A Sunday Morning Bicycle Ride

My Dears, 

Ben went for his first bike ride in the trailer this morning. 

He fell asleep. 

We biked along the Burke Gilman trail and had breakfast in Lake Forest Park. Despite our outing being no more than seven miles (roundtrip), it was my first time on a bike in about two years (pre-pregnancy). Let's just say that someone has a very tender posterior this evening. 

We're sitting down very delicately. 

And by 'we' I mean me. 

Ben did ok in the trailer. We need to mess around with the restraint system a bit. I thought the straps were too high and whenever we tried to adjust them, they became too loose and he tilted precariously to the side. So this biking thing is a work in progress. 

This afternoon we zipped over to Bellevue for a Willamette University event. Chris and I got to play the part of alumni representative and meet lots of prospective WU students. Hopefully we did decently well and didn't scare too many of them off. 

Fingers crossed on that one. (Just kidding, POL. We behaved ourselves). Ben (class of 2029) got to hold down the fort with my parents. 

The best part was that we got to see my old pal Pete (Hello, Pedro!!) and meet the new university President. 

A good day, indeed. I hope you had a great weekend, Peeps. 

xxoo, 

Sonja

Seattle To Portland Bike Ride 2011

Here are a few photos from this year’s Cascade Bicycle’s STP. The guys had gorgeous weather and a nice tailwind for the last 30 miles. 

You’ll remember that all of us rode the two day version in 2009. I sat out for this round, however. Two hundred miles in one day is not my cup of tea...

We woke up bright and early on Saturday and dropped Chris and my Papa off at the University of Washington. Benjamin and I were still half asleep. 

 We saw them off and then we drove down to Portland and checked into a hotel (Aloft) near the finish line. So while the boys were peddling their tootsies off, the kiddo and I were jumping on the bed:

 And doing a bit of paddling around in the pool:

 Our hotel earned major points for having hybrid parking right in front. Sweet! Yes, thank you. 

 Later that evening we strolled over to the park to watch everybody come across the finish line:

 Tired but happy!

 Sorry for the awful pictures. I’m finding it difficult to concentrate on photography when I have a squirming baby strapped to my chest. 

 The team. 

And, although you already saw this one, probably my favorite photo of the day:

The Cheering Committee

Yesterday my dad and Chris did the one-day Seattle to Portland Bike Ride - 204 miles, 14 hours of bicycle time. In the morning, Benjamin and I lent our support remotely and then zipped down to P-town that evening to meet them at the finish line.

They were tired and happy to be finished! Chris is still cataloging his list of sore body parts. Pictures to come shortly.

Burke Gilman Trail in LFP to close tomorrow [6/15/2011]

Last night at dinner with my parents the hot topic of the day was the closure of the Burke Gilman Bicycle Trail north of us in Lake Forest Park. The work is long overdue and desperately needed yet the alternate routes available to cyclists during the closure are far from ideal.

Yesterday they released the official detour map and it is one heck of a humdinger. We’re spoiled here in Seattle: the Burke Gilman Trail is an old railroad route and consequently is fairly flat. The detour, almost three times as long as the closed segment, is fraught with steep hills and busy streets.

My Papa will be the one most affected by the construction as his bicycle commute to Everett includes a good chunk of trail time. They also live on a street that intersects the Burke yet is not officially on the detour route; it’ll be interesting to see if their driveway becomes a bicycle thoroughfare for commuters seeking alternate routes.

Speaking of my dad, I remembered last night that I failed to give a hearty “Congratulations!!” to all the Seattle folk that completed Cascade Bicycle’s Bike To Work Month in May. In this household we unabashedly root for Sterna Paradisaea, which coincidentally happens to be my dad’s team. He was a little less pleased this year as his daily ride to Everett is hillier, busier, and [most importantly] shorter than last year’s commute to Boeing’s Renton Plant, but that didn’t faze the team as they logged a respectable  an incredible 8,721 miles for the month.

I believe this is their fourth year as the top team of the GH Challenge, not a mean feat in this bicycle-obsessed city. And not too shabby, considering my Papa was born in 19…well, a while ago. He puts us young whippersnappers to shame. As Chris said this weekend after their ride: “Man, your dad is in great shape”.

Woot!! Let’s hear it for Boeing’s Team Sterna!

Happy Birthday Chris!

So I can assure you that when I pictured myself turning 30 it did not involve a 100 mile bicycle ride with 4,000’ of elevation gain. Dear husband: you are crazy! [But in a good way]

Here are they guys (Chris on the left, my dad on the right) coming across the finish line. Ben and I were the cheering committee.

We had cake. 

This version had a whipped ganache with I liked slightly less than the regular chocolate ganache but was easier to spread. This was a a humdinger of a cake as it had four layers so there was lots of tricky icing being done. Probably not the most structurally sound confection. 

 Megan came over and we had dinner, opened presents, ate some cake and then the birthday boy trooped upstairs to bed. He was tuckered out.

And now, I too, am following the rest of my family to bed. It’s been a rough week on the baby front.  Interestingly enough, the hens were the last ones to bed tonight. They are making the most of this lovely weather for foraging opportunities.

Poof! Inflate-a-helmet

Huh. 

A bicycle airbag head-thing that inflates on impact. Or just before impact.

I won't lie: I'm highly skeptical, especially after watching the slow motion video. But I am also intrigued.

From this:

To this:

 

Product by Hovding. 

Bike to Work Month [Finished]

The data are submitted, the miles are tallied. Team Sterna pulled away from the competition, thanks to solid riding throughout the month and painfully long commutes. The team logged a grand total of 9,608 miles, which is [roughly] 1,000 miles per rider. Which is approximately the number of miles I put on my car each month. Excellent work, Sterna and the rest of the Cascade Bicycle riders. Way to set an extraordinary example. And to persevere, despite a wretchedly soggy month. Find the rest of the results here. 

Bike to Work Month

Cascade's Bike to Work Challenge keeps rolling along.

Team Sterna paradisaea is seeing a bit of competition from the Microsoft team IE Niners. Microsoft riders have the top two spots for individuals with the most miles traveled but plucky Team Sterna has six members in the top 20.

And that's key: Sterna is currently 1,500 miles ahead of IE Niners, and they're doing it as a 9- person team: their captain broke his wrist on Day #4. Ouch.

Bike to Work Month

A girl can brag about her Dad, right?

Check out the Cascade Bicycle stats for yesterday and today:

Not too shabby for a 60 year-old, eh?! Way to go, Papa!

Double click on image for close-up.

Bike To Work Month [Or GO Sterna Paradisaea!]

I looked out the upstairs window this morning and was startled to see a regular stream of bicyclists pass by on the street below.  Until I remembered: This is bike to work month!

Or as my mom says: "The month in which I temporarily become a widow". 

My dad is a member of the Boeing team Sterna Paradisaea (so named after the arctic tern, the animal with the longest known migratory route) and they are the two time reigning champions, out of a field of 10,000 riders. Dad's personal commute is a 50 mile [roundtrip] ride to Renton. That works out to about 1.5 hours, each way. Which is why mom doesn't see him much this month. 

Last year, Team Sterna smoked the competition. The second place team was more than 3,600 miles behind.

This year is shaping up to be more of a challenge. I'll check back in later this month to see how the race is progressing. 

Happy Riding! 

Living Roof is Planted

On Saturday I rode over to the Padres' house and spent a while digging up plants for the roof. My mother is graciously sharing several species of succulents and ferns. It's significantly cutting down on our roof costs.

 Once dug, they were carefully wrapped in newspaper

 And stuffed  placed in my bicycle basket.  My bike was top heavy and making it up the last hill was a painful endeavor.

 But I made it home without embarrassing myself too much. Did get a few strange looks from fellow Burke Gilman bicyclists, though.

 The roof - before planting

Laying out the specimens according to the master plan.

 And the roof is planted.

I know, it doesn't look great. But hopefully in a few years it will have filled in and become a lovely carpet of greens, purples and yellows. I'll continue to take photos as the plants spread. Or die, depending on my gardening skills.

Proof: This girl can actually ride

It wasn't graceful and it sure as heck wasn't pretty, but here is proof that I did complete the STP bike ride in mid-July. Not sure why it took me so long to get this picture up but, regardless...203.26 miles, BABY! And how is it that I was able to take this picture last week when the race was way back on July 12th? Geez, that's an easy one. I got so biked-out during our ride that I've yet to hop back on the 'ole bicycle. Duh.

Seattle To Portland Bike Ride (Recap)

Here are a few photos from the Seattle To Portland (STP) Bike Ride last weekend. It was fun, difficult, tiring, and I'm glad it's over. But I'm also really proud of myself; I wasn't sure that I had 200 miles in me. Saturday morning started out at 5 am. Papa picked us up and we headed down to UW.Th start line was busy but we tagged on to a group that was heading out and off we went. The route took us along Lake Washington Boulevard and past the Boeing Renton plant. Our first stop was at the REI warehouse, south of Seattle. I managed to leave my sunglasses one of the many [hundreds] of porta potties but, by some small miracle, was able to recover them. This was one of the busiest rest stops. With 10,000 people requiring food, water, and bathrooms, the lines were unsurprisingly miles long.
This guy gets the award for the most awesome, incredible hair. Had my hair been that long and flowing freely, I would have probably chopped it off before we'd ridden 5 miles.

Nice. I'm liking the horn helmet.

Papa, at our lunch rest stop.

Hey! Are you twittering? During our bike ride?

I don't know about you, but I've yet to meet any folks that look particularly great wearing a giant puffy block of Styrofoam [aka a helmet] on their head. I know I sure don't.

Chris wears it better than I.

This dude? Rode 200 miles on a skateboard. I am very impressed. And did I mention the guy that rode the route on a unicycle? A tall unicycle? In the rain? With thunder and lightening and slick hills? Wow. [Of course, I failed to get pictures of the unicycle dude]

The halfway point (mile 100) was in Centralia. Cascade Bicycle takes over the community college campus and folks set up tents, take showers, and eat some grub. Here is Chris passing under the misters at the college. To the guy [or gal] that decided to hand out ice cream as we pulled into the college: you are brilliant. Thank you. By sheer, dumb luck, we managed to secure a hotel for the night in Centralia. Mattresses. They are heavenly. I went to bed at 7:30 pm and slept until 5:30 am. But I'm jumping ahead of myself here. Because we didn't have to set up camp in Centralia, we decided to put a few more miles under our belt to make the next day slightly less hectic/long. It was a wise decision and they turned out to be my favorite miles of the entire trip. It was beautiful, rolling countryside and we'd left the hordes of bicyclists that had accompanied us through the previous miles. It was nice. Well, it was nice until we hit mile 114.5. Unfortunately, someone decided to stick a massive hill into the route, right before the town of Winlock. After that hill, I was toast. So, with 115 miles down, we called it a day.

I lay down in the grass and took a nap while our sag wagon (aka Mom) drove the last few miles down from Seattle. After that, it was off to the hotel for a shower and then dinner. And then blissful sleep.

Dude. We had a monk! Riding the race! In all his monkish robes. How cool is that? On a side note: Do you suppose he is wearing anything under those robes? Chamois? You'd think he would get saddle sore rather quickly..

We had one flat tire. It was a group repair effort..

Well, Chris and Dad did most of the repair. Someone else might have been more interested in stopping to smell the roadside flowers..

ohh. Look at you with the fancy no-hands moves.





The course crossed the river in Longview and we lined up to wait before going over the bridge.

I was ready for a rest.

Oh, my dear little Fuji, you did so well! Not a single flat tire, loose screw, or squeaky brake.

Yes, Chris may have the fancy cool sunglasses, but check out my red safety glasses. You simply can't beat that awesomeness.

And we are still waiting for the bridge to clear. It started raining at the top which made the decent rather treacherous. We saw a few nasty crashes.

Once on the Oregon side, the route was rather unpleasant: a busy highway with lots of traffic and a small shoulder. My least favorite 40 miles of the race. We did find a nice truck scale that made for a good rest break.

Downtown Portland! We are sooooo close.

Yes. We made it! Please, can I go to bed now? I want to sleep forever...

Once at the park we ran into Rebecca and her entourage which was great fun. They're going for the one-day ride next year. Me? I'm not so sure.

We changed, wolfed down some grub, took a quick spin around the vendor booths, and climbed into the car for the ride home. Success.