Catch Up

I've been pretty lazy on the posting, and tonight I saw that all sorts of you have updated your blogs lately (except Heather, who is terrible and hasn't told us how the buffalo grass implants are doing) so I figured it was time.

Fortunately I can post strong, and brag about hitting another summer goal. Once I turned over 500 miles on the bike earlier than expected, I decided to shoot for 1000. Saturday morning I hit it on the way to breakfast!

What better way to celebrate, than by going on another long ride? My weekend hiking trip was canceled due to Erin's war with the genus Dolichovespula, so I decided to take Monday off and make the ride to from Seattle to Vashon to Tacoma and back that Charlie and I have been talking about for a couple months.
We met downtown for some coffee and a crumpet (anyone who comes to visit in Seattle should swing by the Crumpet Shop in Pike Place) before riding out to the Fauntleroy ferry in West Seattle. We took the ferry out to Vashon Island, where we promptly stopped for more coffee and a delicious raspberry oat bar. How can you not stop at a charming place called the Monkey Tree, particularly when it has such cute staff (as does the crumpet shop, FYI) But don't think its all coffee and treats, we earned that little respite climbing up the hill from the ferry landing. I think that the department of transportation derives some sick pleasure from putting the ferry terminals at the bottom of the steepest hill on any island, and making sure that the roads are placed on the longest, steepest routes possible.


just look at those sexy knickers! they are made of bamboo fiber, which wicks away the sweat.

Of course charlie doesn't do fancy knickers, it's all about cutoffs and tank tops Mr. Fixie. (and he kicks my ass on the hills)

After biking across Vashon we caught another ferry to Tacoma, rode around more hills looking for an elusive "old town" had some lunch, then rode back to Seattle on an inland bike trail and roads. At this point I stopped taking pictures, because the ride from Tacoma to Seattle was about 60 miles, and it was time to get down to business. The final round trip pedaling distance was 93 miles in about 6.5 hours.

It was a beautiful day, and the ride was wonderful. I started fading hard at about 60 miles, but all in all it was a great time. Now it's time to start planning a ride up to Vancouver BC.