see that quickly. It will also be nice to know what my actual average is. This model is waterproof, so hopefully I won’t kill it as quickly as my previous one.

bike stuff (aka gear whorage) 001

AND, it’s wireless… which made it much easier to install

bike stuff (aka gear whorage) 002

On Sunday, I took a group out for the Tacoma Wheelmen. We started at the HUB which is only four blocks from my place and it’s happy hour all day on Sunday ($5 buffalo chicken pizza… YUM!)

In honor of my favorite ride start location, I work my favorite Cycles Gladiator Jersey. (I have a long sleeve one for winter and a sleeveless one for summer)

bike stuff (aka gear whorage) 006

This ride was 38 miles with about 1,900 feet of climbing. We made a loop around Pt Defiance, crossed the narrows bridge, rode the Cushman Powerline Trail all the way to the hilly end (several 8-10 percent grades) down to the Gig Harbor waterfront and up Soundview.

Speaking of Soundview. I am a DORK. The reason I had such trouble on the early season ride to Gig Harbor is that I’ve been using the wrong (very steep, it’s like climbing a wall) road to get out of town. I’ve been climbing up Pioneer instead of Soundview [slaps self on forehead]

This was a fun route and a good workout; I’ll definitely lead that trip again.

Happy Hour Sunday Ride

Monday was work, recovery and trying to shovel through the mess all over my apartment; it seems I’m only home long enough to dirty dishes, drop outdoor/bike gear all over the place and sleep. It’s not clean, but it’s not a health hazard any more. I’ll work on it a bit more tonight after spin class.

I did get some rest Sunday evening.

I was sitting on the couch, admiring my pedicure (Angie took a few of us out for a pedi party last week).

Then I noticed the shiny gold duck that Kelly sent me.

And since I’m never out of reach of a camera…

weird, abstract, fun & just plain wrong 001

weird, abstract, fun & just plain wrong 004

weird, abstract, fun & just plain wrong 008

Speaking of poultry…

My friend Sonia has been recovering from a procedure and is bored out of her skull.

She is amused by peeps, so I threw together a little YouTube video for her.

It took WAY longer than it should have because WINDOWS LIVE MOVIE MAKER SUCKS SUCKS SUCKS!!! I had to go to Windows Live because my new camera shoots .mov format (QuickTime, I HATE HATE HATE you too!) and the old, serviceable version of Windows Movie Maker doesn’t support that (or many other formats) So instead of just fixing a program that worked decently, they created a newer, crappier version.

Based on reviews and results from my friend Mark (waves to Tokyo where he’s visiting and it’s snowing) I uploaded Pinnacle Studio.

I think I’ll make a St Patty’s Day Dash video and use that for editing.

And with that, my break is over and I need to get back to work.

~L

Mood: Tired



~

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Life March 9th 2010

not so Chilly but still Hilly

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Chilly Hilly was a BLAST this year.

Michale F and I arrived early because he needed to register; because of this, we got “Doris Day” parking on the Waterfront a bit South of the ferry dock.

There were a lot of people registered already and since the weather was sunny and spectacular (very unFebruary like) we knew that thousands of people who were waiting to see what the weather was going to do would be registering at the last minute. The final rider count was 6,028. Yikes!

The person on the loudspeaker kept saying, “plenty of time to catch the ferry”. I looked across the street and saw the loading area nearly full and barely got in the queue. This was when I realized that no matter how much I fantasize about a lovely island home on Vashon or another one of our beautiful islands, I’d want to shoot myself if I had to use a ferry to commute every day (maybe after I retire and just want to write and do photography)

chillyhilly

I had a brief visit with fellow ride ref Michael Snyder at the registration area before I headed over.

Chilly Hilly 2010 002

I discovered that I was only one row over from Allyson and Marizel, so I managed to squeeze over their direction and hang out with them while waiting to load.

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Chilly Hilly 2010 003

I was one of the last people to make it in the queue and as the boat pulled away from the dock, we saw that the queue was full again. A quick phone check of my facebook status replies showed that Michael didn’t quite make it and there is a cutoff on the number of cyclists, not due to space limitations (it was weird not to see the deck covered in bikes) but to the number of life jackets available on the ship (that’s the law)

I ran into lots of friends on the boat (hey, with well over 6,000 people on the ride, it’s impossible not to find people you know) and spent a lot of time answering text and voice mail messages of friends I was trying to connect up with.

There were more than a few jokes about being glad that our tsunami was the day before (our tsunami was inches rather than feet)

Chilly Hilly 2010 007

I met Leo and my friend Bill on the Island side and waited until after the screaming hordes attacked the first hill to start our ride and ride ref duties. We figured that it would be helpful to sweep for those having mechanical problems or other issues (it was mentioned to me by a club member that they never see ride refs in the back of the pack) and that the slower riders might be more in need of support and learning about safe and courteous riding. The added bonus was that it was much less stressful than riding up the first hill in the middle of all the wobbles, stops and crashes (which there were plenty of refs already doing).

We honked our ride ref horns a LOT, made lots of bad jokes, sang silly songs, and made a huge deal out of thanking people engaging in safe and courteous riding behavior.

Chilly Hilly 2010 020

We got a lot of thank yous for being out there and only a few dirty looks from people we asked nicely to “please remember to call “on your left” when passing”. (thinking to myself here… Uh, excuse me? You are the one breaking the rules of the ride you signed up for and agreed to abide by are breaking laws, endangering others and when I ask you nicely to remember to follow the rules/laws I’m the jerk? Whatever…)

I’d say my biggest frustration was riders for whom “CAR BACK” seemed to mean “ride three abreast, pass people and take up the entire lane so that cars need to cross the double yellow line (bonus for doing so on blind corners) to get around slower riders.” (there are always a few buttheads in every crowd)

I was riding up one of the big steep hills at the end (the first of the series just before the church with the water stop and blessings) and thanked a gentleman for saying “on your left” as he passed me (we believe in loudly thanking people for doing the right thing in order to encourage such behavior from all parties in the future). The woman I had passed a hundred yards or so back who was walking her bike up the hill (and yes, I said on your left when I passed her) starting yelling at me… “WHAT DID YOU MEAN BY THAT?” I don’t know how she could have thought I was talking to her, I was nowhere near her. (and how is “thank you” offensive?) At this point I was sucking wind and couldn’t have yelled back if I wanted to. Luckily, Leo was behind me and explained to her that I was thanking the gentleman who had just passed me courteously.

The positive interactions far outweighed the negative. Overall, I’d say that the riders this year were more courteous than last year which is surprising given the huge volume of riders.

Leo and I pulled into the finish line, chatted with friends, turned in our ride ref bibs and met Bill in the beer garden.

Chilly Hilly 2010 021

I ran into Crystal, Michael F joined us and then we headed over to Docs Marina Grill (with a few detours around the ferry dock and other areas looking for the place because we just hadn’t ridden enough hills already) to meet Marizel, Allyson and others for beer, chowder and a bit of the USA/Canada hockey game. We were in there when team USA tied up the game in overtime. The place went NUTS!

Michael and I headed out to catch the 2:55 ferry. OMG, the lines (of cars and bikes) were the longest I’ve ever seen them. We weren’t convinced that we were going to make it on that boat, but we managed to get on just before the cutoff. It wouldn’t have been a crisis as the weather was lovely, but we were tired and didn’t feel like hanging out on line to wait for the next boat.

It was a lovely ride back.

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I ran into my friend Lynne in line so we got to hang out a bit.

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of course, we had to do the obligatory “Look at us on the boat with Seattle in the background picture”

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On a physical note, I felt MUCH better than last year (pretty easy to do)

I was in better shape, as I’ve been exercising more consistently. Last year I hadn’t eaten or slept for 3-days and had been very sick from the stress of my mother’s impending death, layoffs at work and some other things (not the least of which was the selfish jerk I was dating at the time who made everything more stressful).

I ended being SAGed off the course just after the rest stop because I was bonking (as it turned out, after I uploaded my Garmin data, I discovered that my heart rate had peaked at 215 and stayed there for over an hour)

That nasty hill just before the rest stop got me again this year; which was mostly due to lack of legs, my cardio-vascular system is in great shape. Perhaps I just psyched myself out.

When I saw Baker Hill, I almost died (I had been SAGed off the course before this point last year so it was the first time I’d seen it) and said to the guy next to me, “I see a walk in my immediate future” but I cruised up that sucker as well as those bad nasties at the end with no problem at all. (not saying I was fast, just saying I made it without stopping or walking)

Chilly Hilly 2010 008

Chilly Hilly 2010 018

The weather was great, seeing so many friends was great; and the fact that we got beer at the beer garden before they ran out was great.

The rest of the pictures are available here:

Today, I’m resting in the morning, cleaning my filthy apartment, going grocery shopping, and running errands. Tonight, I’m doing masters swim and TWBC ride leader training.

Tomorrow I go back to work to rest.

~L

Mood: Tired



~

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events March 1st 2010

Riding

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TWBC Spanaway-McKenna Ride February 2010 022

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cycling February 21st 2010

The Orb was out today; you know what that means…

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First Sunny Ride of 2010 - Febraury Insanity 011

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cycling February 19th 2010

Wine & Wheels

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I started out the weekend with a very busy Friday night which I already posted about.

I had grand plans for Saturday morning, but my body was very sore and tired so I took a clue and rested. Although I’m nowhere near where I need to be, I’ve been hitting the workouts pretty hard (well, hard for someone that up until about six weeks ago hadn’t really been doing squat) and I know that I’m not going to build strength and endurance if I don’t rest and rebuild when I’m that tired.

I’ve been dropping a pound a week which is good considering I’m also building muscle which weighs more than fat (and I have a LOT to go) and am starting to see muscle definition returning to my legs. I’m making progress.

I did spend most of the day getting ready for WineHog, which I decided to have at Speakeasy this year where there was lots of room to mingle and enjoy the art

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winehog 2010 008

winehog 2010 004

It was fun to pull out the table cloth and see all the names, dates, drawings and spills dating back to 2005. And of course to have people sign the cloth for this year.

winehog 2010 001

Don decided to come by and provide some live music.

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Jim enjoyed the comfy couches

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It was great to see Shon and Annie

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Eric and Kathryn swept the awards winning for both best wine and best cheese.

The winning wine was Le Grand Pinot Noir

The winning cheese was Remberant Gouda

The best name was Bill’s Big Ass Zin

winehog 2010 003

The prettiest bottle was Annie & Shon’s Moselland Lighthouse series Reisling. It’s difficult to tell from this stock image, but the lighthouse is on the back of the bottle and viewed through the bottle via a window in the front (I have a similar one with a castle that Betsy brought over several years ago)

This morning I got up bright and early and Bill and I headed up to Tukwila to meet the Cascade Bicycle Club for the coffee ride to Alki Beach.

We headed out with the “steady” group, but decided to come back with the faster “moderate” group. We got back just in time to get the bikes loaded before the skies opened up and it poured rain.

Had he not needed to get back home for the SuperBowl, we’d have been in Orthing on the Tacoma Wheelemen ride during the downpour (I haven’t heard if they were able to stay dry or not)

Between being with the slow group on the way out (had to hit my brakes a lot and it was a big group so I had to pay attention and ride defensively) and the faster group on the way back, I didn’t get a chance to take pictures, but did upload my Garmin data.

We rode 32.5 miles in just under 2 ½ hours.

tukwilaalkiride

Now I’ve got to get ready for bed and my work week

~L

Mood: Tired



~

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Life February 7th 2010

Insane Bikers Invade Tacoma!

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It was my Monday off and it wasn’t really raining, so I was able to join the Tacoma Wheelmen for Joyce’s Hale Hearty and Ready for Coffee ride.

I lost count of the ride participants at 30-something.

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 004

Welcome to the dark side, we have COOKIES!

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 008

Tacoma Wheelmen go crazy (in a good way) when it’s good not completely craptastic cycling weather. (which basically means, no ice, snow or relentless torrential downpours) I remember rides last year where we literally followed the de icing truck down the road in the North End and one when we all had snotcicles and our eyelashes froze on the way to Spanaway.

Here’s a photo of Steve taking a photo of the huge group at the Proctor Starbucks.

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 006

We invaded the streets of North Tacoma and wound our way to Pt Defiance…

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 009

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 013

Matt from the Harmon Bike Club was out for a solo ride and said that he saw a few bikers zip by and thought to himself “cool”, then more zipped by, and more… and more… and more…

He caught up with us in Pt Defiance. (where there were more COOKIES!)

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 014

We cruised through the west end… (obligatory photo of Bill’s butt)

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 017

and invaded our favorite espresso shop in University Place (inside and out)

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 019

Tacoma Wheelmen Mon Hale Hearty & Ready for Coffee Ride  Feb 1st 018

It was 26 glorious (almost dry, not quite warm) hilly miles. (well, 4.16 extra for me since I rode to the ride start from home)

mondaycoffeeride02-01-10

Of course, on every hill I kept saying, “I am so NOT ready for Chilly Hilly”

More photos here…

I hope we have decent riding weather on Saturday!

~L

Mood: Happy



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cycling February 2nd 2010

Vashon Island!

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I’ve lived here 11 years, and before today had not been on Vashon Island (OK, one quick trip by kayak and a quick landing on a beach).

Today, my dear friend Janet and I took a lovely bike ride around the island on a spectacularly beautiful autumn day.

We met at the Antique Sandwich (a mere 5.31 miles from my place by bike) for coffe, treats and to plan our adventure.

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 001

We cycled down the road to the Pt Defiance ferry terminal to board the MV Rhododendron for a ride out to Tahlequah on Vashon Island. One of the many humorous bits of this trip was Janet pronouncing Tahlequah as Tequila.

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 003

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 006

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 004

All of the routes on the island are rated “Moderate to Difficult” or “Difficult” This land was forged by fire and ice; volcanoes and glaciers. We don’t have flat ground. I knew that I wasn’t really in shape for this ride, but have been wanting to do it for two years and have had weather or health issues each time I planned it, and I wanted to do it with Janet. So I sucked it up, put on my “big girl bike shorts” and just did it.

We made a hard right when we got off the ferry instead of taking the main highway and hugged the East side of the island and Quartermaster Harbor. (because it just wasn’t difficult enough to take the main route)

One of the “attractions” on the East side is the stationary bicycles.

Since we hadn’t burned out our quads enough yet, we played on them for a bit…

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 013

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 015

It was spectacular/awesome/amazing/totally worth the quad burn/wind sucking to be riding on that island on such a lovely day.

After riding up the East side and hugging the water, we stopped in town for lunch at “The Hardware Store” (a nice restaurant) and headed up the highway towards the North side ferry terminal.

We cut over on Cedearhurst Road (one of those “difficult” routes on the map) and made a stop at Fern Cove.

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 024

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 026

We rose some more switchbacky hills out to the West side Highway Wax Orchard Road, and finally Vashon Highway back to the ferry terminal.

We made the 3:10 ferry back to Tacoma leaving us plenty of time to get ready for our work week.

Check out the hill we ride back up to get home (we both had more hills to get to our respective homes)

Vashon Island Bike Ride October 2009 039

It was an awesome day with a dear friend.

My Garmin shows that I rode 43 miles and climbed 6,088 feet. I wasn’t fast, (all except that 30 mph bit) but feel pretty good after the ride, so maybe I’m not in quite as bad a shape as I thought.

Here is the route we took today

You can view the popup map by clicking here

The rest of the pictures are available here

It was a GREAT day!

~L



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cycling October 4th 2009

Sister Clubs Bike Ride

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Today I went on a bike ride with several groups from the Bicycle Alliance (comprised of the Tacoma Wheelmen, Cyclists of Greater Seattle, BIKES of Snohomish County, West Sound Bike Club and the Capital City Bike Club)

Carla from the Wheelmen organized one of the rides as a social tour of Tacoma and Gene took a faster group out to do the Steilacoom Spin.

We started and ended our ride at the HUB.

It was raining lightly (and it was wind and butt cold) when I left my apartment (apparently it poured last night, but we were all to busy yakking, laughing and drinking wine to notice) I figured that I might as well get used to riding in crappy weather.

I had breakfast and a latte at home, but went ahead and had a biscuit and a cup of decaf so that I could sit with the breakfast crowd and socialize a bit.

We headed out through the streets of Tacoma and hit the Scott Pierson Trail

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 001

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 003

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 005

We of course, took a ride across the Narrows Bridge.

I warned the riders from other areas to be careful of the cross winds on the bridge. It’s common to fly down the ramp to the bridge and get hit by a sudden, unexpected nasty cross wind which can cause and accident.

I mean come on, wind (and bad engineering) is what took down the 1st Narrows bridge, our own ill fated, infamous Galloping Gertie.

Here’s an old newsreel complete with fabulous narration. (although the Tacoma Narrows is not a “river”; it is an extremely treacherous passage in the Puget Sound)

We got onto the bridge in the cold wind without incident, but one of our visitors was blown down about mid span on the bridge. Luckily, he was slowing down to stop, so it was more like an unable to unclip at a stoplight fall than a high speed crash.

He was fine. Here’s the view from mid span on the bridge.

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 006

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 008

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 007

We headed back to Tacoma for more touring and a view of our waterfront.

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 010

After a flat tire…

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 009

We headed back to the HUB for appropriate food and beverages

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 018

Tacoma Wheelmen Bike Alliance Sister Clubs Ride 019

I came home, fixed my toilet (some handyman service on twitter offered me a $25 coupon to fix my toilet… Uh, scuse me… I can fix my own darn toilet, it’s not rocket science. I tweeted that I was going to go to Home Depot not that I was some wussy girl that couldn’t fix her own toilet. Dorks)

I ran a couple of errands and came home to finish cleaning up after last night’s party.

Tomorrow, I’m getting up early to meet Janet for coffee before boarding the Vashon Island Ferry for a ride that’s probably hillier than I should be attempting as out of shape and off training as I am right now.

I don’t care, it’s going to be a beautiful day tomorrow (albeit a bit cold) and I want to go out there with my friend.

I’ll post pictures of our adventure tomorrow.

~L



~

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cycling October 3rd 2009

Travel Agents sexo