Photos From the Saddle

Well damn. Looks like all those warnings worked; there was no real carpocalypse. Worst I saw was an hour-long backup that was 2.5 miles in length (nowhere near the feared 24-mile backup to Tacoma). The good news is that people used public transit in record numbers (sad that it took I-5 shutting down to encourage it, though).

Riding-wise, skipped Monday due to downpours. Tuesday was a full roundtrip, with the morning ride leaving us utterly soaked. Despite various drying techniques, our gear was still soggy when we headed home in gorgeous weather. Wednesday was another full roundtrip, with nothing too exciting to report aside from some road crewmen being totally awesome and bike-friendly-like. Yesterday was another full roundtrip, though one that seemed to be punctuated by mishaps—G started off with a flat (his 5th in a week), and my seatpost kept slipping to the point where I was riding BMX-style most of the way in. It was also foggy, which was fun eye candy. The ride home, however, was about as good as it gets… no wind, lots of sun, mostly open roads.

Some pics:

Gotta love workplace antics:

More gentrification shots:

Nothing too special about Thursday, other than a blimey sustained 15mph headwind. Definitely a train day, which seemed to be a common idea—on the way home there were 6 bikes in the car I was in… barely enough room for people to get off and on, unfortunately. I can only hope that the bike/rider ratio is somehow improved as more people realize how convenient (and close to the trail) the train is.

Did a full round-trip yesterday. One word: awesome. My usual partner in crime for the longer rides, G, and I met up at 6:30 and rolled out. ‘Bout ten miles into the ride is a hill. It’s nothing too terrible, just a slow grinder, but there’s a flat section half-way up that starts at a stop light. Seeing an opportunity for a little more spice, I sprinted when the light changed and didn’t bother to look back—I’m no match for G, so I knew it was just a matter of time ’til he caught me.

Sure enough he flew by me a couple minutes later with a big grin on his face. I didn’t even bother going after him… which he seemed to sense and eased the pace of his sprint. I figured some more fun was in store so I sprinted past him a little later, and he leapfrogged past me just before the crest of the hill. At a light he laughed at me and asked if we were commuting or racing. He let me have my fun on the downhill, as I started cranking hard to meet the 40mph speed limit. I whizzed by two other cyclists on the other side who were making the slog uphill, hooping and hollering as I did.

From there it was just a matter of spinning to work, so G and I just shot the stuff the rest of the way, per usual.

The afternoon brought headwinds, though not too bad. Snapped some shots along the ride:

Heading up The Hill (Little Euro)

Gotta love open roads:

Wind? What wind?

There wasn’t much more yo-yoing in the afternoon; the headwind was bothersome enough. However, on the long descent (which we’d climbed in the morning), I took an opportunity to fly by G… which apparently caught him by surprise. Heh.

Once back in town we went our separate ways. Along the route to my place, I head through a neighborhood that is fast changing as some major gentrification has come through in an effort to “revitalize” the city. This basically boils down to new condos going up all over the place, with older, run-down places being demolished regularly. It’s an interesting juxtaposition of demolished houses and new condos and property being advertised (“Don’t buy it for the house that’s there—it’s a dump—buy it to demolish it and build your dream home on!”). Case in point:

New condos looming over what used to be a neighborhood street, complete with stairwells leading to now long-gone houses, gardens and community centers. Everyone keeps saying that it’s for the better… but… Who knows.

It’s kind of like watching an impending train wreck at this point… Monday was awesome; everyone did their part and reduced traffic around the construction area… then Tuesday more people drove… and it’s looking like more people are driving today. WSDOT is all like “Whoa, hey there… you guys did so well on Monday, WHY are you driving today?! We’re telling you it’s not going to be a good idea, but you’re doing it anyway…”

The ride in yesterday was relatively uneventful, though I did learn that Nemesis isn’t hurrying to a bus, or really anything at all as far as anyone can tell… I guess she just really wants to get off the train without hinderance. The train was, of course, packed.

I was really looking forward to riding all the way home—a decent tailwind and temps in the low 80’s made for what sounded like a perfect ride. However, my riding buddy had a bizarre flat on a tube straight out of the box, so we ended up throwing the bikes in his van and driving home. I could’ve ridden home on my own, but it’d be like abandoning your wing man ’cause his afterburners wouldn’t kick in.

Working from home today, though planning on riding a nice circuit on lunch and maybe after work as well.

The Carpocalypse was in full effect today, though perhaps not in the way that everyone expected—I-5 was wide open, while 99, 405 and 167 were seen having “slightly higher than usual” levels of traffic. Which, of course, means that there’ll be a number of people tomorrow who try to go I-5 under the thinking of “Hey, it was open yesterday… probably will be again today”. From all reports, though, the Sounder Train experienced the biggest shift with a 60% jump in ridership today, resulting in standing room only and some confused newbies.

I can vouch for the standing room only, as well as the phenomenal drop in available parking spots. I intentionally didn’t ride today so that I could scope out the situation. I’ll definitely be avoiding the first train home—there was barely room for people standing, let alone room for a person with a bike (even in the designated bike spots).

The flip-side to the overcrowded train is that it’s a perfect example of public transportation working. I can only hope that people catch on and continue to use the train (or buses, or vanpools, or bikes…).

Tomorrow I’ll be riding.

This Giant Blow Dryer cracks me up. Because roads need drying, too… I wonder who thought that up? “Y’know, if we just take a jet engine and put a directional nozzle on the end… we could dry pavement really quickly!”

Friday’s ride was an entertaining one – in the morning I had to dodge some pizza in the middle of the path:

Then on the ride home, I intentionally kept a slow pace… it was Friday, sunny, and an excellent way to decompress. As a result of this slower pace, I saw some things I normally wouldn’t, such as this hawk:

And then this graffiti is just cool:

The Ninjabike is still riding like a dream (aside from that seatpost issue). Here it is just chillin’ waiting for the train:

Once home I got a call from a buddy who’d just moved into the neighborhood; he wanted to go for a ride. I wasn’t one to turn him down, so we ended up doing a great little 5 mile loop and just chatted along the way. We’ll probably end up riding quite a bit in the future.

This weekend I went backpacking, but while at the trailhead (which also happened to be a visitor center) I noticed a guy roll up on his Litespeed, wearing a FC Barcelona cycling jersey. I ended up chatting with him a bit, as it’s something I’ve been wanting to get for myself for some time. Apparently they’re easily obtained in most Barcelona cycling shops. Perfect, seeing as I’ll be there in October.

Tomorrow is the start of the Carpocalypse, and, judging by how packed the train was today, it should be interesting to say the least. Looks like blogs are popping up, too… Honestly, I’m looking forward to the whole thing for a number of reasons. First of all, this project is forcing many people to use public transportation. Second, public transportation systems have reinforced themselves to handle the extra load (and, hey, maybe they’ll keep doing that afterward… hmm?). Third, telecommuting is going to be another popular alternative, along with VanPools and satellite offices. Fourth, I’m going to see lots more people riding bikes.

I’ve been ignoring a slightly glaring problem with the Ninjabike—the seatpost clamp bolt seems to’ve bottomed out just at the point where it’ll secure the seatpost… mostly. So, by the end of an hour-long ride, I’ll feel like I’m on a BMX bike. Should fix that.

The morning commute was decent, without much excitement other than more evidence that I’m strongly disliked by someone on the train. It’s not my fault I can only go out one door, which, apparently, is their favorite door to go out of and they *have* to be the first one out of it… unless a bike is blocking them.

The commute home, however, was an altogether different story. Hung around the office a little bit longer than usual to get some stuff cleared up, so I knew I’d miss the first train and was figuring I’d get the second one. About halfway to the station, a bee flew into my helmet and stung me on the forehead. Came to a skidding halt (note to self: need to re-toe my front brakes), pulled my helmet off and found the bugger and dropped him in the grass… then found the stinger, still in my skin.

Problem is, I’m highly allergic. Or at least I was when I was a little kid, and I’ve never waited around to find out if I will go into anaphylactic shock again. I honestly can’t remember the last time I was stung… probably over 7 years ago. Fortunately, I’d overcome my own stupidity and started carrying benedryl with me in my bag again a couple weeks ago. Unfortunately, as I came to discover, it’d expired in Feb. Oops. Took two and hoped for the best as I started pedalling again, contemplating what my options were if the meds didn’t kick in.

Thanks to the bee incident, I was running a little behind. So when I was within sight of the station, I was relieved. Though, thanks to a freight train, I had to sit for ten minutes and watch my train come in, stop, then leave without me on it. I don’t know what it is, but I seriously have bad freight train luck (and the scars to prove it).

So I sat at the station a good 20 minutes and waited for the third train. My mood wasn’t so hot, as I had a growing headache and I could tell that the swelling had started. The good news was that I obviously wasn’t going to go into shock. By the time I made it home, the swelling had started to push my sunglasses off my face and impede vision out of my left eye. I spent the rest of last night switching out ice packs and taking more benedryl and aspirin.

This morning, I looked like the Elephant Man, but I could sort of open my left eye… which was an improvement. Opted to stay home today.

Was able to commute in by bike every day this week, which made me a happy rider.

The Carpocalypse is approaching quickly… should be interesting to see how that all turns out. They added another train to ease the overcrowding that already exists (and is certain to worsen during the construction), which was a long time coming.

Speaking of the train, I may’ve become someone’s nemesis. Long story short, they’re apparently just angry and bitter with everything/everyone, but it’s made for some good laughs (for me, at least) watching them get all enraged about my bike being on the train.

Thursday we rode all the way back, though had a slight detour thanks to a manhunt going on in the vicinity of our beloved hill. Hit up a preferred watering hole once we got into town, which was quite possibly the best idea ever.

Yesterday morning we rode all the way in, with an unexpected bit of drizzle to start things off. Otherwise a fairly uneventful ride beyond the usual chat. In the locker room, a fellow commuter came in a little while after us and told us a great story about a little sprint they had with a small dog. Apparently, while riding the trail, this dog saw him coming and took off ahead of him… and ended up with our friend trying to overtake the dog in order to ease its likely fears that he was chasing it, which required him to put the hammer down and crank out a good 23+ pace to pass it… and then keep it up in order to outrun the poor dog, which kept running after him.

The ride home was intentionally lazy, as I wanted to enjoy the sun and mellow out a bit after work.

The past two days I’ve been running a sprint of sorts in the afternoon. Leaving the office at the same time I would if I were catching the vanpool to the train station, I race to the next train stop after the closest one. 7.2 miles. I missed the first train by 30 seconds on Monday and made it with a minute to spare yesterday. 22 minutes seems to be the average.

Otherwise, just been riding consistently and loving every minute of it. The Ninjabike is fantastically smooth. Don’t know if I could ever go back to aluminum…

In other news, turns out my typical cadence is somewhere between 85 and 100. Sweet.

Off to work.