Team Mango

11/2 lakes and a knee

A bit of a tome…

So I’m trying Jill’s Scott road bike today, fully aware that I would need to make a few adjustments along the way to better fit me, my shoes and my ass. A good thing to do when riding alone. I decided to head to Greenlake first and cut east on Ravenna to access the Burke-Gilman (BG) just north of the U. One stop at GLake for a raising of the handlebar stem. Adjustment #1. Bike feels fast and light, especially compared to my commuting mountain bike tank with it’s panniers, lights, lock(s), shock, etc.

Next stop, Matthews Beach. Saddle needs a raising. Adjustment #2. Pull out the multi tool and after resetting the height, I over torque the seat post clamp/bolt and snap it in half. Great. I ask the 2 lifeguards of the nearest bike shop and they tell of of 4 within 3 miles or so. One actually offers me a ride since he’s leaving work but I decline, something about that self efficiency thing in the mountains…
So I head south on Sand Point way with my saddle wiggling left and right and dropping down to small kid height and I have to bend my knees sideways to pump the pedals if I actually choose to sit down. Mostly did the mileage out of the saddle. Stop at some small shop on the north side of SP Way and low and behold the wicked Harp player from the Pike Place Market is working there. I had suspected his ‘real job’ was either bike messengering or a bike shop since I’ve seen him on a sweet road bike a few times with his massive harp on his back. Got a new bolt, glueless patches and thought hard about getting a bike computer (for my sake today and for Jill’s future rides) But, alas, Alaska broke me…so a later paycheck. Popped up the seat and off I went. Hmm, where to go now now that I’ve backtracked and lost some decent time? Headed east on 41st ish through some fancy neighborhoods i’ve never seen before. Had an amaxing downhill, likely hit 40+. Bike was shaking violently and I ill placed moving car would have been the end of me. Seat too high, especially after the huge hill climb after that incredible descent. Adjustment #3.

Kept heading east, no trail. Came across some fancy shmancy club, definitely no trail going through there. at one point there was only 12 feet between me and the water and the BG was definitely not hidden in there. “Dammit, this is that stupid part of the trail that they didn’t have water access and the trail was inland a good 2 miles or so,” or so my brain thought. Back up some annoying hills (much harder without my little mountain bike granny gear!) and found the elusive BG. Back north to Matthews Beach. Adjustment #4. Seat height ok, just angled wrong. Leveled seat a bit and admired MIF that was there earlier.
Back on bike and adjustment was squishing things a bit down under. Hmm, not good but manageable.
Next stop, not sure where. Kinda got off BG and wandered around Bothell, I think. The terrain and industrialish/warehouse/office buildings were oftly similar to both Tonya’s ex-working hood where Humongous was, and had similar character to where she did her half marathon to and from the Red Hook brewery a year ago.
I, of course, didn’t have a map.
But I did have my dying gps. Seemed I was going a bit too far east, but somehow managed to find the brewery. Original thought was to get a beer, but remembered my original goal of circling the lake and had already lost some good time with my bike issues. Headed south and finally found Marymoor. Dicked around there and thought I saw Chad Miller at the rock tower but wasn’t him. Mass skinsuit cyclists were descending upon the Velodrome. Must have been a race tonight.
Forgot saddle adjustment.
Left knee begins hurting right under the patella (knee cap).
Headed down a ‘new path’ for me and things didn’t seem right. Was suddenly on EAST Lake Sammish drive. Hmm, looks like this ride will be a bit longer than planned! Was getting hungry and had already had one ice Clif bar and 2 Gu, one banana flavored (more palatable at sea level than at 18,600’) and one Orange Blast.
Stopped at a 7-11.
Adjustment #5, dropped the saddle.
Almost bought new Sobe bar but I could get 2 Snickers for less than 2/3rds the cost. Didn’t have enough cash so the guy spotted me a dime or so. Some ‘Pat’ character said s/he had just seen me at his/her (I think his) house. Long flowing locks of gray straight hair and a rotund, featureless body. Pat was being awfully friendly to the cashier and me, I don’t think he wanted the company of Pat in his store. Checked gps again and it said low battery warning, again. Figured I had 3 miles to I-90 from what I could see ahead.
Headed south and the stupid lake began turning east. Looks like more than 3 miles…

Mental adjustment #1. There is no clear way through the godamn I-90/405 mess. Perhaps I was going off my memory a bit too much with the Seattle/Mercer stretch all being on the north side of I-90. ‘Well shoudn’t it be on the north side of 90 here, too!” Rode up and down this neighborhood with decent views but no frickin’ access through 405 for at least 2 miles. Went to another 7-11. I peaked in the window and it ‘appeared’ the attendant would speak english.
Wrong.
I’m still not sure what language he spoke, I really don’t know if it was eastern European, Spanish, Russian or what. His accent was so strong that all I could understand was ‘four-oh-fi.’ I wasn’t being ignorant, just accent deaf, I suppose. The maps in the store didn’t help at all. They made the streets I had already pedalled up and down twice on the north side appear to go through. Bastards!
Adjustment #6. Left knee still hurt, drop the saddle a bit more.
Headed back AGAIN through the neighborhood that I already knew didn’t go through, determined to drill my way through 405 if I have to. Up at another vantage point I could see a rider on the south side of frickin I-90! Headed back down and crossed under the freeway AGAIN! There, very poorly marked and not quite as wide as usual was the path. It actually went against traffic coming off I-90 and looked moer like a shoulder than a bike path. Also, Bellevue has small little wooden posts labeling their bike paths. The few that I saw were old and either faded or rubbed off so it was difficult to see where the actual paths went to. So I find the goddamned I-90 trail and go through Mercer Slough, wich is nice, and the trail and wood/bridgework is surprisingly dated. Were they ahead of the curve over here, or has Seattle just been better about improving their paths over the last decade or so? Probably the latter.

So my left knee is killing me. My roommate had just gotten a flat last night on his brand new, 25 year old mint conidition Lotus racing bike on his first ride. He walked home from near the University drawbridge! I asked why he hadn’t called for a ride, and he said he thought it was a stupid reason to get a ride for. Besides, it was a nice night for a walk. With every uphill the extra force on my knee hurts like a mother. Thankfully I have clipless pedals so every muscle in my right leg gets quite the workout. It hurts enough that I fully pull my left leg out of the pedal and pedal uphill completely on one leg-amputee style! So thoughts drift in and out about calling my new-to-riding roommate, I think he’d understand. Oh, and it’s not getting dark, but the sun is getting awfully low in the sky, maybe 8:20 pm-sih.

Finally, I-90 is accessed fully and the incredible noise overwhelms me. Mercer Island is reached and I’m back on familiar territory, but why can’t I find the bathrooms? At the western end I finally see them and fill up my now empty water bottle (Had 2, one with agua, one with Cytomax, also very different at sea level and luke warm compared to chilly to crunchy to frozen solid in Alaska). Not looking forward to the uphill climb back to Seattle at the west end of the bridge so I haul down the ramp to the flats. It was windy from the north and the sail boat races were full on closer to the Bellevue side of the lake. The dreaded climb back up finally came upon me. After wiggling through Leschi and the arboretum, with numerous cars on my tail, too afraid or too smart to pass on the tight windy roads, I made it to the U. So which way will be easiest on my knee? West on the BG, up 40th, up Wallingford Ave, over to Greenlake and scooted under Aurora a few blocks north of my house. One last steep hill which felt much better out of the saddle (as was the case half the day). Finally home by 9 and was quickly put to work teaching Tim how to fix his flat from last night and ADJUST a few things on his bike.

Date 7/1/03
Accomplished: Circling the upper 2/3rds of Lake Washington and all of Lake Sammamish. Didn’t crash though came close dealing with slippery clipless pedals and road shoes. Got racked a bit a few times. Been awhile!
Duration: 6:45
Moving time: Just under 6 hours-ish
Elevation gain/loss: 2,610’/2,650’
Distance: Unknown, easily 45 miles, likely 60 plus with all my zig-zaging and yo-yoing.
Injuries: Left knee, sore neck on left side and skin rubbed raw on bottoms of palms, even with gloves on.

Lessons learned:
Don’t go for a long ride on a new bike (I knew this)
Bring a bike map, not a gps (I knew this, too, but couldn’t find my county map and forgot to ask for one at the shop)
If in pain, go back the short way (you don’t carry your mountaineering med kit on a bike, but Vicodin would have made the last half of the ride a bit more interesting) Of cousre, I wasn’t sure which way was the short way since my gps died.
Put batteries in the flashing tail light (was empty to begin with and I thougt ‘for sure’ I’d be back before dark) I was, but barely.
Don’t ride 60-90 miles on a saddle made for woman. Cushy, but things weren’t working like my other seats. Weird how it shimmies your buttocks from one side to the other. Kind of like a water bed…

Posted by Jeronimo at July 1, 2003 11:26 PM