LEGS! LIKE! NOODLES!

[annathepiper]

Yesterday solarbird and I drove down to Lacey to visit chipmunck and her spouse, in honor of her birthday! It was a small gathering, just us, another friend of Stephanie and Ryan's, and llachglin and kathrynt. But it was a very pleasant small gathering, with tasty snacks and good conversation, and we wound up hanging out there until past nine in the evening. We had lots of chatting about Firefly and Serenity, the film classes Stephanie has been taking, Dara helping her and Ryan out with playing with designs for the house they want to build, and Kathryn helping me bang my plans for Chapter 15 of Lament into proper shape. Kathryn telling me "god, I want to read this chapter now!" was very gratifying. ;)

But during the course of the evening I heard Erik talking to Ryan about biking to work, which made me go HEY and jump in on that conversation, and mention to Erik that I'd been thinking about tackling the whole biking thing today and tomorrow. He kindly offered to guide me in on the Kenmore->Bothell->Woodinville->Redmond route, most of which I knew already, just not the bits through Redmond.

This morning, I gave it a shot! Big big thanks to Erik for his help. Once he showed me the last few bits of the trail that it was easy to do the rest--well, at least in terms of figuring out where I was. In terms of actually making it up the hills that flanked 520, however... well, let's just say I had to walk my bike a lot.

I woke up around a quarter after six, out of general anticipation to try to tackle this, though I'd actually set the alarm for 6:20. I got out and onto the trail by 7, though on the way down the hill from the house I noticed my bike making vaguely disturbing rattly noises. It didn't do it very loudly and didn't seem to impact my ability to ride it, so I gave it a shot. But I kept stopping every so often to check and see if I could figure out what was wrong. Nothing presented itself.

I had agreed to meet Erik at the 3 1/2 mile marker on the trail, to give him time to ride most of the way at his speed as opposed to having to pace himself back to keep up with slow pokey me. On the way, though, I stopped at one of the little restroom-y pavillions beside the trail to get a drink of water, and put down the kickstand on the bike while I ducked into the ladies' room. When I wheeled the bike out onto the trail it was rattling a lot more loudly, which was scary, so I began to fear that the thing was actually broken somehow. But a friendly passing guy in red, white, and black biking gear asked me if I needed help, and I said yes. He stopped and helped me check out the bike, and discovered that my kickstand was rattling against the wheel. Looks like it'll need to get tightened up later. He fiddled with it some on the trail and got it to stop rattling, but before I actually made it into building 50, I noticed it had started up again very faintly with the rattling.

I have no earthly idea how many actual miles I covered this morning. I tried to figure it out with the pedometer site that Dara and I like to use, but for whatever reason I can't bring up the satellite imagery right now, so I'll have to check it again when I get home. Regardless, it'll put a nice big dent in what's left of my Rivendell tally. Not sure yet if I'm going to try to tackle the same route going home... I may. I got to building 50 and to my mail machine by 9:40, so that's just over two and a half hours of transit time. A good chunk of which I spent walking and waiting for Erik at the mile marker. So this suggests I could possibly make it home in two hours going that way.

And unsurprisingly, I discovered I hadn't really missed much by the time I got here, because even as I write this I still have NO BUILDS TO TEST!

I need to get me some hot food in a bit, though. It was quite chilly on the trail, and I'm still feeling a trifle chilled in this lab!

Days until the end of my contract: 1
Days until U.S. release of The Hard and the Easy: 15
Days without a rejection letter from Luna: 4 months, 14 days
Sunday miles: 2.05
Miles out of Hobbiton: 380.75
Miles to Rivendell: 77.25

Comments

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

I'm very impressed by your accomplishment. My guess is you did at least 15 or 16 miles. You tackled The Hill with aplomb. I walked my bike at least that much on the hill for two weeks before I finally built up the stamina and courage to ride up all the way. So, you rule.

I didn't mind going a bit slower than usual, as it gave me an excuse to pay more attention to the beautiful surroundings along the river. Also, encouraging other people to ride is its own reward. I remember how triumphant I felt the first time I rode into work. Hopefully, you appreciate your own achievement, which is worthwhile even if it's a one-time thing.

As for being cold, the solution is more layers. I typically ride faster and pretty hard so I work up a sweat and don't need quite as much. Gloves make a big difference in cold autumn mornings (and presumably even more so in winter). Extra layers for the head will also make a big difference. Also, a hot shower at the end of the ride is a great way to warm up, if you have the time and necessary supplies at work.

Anyway, it was good to see you on the trail.