One month to go!

In one more month I will be headed to San Diego to start my 48 day bike tour on the ACA Sierra Cascades Route. Besides actually packing, I only have a few things left to do. I'll give Stella one more thorough cleaning, put on a new front tire and new rear brake pads. I have everything else. Toward the end of May I will do a shakedown ride to Potlatch with my friend, Julie. I already have the CTC plastic bike bag that Stella will be transported in. I even have the packing tape. I wanted to get tape that had "fragile" written on it, but couldn't find it. Oh well, they will be able to see it is a bike.

I will, once again, be blogging while on the road. I'll be able to upload pictures along the way too.

Can I go now???

Some pics from today's ride with the French boy

Julie, William and I on the Yelm/Tenino Trail


William and Julie on Skookumchuck Rd.


William and his Subway sandwich

French Boy Rides Far!

One might think, so what? After all, the Tour de France is a French race, with French riders, that is pretty long. But, William is not, technically, a cyclist. He is a 16 year old boy who sometimes rides his bike in the summer. Today I took him on a 41 mile ride. He was outfitted in bike tights (Connor's), a jersey and a bike jacket. We rode the trail to Johnson Creek Rd. From there we did the Johnson Creek/Skookumchuck/Crowder road loop into Tenino and Hwy 99 back. We stopped for lunch in Tenino (Subway, of course). It was a good ride. Julie was with us too.

I told William since he has ridden the Fuji the most, he gets the honor of naming it. So, it's name is "Torrent-ciel". Which, I'm told, means something close to "fast blue".

Total miles: 41
Total kilometers: 69.8
Total calories burned: 1,600

Never a bad day to ride!

The 3 Cannondiablas Go For a Ride

What is a "Cannondiabla"? Well, it is a firey woman who rides a Cannondale!

Today, there were three of us, Leandra, Julie and myself. All riding Cannondale t2 bikes. Julie had a time limit, so we did a north and south ride. That is to say, we rode north to Woodard Bay on the trail and took the road back to town. Julie departed off back to her house and Leandra and I continued south on Henderson to Hwy 99. Then to Tenino and the trail back to the starting point of the bridge at Yelm Hwy. Although it was overcast we had a few peeks of sunshine and not a drop of rain. After awhile, I was warm enough in a vest and my wool armwarmers. We saw tons of people on the trail. I'm sure many of the people on fast road bikes were wishing the weather was like yesterday, lots of sun and balmy temps. Still it was a decent day.

Total miles: 56.4
Calorie burn: 2300

Never a bad day to ride!

What doesn't make you stronger, kills you!

Is it really April? Because it feels like January!

Julie and I planned for a "short" ride of 33 miles down the trail toward Yelm. Julie requested a short ride because her legs were tired from all our workouts we've done this week. I fully expected her to drive to our meeting place, but when I arrived, there she was, no car in sight. I told her it would be 43 miles for her (not exactly a short ride by Julie standards). She seemed okay with that. We took off down the trail. Due to the bit of a headwind, (a COLD headwind at that, one of those winds that make it so you never quite warmup) we stopped at McDonalds in Yelm to have something warm to drink and get a little warmth. Since I'm not a coffee drinker, I had a hot chocolate. Unfortunately, hot chocolate has more calories. As we were sitting there warming our hands and feet (well, actually, everything), I noticed the reader board outside said, "20 piece nuggets $4.99". I told Julie we could have had the 20 piece nuggets for the price of our two drinks. Julie then made a crack about how my hot chocolate was probably about the same calories. She said that was the advantage of drinking coffee (she had a latte). There are less calories. True. So I had to work off those additional calories.

We had planned to take the road back. It's shorter, by 5 miles, than the trail. Instead we opted for the guaranteed tailwind of the trail. In fact, we commented that we would "Fly" down the trail! Since we did have a bit of a tailwind, I decided to push it. I think our average at that point in Yelm was 12.7. We cruised back through Rainier and then really stomped on the pedals to the bench by the train yard. Our average was slowly creeping up. We pushed it again to 103rd. By then my average was 13.2. Julie was having a harder time keeping up (I know 13.2 isn't that fast of an average, but you have to realize we are riding touring bikes with 700cX35 tires). The next mad dash was to 89th. Average was up to 13.3. Then it was 89th to the top of the hill at Rainier Rd. Average: 13.4! By then the wind had seemed to reverse itself because it was brutal riding along Rainier Rd. I was just trying to keep it above the average. We hammered two more sections until we parted at the bridge. The average remained at 13.4 for the remainder of the ride.

What began as a short ride ended up being 40 miles for me and about 50 for Julie!

Calories burned: 1,620!

Never a bad day to ride!

The Skunk Cabbage is Blooming!

So are the trees and other flowers. Julie and I set out today on a ride of more uncharted territory for her (it's pretty hard to find uncharted territory for me if we're talking 60 miles or less). We headed over to the westside of Olympia and up Old Hwy 410 to Hwy 8. From there it is more climbing, but we both remarked how we don't really care because the shoulder is so much smoother than the chipseal of 410. Between either end of Summit Lake Road Julie got a flat. She did a great job changing it (I think she has only had to change 1 or 2 other flats). After about 8 more miles we exited Hwy 8 to go to McCleary. Stopped for lunch at Subway (of course) then headed onto Hwy 108. It is much easier going that direction on 108. Besides the fact that there is less uphill and an awesome downhill, we had been battling a headwind for most of the time on Hwy 8. We had a decent tailwind on 108. Always makes things easier! We made quick work of the 8+ miles to Hurley Waldrip. On Hurley Waldrip we started a dog barking which then seemed to progress all along the valley (ala "101 Dalmations"). It was back on 101 for a short section then off again at Old Olympic Hwy. A rainshower started so we stopped fore tomput my helmet cover on and Julie to put rainpants and jacket hood on. The squall didn't last too long. Julie ended up taking the pants and hood off after we went up a long hill back on 101. Then it was off at Steamboat Island Rd. and down Madrona Beach Rd. back into town. I really wanted to stop at Blue Heron Bakery, but with our renewed efforts at losing weight, we rode on by. Sorry Blue Heron, no business from me today...

Total miles: 61.8
Total calories burned: 1,972

Never a bad day to ride!