20 Miles again

This Sunday I did another 20 miler with no hills, but at a bit faster pace. I went down the Burke Gilman, and met up with 2 other Bent riders near Gasworks. One was on a V Rex with huge tires, the other on a homebuilt streamliner, both could drop me at will. :P It was a nice ride (except for the streamliner crash) up to Matthews park where I turned around. The weather was incredible, with occasional glimpses of Lake Washington and the mountain from the trails and perfect temps for riding, just above 60 or so.

Saturday I did about 7 miles on the Hybrid and pulled the boy on his Trail a Bike. Destination: Shultzy's for a beer and dog. Overall, it was not a net negative calorie ride, but the company, beer and lunch were great.

Next step, figuring out how to increase my mileage to 45 or so per weekend.

Ballard and Back

Yesterday, I did an even 20 miles on the Phantom. It was about 55 and raining when I left, and didn't change much en route. My new wool jersey and shorts kept me plenty warm though, even when soaked. The original plan was to cross the Fremont bridge, then take the Burke Gilman to Ballard, up to Golden Gardens, then ascend into the neighborhood above. From there I'd head north to a friend's place and have an easy downhill cruise home.

Along the way I discovered that the road up the hill is closed (has been for 6 months) and that 100th street doesn't go through from the Blue Ridge area east. Add those things together and you get a good bit more climbing than I'd planned on. The ride out of Blue Ridge was particularly tough, as it was steep and I was getting a bit tired since I'd been climbing slowly for several miles from the locks up to about 85th street. The good news is that I feel pretty decent today, and that the long climb from the locks went well too.

Ever since I've had the boom adjusted on the Phantom my climbing has been much easier. I'm going faster, more comfortably and with less effort. It has been a huge improvement. I need to keep up the hillwork though, as I'd like to be ready for the Chilly Hilly next year, and I'm a pretty poor climber in general.

Dollars per mile

Stuff I've bought for cycling so far since moving to Seattle:

Commute related items

• Fenders - 2 pair
• Tailpack - 1
• Tubes - 2
• Front light - 1
• Rear flasher - 1
• Mirror - 1
• Rack - 1

Non commute items

• Wool clothing items - 2
• Tubes - 2
• Tire - 1
• New boom for recumbent
• New seat for recumbent
• Seatpost - 1
• Adams Trail a bike

My guess is that I've ridden about 200 miles so far since I arrived, and spent close to 5 dollars a mile on equipment. I think I need to up the mileage a bit to make that dollar/mile ratio a bit more palatable.