I want to ride my bicycle......my pretty pink bicycle...

It's time to start training for the annual Seattle to Portland Bike ride, aka STP. I've done it once before, about 3 years ago. It is a 206 mile bike ride over 2 days. This year my family will be joining my husband and I on the adventure. Along with STP there is R.S.V.P., ride Seattle to Vancouver b.c. and Party, which is a 186 mile ride over 2 days. Day one is Seattle to Bellingham (100 miles) day 2 is Bellingham to Vancouver B.C.
RSVP is certainly a more beautiful ride, with day one ending along Chuckanut Drive into Bellingham and riding along the waterfront in Vancouver is quite fabulous. It's also more difficult than STP and they open the ride to only 1,300 people total, whereas STP is opened to 9,000 riders!

Riding is something that I truly enjoy. I love the peace when I am on my bicycle. I love the accomplishment I feel when I've climbed a big hill without walking. I'm a bigger rider, it's no secret, but there is a trick to riding up a hill. The trick, don't get off your bike, if you need a break just stop, rest, then pedal a bit more, stop and rest. It takes a while, but as Smiley says at R&E, you burn more energy walking up a hill than riding up it. My husband and I ride together and I love that. I love that we share this hobby. We don't ride side by side except for once in a while, sometimes he's farther ahead and sometimes I am, but we do it together and we have fun. It's also very meditative for me, I love riding on the Centennial Trail in Snohomish through the trees, and local farms, listening to my wheels turn and the chain crank. This is my favorite trail. After looking at the website I just linked it appears that the trail has gotten longer since last I rode. Now I can really rack up the mileage. It use to be that going out and back on the trail was 35 miles....not a bad little ride. However, we live in Washington, which is one of the more bike friendly states in the U.S. You will never lack for a place to ride, group to ride with, organized ride, trail to ride, whether it's road, race, or mountain biking. We have the Group Health Velodrome in Marymoor park that hold races all summer long, they are quite fun to attend. There is also the Cascade Bicycle Club, Cyclists of Greater Seattle, Evergreen Tandem club, and many many more. I am a member of all three.

Along with Centennial Trail we also have the Burke Gilman trail which is hugely popular with bicycle commuters as it links from Redmond to Seattle Washington. It is heavily used by all types of cyclists. Leisure to trainers, newbies and aficionados. I like the BG trail, it's good if you need to get 50 or more miles in and don't want to do a ride alongside a road, but you do have to be aware of walkers as well as other cyclists. I'm going to throw this next bit out on the sidewalk and see if anyone licks it up. Although cycling makes me happy and I love doing it and seeing other cyclists on the road, not all cyclists are courteous and they make it difficult for non-cyclists, who then form general opinions about ALL cyclists. We have rules we have to follow and while the Cascade Bicycle club does their part in educating, and advocating, we get a bad rap in certain areas. My favorite rules of cycling....

1. We have to follow the same rules are drivers when on the road, which means,
we ride single file, not five across a roadway making it impossible for drivers
to pass and causing them to honk and blow fumes of exhaust at us.

2. if you are riding on a trail or a street, let someone know, whether it be a
walker, jogger, blader, or other cyclist that you are approaching and you are
going to pass them ON THE LEFT, not blow past them on the right or even worse
ride straight through their group that happens to be walking together.

These are my pet peeves that I have of other cyclists. I find it rude when a roadie whizzes past me and doesn't let me know he/she is there. I know it's frustrating to approach a group of walkers with dogs that are spread out across the entire trail and it slows your pace, but you have a responsibility to not only those walkers but cyclists everywhere to let these people know you are there. If you don't, you scare them, then they get mad, and the next cyclist to approach may let them know they are there and all the remember is the rude one from before and they do nothing.

I'll get off my soap box on that now. :)

Knitting:

February Lady: I'm not loving it right now but I am committed. it takes me 15 minutes to knit across a row. Last night I was so tired working on it I actually fell asleep while knitting. I have since decided that this sweater will only be knit in the living room while sitting up and no one is home to interrupt my working the gull lace pattern.

Nasturtium super simple short socks: I finished grafting the toe of the first one while on vacation and i have only cast on and knit 3 rounds of the cuff for the second one. Not good, especially when I have 3 skeins of super fabulous new sock yarn from Blue Moon that I am itching to start knitting. My wonderful friend Marcy made a mad dash at Madrona to buy the yarn at Blue Moon's booth and was able to pick up. The colors from front to back are Count Cluckula, Love, and Kawkaw. I thank Marcy so much for picking these up.
Marcy is also knitting February Lady and has had to rip it out at least once as far as I know. She's busy this weekend. Her daughter, granddaughter and son-in-law just moved back from Wisconsin so she's happily getting them settled.

So, since this is the most productive I've been this morning I am going to log off and try, try to get some cleaning done around my house.

Everyone be fabulous and as my friend Amy says

'Create a great day'

Carmel