Rode the Donut Ride on Saturday, the venerable early Saturday a.m. rain-or-shine ride that's been going on since the mid-80s. No phone calls or e-mails, just show up at 7:00 at Kulshan Cycles or a little after 7 pretty much anywhere along Eldridge Avenue/Marine Drive and hook on. Head up to Fernburg, across to Birch Bay, down along Red River Road and back to Bellingham. I don't ride it as much as I'd like (Bake's soccer games, chess tournaments, etc.) but most Saturdays I've ridden it, I hook up with some great people and am pleasantly surprised to have ridden 45 miles by about 9:30.
Above is Steve VanderStay, English professor at WWU, and Columbia neighborhood homey. Below is what was left of the group by the time we hit the Paris-Roubaix section, that kind of rough road behind the Cherry Point Refinery. There're only seven riders left at this point (riders peel off at various points); odd that it was such a small group. A dry, not-freezing-cold Saturday a.m. in February is rare and I thought there'd be many more taking advantage of it. Looking back is Marty Reimer, terrific triathlete and winner of the Baker's Breakfast Cookie triathlon a few years ago.
Kinda cool--I just got off the phone with Chris Carmichael, Lance's long-time coach. He's presentih' and representih' at the Seattle Bike Expo in a couple weeks and I'm writing a little thing about it for the Seattle Times. He says Lance will run the Boston and New York marathons with year, with goal times of low 2:40s and mid 2:30s respectively. Also, Lance plans to ride some ultra endurance mountain bike race this year but he doesn't know which one. I asked him if this is all leading up to an Ironman triathlon but he said no, he didn't think so. (I bet he does.)
Rode the Donut Ride on Saturday, the venerable early Saturday a.m. rain-or-shine ride that's been going on since the mid-80s. No phone calls or e-mails, just show up at 7:00 at Kulshan Cycles or a little after 7 pretty much anywhere along Eldridge Avenue/Marine Drive and hook on. Head up to Fernburg, across to Birch Bay, down along Red River Road and back to Bellingham. I don't ride it as much as I'd like (Bake's soccer games, chess tournaments, etc.) but most Saturdays I've ridden it, I hook up with some great people and am pleasantly surprised to have ridden 45 miles by about 9:30.
Above is Steve VanderStay, English professor at WWU, and Columbia neighborhood homey. Below is what was left of the group by the time we hit the Paris-Roubaix section, that kind of rough road behind the Cherry Point Refinery. There're only seven riders left at this point (riders peel off at various points); odd that it was such a small group. A dry, not-freezing-cold Saturday a.m. in February is rare and I thought there'd be many more taking advantage of it. Looking back is Marty Reimer, terrific triathlete and winner of the Baker's Breakfast Cookie triathlon a few years ago.
Kinda cool--I just got off the phone with Chris Carmichael, Lance's long-time coach. He's presentih' and representih' at the Seattle Bike Expo in a couple weeks and I'm writing a little thing about it for the Seattle Times. He says Lance will run the Boston and New York marathons with year, with goal times of low 2:40s and mid 2:30s respectively. Also, Lance plans to ride some ultra endurance mountain bike race this year but he doesn't know which one. I asked him if this is all leading up to an Ironman triathlon but he said no, he didn't think so. (I bet he does.)
Mike,
ReplyDeleteWe're not there because not only is it too darn early, it's too darn cold that early! I personally wait until the warmest part of the day when riding road in the winter. I was also doing the WWU Cycling ride at 9 a.m. for my pack riding fix (as Chris C. suggests), but now it is racing season in Canada! You should come.
That rough section near the refinery is properly called Area 51, just because it's eerily sparse.
Take care!