graham met me up at my place and we peddled over the i90. we met up at 8:45 am on a brisk day, but graham was ready for summer those shorts! you'll notice this time around the guys at goodweather helped install some fenders for me. can't be lookin like i shit myself again.
jt met us up, got a second to meet graham, and dorked out on their respective all city's. one person on the ride must go fenderless. a lil communal swig of whiskey to initiate the long day ahead, and we we were off!
the i90 trail, especially the lake washington bridge sections, is probably my least favorite to ride at this point, but it has its moments.
the sun came out stronger than any of us expected. maybe graham made the right friggin call on those shorts...
can't escape the skate brain. bouncin ideas for mini tricks on this mini hubba as we take a quick cool down.
the great debate - pick up beer before the hill and carry the load or risk not finding a beer cooler at the top of the hill? we chose the former.
ahhhh yes after 20 miles we find ourselves finally touching down on some gravel and pulling away from the blaring noise of trucks and cars!
#frenchbicycleclub
right before we found out snack spot, we came across some trail closed signs at the base of a gnarly set of switchbacks. we decided to ignore the sign and climb up. While stuffing our face with cheese, bread, salami, and beer we saw this lady blasting up the switch backs. she handled that shit no problem. hopefully our cheering on bossted her up too.
upon cresting the slope she came over and let us know its her 62nd birthday this week. she's killin it!
just gonna keep keep ignoring signs...
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
found out why the bridge is closed (losing structural integrity). maybe dont follow in our dumbass foot steps for your own safety.
found ourselves in some good thicc foresty trails. the dirt was tasty, the air fresh, the old ladies friendly, and the final hills brutal.
we emerged from the forest winded into a fresh subdivision (snoqualmie ridge). we werent really expecting that. i was hoping to take down my second beer upon cresting the hill, but the man diligently trimming his hedges (ride named for him) and the parents with their kids enjoying their sunday afternoon led me to believe this isnt my friendly neighborhood capitol hill park bar.
getting through the neighborhood, jt and i soon realized we came here about 3 years ago on a whim to skate this park when it was brand new.
got one hell of a hill bomb in with the cascades as the backdrop. a welcomed break after that climb.
finally got that beer! had to skip out on the snoqualmie falls, sorry graham, next time!
dorkin out on the Tokul Creek Trestle.
we determined that this is ride is going to have to be revisited in summer. gotta take all the dips in these waterbodies.
ducks, swamps, and old barns to enjoy on the flat end of this ride.
probably the most brutal part of the ride. this is what happens when you hastily make google maps routes to ride at work. i found a connection through 133rd street to the tolt trail, without looking at the topography. as we rode along snoqualmie valley road, i couldnt keep my eyes off the geographic wall we were inevitably going to have to climb. sorry guys haha. icing on the cake was that there were private road signs all over. gives the impression of some hostile neighbor somewhere on this connection. oh well, no one said shit to us. i think jt had it the worst. he climbed this whole damn hill in bike cleats. yeeeeash.
devoured the last of our food after that brutal climb.
no horse siting on the trail this time :/
tried to see if we could avoid 124th this time around. failed again...
it was a bright and sunny all day, then we hit the CKC, the sun fell, and the rain came. oh well. we got a couple snickers bars at the 7-11 to power through this last bit.
the new lights are on the trail though!
made it to the 255 and decided to forgo the ride across 520. i think at this point we all were stoked on this decision.
the ol' seattle ski lift to cap hill.
manage to scrape some final gravel in the rain as i rode home through cal anderson.
this was a much longer ride than i have done in a while, but it felt really good to do! its always fun getting out of the everdeveloping seattle area and into the foothills to remind yourself some rural parts void of the sound of cars is only a stones throw away from me. as i said, i'll be doin this one in summer again and jumping in those friggin rivers.