Lauren_TK
Well-known member
Wednesday, February 26 was a sunny day in Seattle. In spite of the yellow, burning orb in the sky, we decided to ride. I'm still recovering from my broken shoulder, but I've been given the OK to ride. My arm is still lacking in strength and range-of-motion, so I didn't want to push it. A short ride is better than no ride.
I rode up to my wife's place of employment bearing her Scala Rider module. I waited for her to emerge, which she did shortly after 1630. That left us with about an hour and a half before sun-set.
We have a 20 mile route that we use regularly. The actual ride length is longer than 20 miles, as we have to ride to one of the anchor points on the route. The route's anchor points are Cathcart, WA and the corner of Highway 202 and NE Ames Lake Road. The route hugs the west side of a valley. I generally prefer following the route South to North, as the twisties are better at the North-end. However, we were in the North end, so we took route North to South.
The Route
We had to plow through ugly, traffic infested, straight roads to get from Lynnwood to Cathcart. That ate close to forty minutes of day-light.
Going from North to South, the route "starts" at a railroad crossing on Elliot road. Shortly thereafter, the road has several diving turns. Lady Feej is a heavier bike (by quite a bit) than my previous bike, and I'm still learning how far she'll let me take her. Thusly, I was a bit timid following the tarmac snake to the valley floor.
As the route passed under 202 and for about a mile, there was loose dirt that had dropped from a construction vehicle. While the "tire tracks" were clear, it made the narrow, twisty roads a little narrower.
As an aside, we speculated that the driver of a pick-up truck that followed us through this section was scratching his head over why two bikes were doing the speed limit.
A few more plunging turns, and we were next to the floodplain. Fortunately, the "dirt track" turned left and crossed the valley, leaving the road in front of us debris free.
I kicked Lady Feej over into Sport Mode, and took off.
To my left, the valley glowed with golden light, the road ahead was free of traffic, and my headset crackled with the message, "You are speeding. I mean, REALLY speeding."
Two out of three ain't bad for a perfect scene.
In the diminishing light, I decided that the posted speed limit was a good idea, so I dropped back down to third . . . from fifth. Did I mention the posted speed limit on that section is 35? Fifth was not the wisest choice.
At the end of the route we were dumped in traffic again.
The light died out as we fueled the bikes, and pondered what we wanted for dinner.
Jimmy John's in case you were wondering.
EDIT: I just remembered, you can see part of the route in a video I posted a while back (https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/154714-playing-with-our-new-gopro-hero-3-black/). Around the 4:30 mark you can see the place where she was telling me to slow down.
I rode up to my wife's place of employment bearing her Scala Rider module. I waited for her to emerge, which she did shortly after 1630. That left us with about an hour and a half before sun-set.
We have a 20 mile route that we use regularly. The actual ride length is longer than 20 miles, as we have to ride to one of the anchor points on the route. The route's anchor points are Cathcart, WA and the corner of Highway 202 and NE Ames Lake Road. The route hugs the west side of a valley. I generally prefer following the route South to North, as the twisties are better at the North-end. However, we were in the North end, so we took route North to South.
The Route
We had to plow through ugly, traffic infested, straight roads to get from Lynnwood to Cathcart. That ate close to forty minutes of day-light.
Going from North to South, the route "starts" at a railroad crossing on Elliot road. Shortly thereafter, the road has several diving turns. Lady Feej is a heavier bike (by quite a bit) than my previous bike, and I'm still learning how far she'll let me take her. Thusly, I was a bit timid following the tarmac snake to the valley floor.
As the route passed under 202 and for about a mile, there was loose dirt that had dropped from a construction vehicle. While the "tire tracks" were clear, it made the narrow, twisty roads a little narrower.
As an aside, we speculated that the driver of a pick-up truck that followed us through this section was scratching his head over why two bikes were doing the speed limit.
A few more plunging turns, and we were next to the floodplain. Fortunately, the "dirt track" turned left and crossed the valley, leaving the road in front of us debris free.
I kicked Lady Feej over into Sport Mode, and took off.
To my left, the valley glowed with golden light, the road ahead was free of traffic, and my headset crackled with the message, "You are speeding. I mean, REALLY speeding."
Two out of three ain't bad for a perfect scene.
In the diminishing light, I decided that the posted speed limit was a good idea, so I dropped back down to third . . . from fifth. Did I mention the posted speed limit on that section is 35? Fifth was not the wisest choice.
At the end of the route we were dumped in traffic again.
The light died out as we fueled the bikes, and pondered what we wanted for dinner.
Jimmy John's in case you were wondering.
EDIT: I just remembered, you can see part of the route in a video I posted a while back (https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php/topic/154714-playing-with-our-new-gopro-hero-3-black/). Around the 4:30 mark you can see the place where she was telling me to slow down.
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