Flying Wheels Century

Our string of four weekends/four centuries during June kicked off with Cascade Bicycle Club’s Flying Wheels Century, billed as the biggest such ride in the state.

The route starts at Marymoor Park in Redmond and travels through the rural Snoqualmie and Snohomish valleys, in places such as Carnation, Fall City, Duvall, Snohomish and Monroe.

We had a great ride on a beautiful route, with lots of rolling hills and of course, a lot of greenery. Afterward, we learned that there had been some notable misbehavior by some cyclists, and a very high degree of unhappiness among some residents in the Carnation-Duvall area.

We didn’t witness anything untoward. But the the fact that we slept late, got a late start and thus ended up on the tail end of the window for starting the century probably worked to our advantage.  The elevated angst is disturbing,  both for this particular ride and for whatever effects the lingering anger among residents might have.  Some commenters to Cascade’s blog say they’re always hesitant to ride in that area, for some longer-term but related reasons.

That’s really unfortunate, as the roads there are exquisite and we like for residents to like cyclists and vice versa.

Juanita Park, Kirkland/North Lake Washington Loop

In New York, a “routine” ride often means a quick jaunt to Piermont and Bunbury’s — a 40ish-mile round trip to a lovely small town with an excellent bakery (often jammed with like-minded cyclists) at the midpoint. (One of about a zillion ways to get there is here.)  Our Seattle equivalent has become the 40-mile RT North Lake Washington Loop, with a park, beach and ice cream shop in Kirkland at the midpoint.

After a few miles winding our way down (think 20 percent grades DOWN) from our apartment through lovely neighborhood streets, we hit the famed Burke-Gilman Trail and ride its last 10 miles to Kenmore. Unlike familiar NYC trails (Hudson Greenway, for example) this trail is wide enough to ride comfortably while sharing with many (but not too many) other people on bikes, on foot and in strollers. It’s blissful.

Then it’s on to Juanita Drive and a 2-mile climb with 4 to 7 percent grades, enough to make it worthwhile.  After a fun descent and a few more short climbs and descents,  we arrive at Juanita Beach Park.  This place is idyllic (as is so much of this area). Sparkling water, charming scenes of people enjoying their lives, boats, ducks, paddle boards. And ice cream. And hot dogs.

We linger there for awhile, then head on to the second half. This part features a bit of neighborhood meandering but also a fair amount of decent straightaway type riding where we can get a good pace going. Not quite like 9W for speed, but also much prettier.

We still miss Piermont and Bunbury’s. But this loop is a lovely alternative.

Recovery Ride: Toy Boats, Fish & Chips at Gene Coulon

One Sunday morning in early May, we made our way from Seattle to Bellevue and on down to Renton, where we made what we thought would be a quick stop at Gene Coulon Park.

Wait, not so fast!

Here we were fascinated to discover some VERY competitive toy boat races — these folks were intense — and, for breakfast at 10:30 a.m., some luscious fish ‘n’ chips from Ivar’s.

We soaked up the sun, admired the blue sky and blue water, and thought: What better way to spend a Sunday morning?