200km Winter Brevet with the Seattle Randonneurs

I arrived in Seattle on Thursday February 9, just in time for a Saturday 200km brevet with the Seattle randonneurs. The ride started and finished in Redmond, east of Seattle. We headed NNE though rolling hills and exurbs, eventually into rural/pickup truck country. 

There were lots of riders I recognized from ... Japan, Tasmania, and previous Seattle rides. The ride organizer, Mitch Ishihara, has ridden in Japan as well as that menorable 2016 600k gravel grinder. Also Hugh Kimball, who pulled me in a vicious headwind on the gravel grinder. Stalwart Vinnie was there. And Rick Blacker, who I think I last saw in Tasmania (he can be seen in photos below giving the finger to the camera lens). ... and many others. 

On the opening 50km, I settled into riding at the rear of a reasonably fast group, just behind Narayan K., whose hand signals and warnings about upcoming obstacles were exemplary. Narayan said he ran the Camp Mazama (last overnight) control at last year's Cascade 1400 ... which I had hoped to join.  .

Cannot ask for better weather in winter -- dry, and even some blue sky.

Lake Roesinger

Riders study a warning sign for the answer to our quiz

Anyway, the outbound course had quite a few hills, nothing long, and steep for only mercifully short bits.  There was an "out and back" section between 50 and 62km, on a near traffic-less road that ended at a small dam below a lake. On the "out" route I could see the first group of riders, who ended up completing the event in 7~8 hours.  The climbing seemed to taper off soon after a quiz control at Lake Roesinger just past 80kms. 

I stopped for a quick six inch Subway meatball sandwich in Granite Falls, nearly 100km in. 

The northernmost point of the course, at Bryant, was around 120kms, ... meaning that the 80km return leg must be much more direct/shorter. It also involved less climbing than the outbound. Indeed, for much of the return we followed the Centennial Trail, a rails-to-trails route that meant no more than a grade of a few percent max, even as it climbed from sea level to over 100m elevation, then back down. We did another similar but steeper climb over an elevated section, on roads, between 170-185kms, and finished with flat path along the Sammamish River on the last decent stretch into Redmond. 

This was an easy 200km, especially with the second half easier than the the first. I finished in 9 hrs and 16 minutes, an hour or more faster than my typical "winter 200k" time in Japan. I think much of the difference can be attributed to ... lack of as many traffic signals!

The ride finished at Post Doc Brewing in Redmond, where pizza and beer were available, and well-earned.

Welcome (Back) to America – Land of Freedom!

Voyage, Voyage, ready for the Cascade 1400!
3 water bottle holders, 3 bags, SV-9 SP Dynamo, SRAM eTap AXS 2x12 spd groupset.

Jerome and I each headed to the US on the evening of June 17, well in advance of the start of Cascade 1400 at 5AM on Friday June 23, Pacific time. We were on the same flight to San Francisco, but he stayed with relatives in the Bay Area while I continued on to Seattle, arriving late at night, from where I would head for Portland to spend time with my parents, each of whom is suffering from various health-related issues.

My flight got to Seattle at 930PM. I rented a car and headed south. But I did not think it would be safe to make the 3-hour drive to Portland in a jet-lagged condition late at night. I had booked a hotel near Olympia, south of Tacoma, to sleep then head on to Portland in the morning without hitting any Seattle/Tacoma area traffic.

I pulled off Interstate 5 at the designated exit and found my hotel in a cluster of Quality Inn, Holiday Inn, La Quinta Inn and others, with a Denny’s restaurant and McDonalds nearby. I had booked a Super-8 … one of 22 brands owned by Wyndham Hotels, just behind the Quality Inn. I don’t remember having stayed at one of these before, but all I needed was a clean bed and a shower. As I approached, I noticed three large police Ford SUVs parked at odd angles, as if they had raced to a stop and run off somewhere with guns drawn. But there was no sign of activity, so I went into the lobby. 

The 3 police SUVs looked like this. In fact, all the police vehicles I saw
in the USA looked like this. Ford has cornered the market.
Only one police officer per car!
(I guess they need to arrest someone before they can go in the HOV lane?)

The 3 policemen were behind the counter with 3 persons who I assume were the manager, night desk staff, and maybe an older relative of the manager -- in fact, I would not have been surprised if the three staff were all family. They ignored me and kept talking among the six of them for about 5 minutes. No one was wearing a mask, of course.  “Do you want to press charges?” one officer finally asked the night desk staff.  She said “I won’t press charges if they check out and leave like I told them. Otherwise, yes.” I cleared my throat loudly. Again. After more waiting, they still did not even acknowledge my presence.  I finally said “excuse me, I have a reservation and would like to check in”.  This caused some confusion, and a lot of discussion between the manager and night desk staff.  She asked him “should I put him in 129 or 131”.  … he said to her that someone was already in 129. So 131? She raised her eyebrows … as if that was a room no one in his right mind would want to stay in.  I asked what was wrong with it. … “The last people who stayed there, they had pets.” I said that I had pet allergies so could not stay there unless it had been thoroughly cleaned. The manager volunteered that no, the room had not been cleaned, as only one housekeeping staff had shown up for work that day for the entire hotel. The others were AWOL.  I guess it is difficult to get people to show up for crap jobs these days in the USA. One of the follow on effects of the pandemic. Or maybe the rest of the staff were all out sick with Covid-19? 

This was a big relief to me. As soon as I entered the lobby, I had been thinking “how can I get out of here without getting charged for a reservation that is non-cancellable/non-refundable at 11PM on the night of?”  I bowed out after confirming they would not bill me, leaving the 3 staff and 3 policemen to continue their business, and drove 50 meters over to the Denny’s to get some food and take time to find another hotel further down the road (in America, it is practically illegal to walk 50 meters if you have a motor vehicle). 

Denny’s was relatively quiet for a Friday night, given the hour. I did notice that I was probably the lightest weight person in the entire restaurant. And I am no light weight. I ordered a “grand slam” breakfast and on my smartphone found a Quality Inn that had a room available 30 minutes further toward Portland, in Centralia area. I called ahead to make sure that they really had a room, and that it was clean. It would make my morning drive that much shorter.

The next day, a few hours after getting to Portland, I went to a CVS drugstore and got my second booster shot … almost 5 months having passed since my first booster. I knew there was  a lot of Covid-19 around – loads of reports of people having gotten it over the past month or two, many not showing up in statistics.

On the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island

Our ferry's US Coast Guard escort, complete with bow-mounted machine gun.
I felt greatly reassured that no Puget Sound pirates would attempt to board our vessel!

Well, the booster was not in time, and apparently the vaccines and boosters don’t stop many infections anyhow with the latest Omicron variants, they only reduce the symptoms. I started to feel a bit “off” on Monday night, self-tested negative on Tuesday, but positive on Wednesday after meeting Jerome at Seatac Airport and traveling together to the start of the Cascade 1400, on Bainbridge Island. Now feeling as if I had a bad summer cold, and another positive self-test just before the registration on Thursday … and I could not join the event.

I must have gotten infected within 48 hours of landing in the USA. Land of freedom, and no masks. I wanted to thank plaintiff the Health Freedom Defense Fund, and Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle, who struck down the mask mandate on planes, trains, and in airports or stations, in the USA. Thank you for the freedom, and for the Covid!

My isolation quarters.

Instead of registering for the ride, I extended my hotel reservation until the following Tuesday morning at the Marshall Suites on Bainbridge. I followed the “live track” on Spotwalla of the Cascade1400 riders, and sent Jerome what encouraging words I could muster. 

It was not so bad. My hotel room was at least 3-4 times the size of a room in a Japanese business hotel, it had a comfortable bed, and large windows looking out at beautiful green trees, for a not-outrageous price. It also had a refrigerator and microwave. Jerome left me some groceries, and the pizza place across the street actually agreed to drop off a pizza outside my room … and did not add a delivery charge. On Saturday morning a friend who lives on Bainbridge (who told me he and his wife had gotten Covid-19 a month earlier traveling in Europe, … and she had just tested positive again), also dropped off some groceries. Meanwhile, I kept hearing reports of others who were getting sick in the US. The statistics were 100,000 new cases daily nationwide. The actual number must be 20, 30, or 40 times that much. 

And this DNS was not so bad. After all, Peter Sagan and 50 other riders left the Tour de Suisse earlier in June because of Covid-19. So now, I have even more in common with Peter Sagan than I did before.

My symptoms were mild – basically felt like I had a cold, though some fatigue lingered. I slept a lot, and on Saturday, the 5th day since I had felt symptoms, I self-tested negative. 

From the bridge that leaves Bainbridge to the NNW

Chief Seattle's grave in Suquamish

Looking toward the North Cascades and Seattle from Suquamish

After another good night of sleep, and another negative test to be sure, I decided to go for a short Sunday bike ride over to Poulsbo for lunch. I thought, if this goes well, I can do a 200km or 300km “permanent” the following day. On the way, I passed Suquamish, and Chief Seattle’s grave. I was tired enough after just getting to the next island north of Bainbridge that I had pretty much given up hope of doing a real long ride on Monday. Too much fatigue still, not enough time past since getting sick.

Gary's truck -- that ended my bicycle ride.

As I headed from Suquamish toward Poulsbo, having ridden maybe 15 kilometers in total, I was hit from behind by a pickup truck. I was not hurt, just a few scratches on my shoulder and elbow. But my rear wheel was crunched, and my derailleur sheared off, leaving the bolt in the derailleur hanger/dropout. The pulleys also were destroyed and the outside edge badly scratched up.  The rest of the bike looked okay … just some scratches on the saddle. Of course … it is always possible that after a few weeks riding other cracks will appear. Been there before.

Rear wheel and rear derailleur are done. Seat is scuffed. Otherwise, seems okay.

Ouch.

The pickup truck driver was elderly, and he was uninsured. He and two adult sons lived just up the road. He must have pulled out to pass me but pulled back in because of a car coming the other way. And he must have braked some … since he was not going fast when he hit me. The sheriff wrote him up so he will get an uninsured driver ticket. I’ll try to collect what I can from my insurance to cover the cost of repair, and will count myself very lucky that I was not hurt.

Anyway, I got a lift (with bicycle) back to the hotel from one of the pickup driver’s sons, and went back to watching Spotwalla. I had done not the Cascade 1400, but the Cascade 14.

There were four riders from Japan registered for Cascade 1400, one DNS (me), one DNF (T.K.), and two finishers, Jerome and Peko-chan. 

Peko-chan (@ab_peko), who tweeted during the ride to her 11,000 Twitter followers, was riding strong and in the front third of the pack all but the last day (she slept late at Mazama, the final overnight control, and got a slow start – I guess she is used to 1200ks, but this was her first 1400 with the fifth day of riding added). 

On day two, Jerome rode with T.K. Early on Jerome flatted and T.K. waited. Soon after T.K. was struggling. Perhaps jetlag, perhaps something else. Anyway, Jerome stayed with him until the last few hours to Packwood, that night’s control, when Jerome went ahead so he could get some decent sleep. 

The following day, Sunday, Jerome started early. T.K. started late, DNFed, and got a ride from Ellensburg back to Seattle. (On Monday, T.K. took his PCR test for return to Japan … and got Tuesday a positive result. He ended up spending an extra week in the US before he could get cleared to return to Japan).

Jerome was solidly in the middle of the pack on days 3, 4, and 5. As usual, he just gets stronger as the ride goes on.

On Tuesday, I left Bainbridge, rented a car and went up to the finish, in north Arlington, where I already had a hotel booked. I could greet Jerome, Peko-chan, and many of the other riders as they finished, chat with some old friends from other rides, including the organizer, Susan O. 

Congratulations on completing the ride! 
(When has Jerome ever NOT completed a long ride?)

Jerome trimphant at the finish!

The signs go back into storage, until the next SIR brevet.

Onc Canadian rider did Cascade on a Pelso Brevet! 

A typical randonneur setup. Brooks saddle, full fenders, and 3 water bottles.

Susan O. checks in riders at the goal. Mark T., in black T shirt on the right, observes.

Wednesday I helped some with logistics, getting T.K.’s drop bags back to Seattle, and getting Jerome and his gear to our friend Vinnie’s house above the Puget Sound in Federal Way, south of Seatac airport, before going on to San Francisco to visit family (including my younger son and his partner, who had just tested positive on Friday for Covid-19), and eventually return to Japan.

Eric Larsen, a San Francisco Bay area randonneur who had done Cascade 1200 in 2012 when I joined, and did the 1400km version this year, posted some lovely photos of the ride to his Flickr account.  The photos show some lovely sections of the route, and the great diversity of physical environments along this ride. They also show the wide range of bicycles and set-ups used. I would estimate that somewhat over 50% of the riders used dynamo hub lighting, split between SON and SP Dynamo. With the overnight controls, drop bags, and opportunities to recharge battery packs most nights while resting, an LED battery light with high power/weight density lithium ion batteries, is now a practical option, but the dynamo hub remains my strong preference -- just set and forget it. Light 24x7. Jerome used an SP Dynamo SV-8 and a Busch and Mueller light.

In San Francisco for the end of my trip.

Walking at the Presidio. I walked over 20kms on Friday ...
more than my total cycling mileage for this trip.

Golden Gate Bridge

The DNS was a big let down, but there was nothing I could do about it. Training for Cascade 1400 gave me a lot of motivation, and a reason to do some very memorable and tough rides this year, and to plan more for the future. I think with my training I got into decent cycling condition and had a good chance to complete the ride.  And I live to fight again another day.

When I got back to Tokyo, the latest issue of American Randonneur, magazine of the Randonneurs USA group, was in my mailbox. There was an article about plans to do many more audax events on gravel/dirt roads, with additional time allowance. Why? Well, the growing popularity of gravel riding in the USA. But more important, the desire to avoid highways with traffic. There are just too many unsafe drivers in the USA. I could not agree more.

Private Bike Share companies in Seattle

Last year September in Seattle, the public bike share program, sponsored by Alaska Airlines, was prominent. But it did not do well, and went under since that visit.

This year, there are NEW lime green bikes in evidence. These are private bike share companies, like the ones that sprung up in China last year. There are over 1000 bikes in Seattle already by 2 companies, and no doubt more on the way. Lime Bike launched at the end of July, joining Spin. The bikes are similar, distinguished by their colors more than functions.

I rode MY bike to a lunch today at the Pioneer Square neighborhood at the South end of downtown Seattle, and could see these bikes parked in random locations. Like Uber, a user finds a bike by checking her mobile phone app.

The question remains, are there enough people in Seattle who want to ride a bike but do not already have their own bike within easy reach?

Cycling in Seattle in September

Lake Washington -- from Warren Magnuson Park boat launch ramp

I recently spent a week in Seattle, at and around the University of Washington. I must say that I was impressed with the support that Seattle offers for cycling, in many ways similar to that seen in Portland, its neighbor to the South. My past experience with Seattle, featuring Interstate 5 traffic jams, a big city downtown, and a couple of seemingly endless local trips out to the suburbs during rush hour, had led me to think that Seattle might not be a good place to be a cyclist. I stand corrected.

Typical I-5 traffic approaching Seattle from the South 730AM one morning.

The first revelation was the bike share program -- lime-ish green bikes sponsored by Alaska Airlines, in contrast to Portland's orange Nike-sponsored bikes and New York's Citigroup bikes. These bikes have been around much longer than Portland's, and the racks I saw -- one just a block from my hotel -- had many open slots with bikes out for use (or repair).

Bike share station in the University District

The second revelation was on the SIR brevet.  I could not discern much leaving town starting from 6AM Saturday and heading out to the South/Southeast along the shore of Lake Washington. Of course, at that hour, there was almost no traffic.

On a trail near Renton southeast of Seattle. Gravel surface here.

But coming back into town along the paved Burke-Gilman trail was really great. This route brought us more than 25 kms from the edge of town all the way past the University, all on a dedicated trail. Most of the way it was relatively wide, smooth and fast. Somehow in a very hilly city, it managed to avoid any steep grades -- understandable where it is a former railroad bed.  Of course, the hard-core SIR members on the "gravel grinder" included a number of folks who ride everywhere, in city as well as out.

Then on Tuesday at the university, I noticed some nice support for cyclists - parking with a roof, bike storage lockers, pumps and repair tools available, convenient parking. This is summarized at the UW bikeshare website, which notes that UW is a "Bicycle Friendly University", the only one in Washington, America's most bicycle friendly state! And on a ferry trip to Bainbridge Island for dinner at a friend's places, I could see many spandex-clad cyclists, taking the ferry on an intermodal ferry/bicycle commute.

At least there is a roof over your bike when it rains.

No need to bring wrenches on a daily commute

$140 a year according to the UW bikeshare website.  Lots of other support.

The beauty of Seattle's skyline from the ferry -- photos do not do it justice. Magical on a calm, warm evening.

Next, mid-week, I took a ride on the Bantam Oregon randonneur bike into town to visit a high school friend who lives between Seattle Center and downtown.  Most of the way I was in a bike lane or otherwise a well-travelled commuter route.  Very nice.

The next day I took a quick exercise ride back out to the North and East of the University District.  I thought I would find Burke-Gilman, but somehow missed it and ended up at Warren Magnuson Park. Eventually I found the trail and took in on a very fast return trip.

Appropriate sculpture for Boeing's town - airplane stabilizers as sculpture at Magnuson Park.

Rain always close, even when you can see blue sky.
If Portland is Beervana, Seattle is coffee paradise. The city is home to Starbucks, of course, but also Tully's and Seattle's Best, among myriad others.

All-in-all, a very bikeable city, even if fenders and good rain gear needed most of the year!

Mt. Rainier from my hotel -- finally shows itself fully near end of the week!