5,000 per Year

On flickr, I have one photo approaching 5,000 views (right now, 4,999). I uploaded it a year ago, just after the Fremont Solstice Parade.

Since the parade will be recommencing tomorrow at noon, let's celebrate by posting the star photo:

Looks like fun, doesn't it?

And yet Chunlin doesn't want to do it. . .

(By the way, seven others have over 4,000 views. The only connection I see is that they all have naked or semi-naked women. Hmmm. . .)

Yesterday's Bike Ride Today

This morning, Chunlin and I took a bike ride up the Interurban Trail (more or less) to Scriber Lake in Lynnwood. Yesterday was too hot to go riding.

Without a map, we weren't always able to find the trail when it jogged back and forth, but we made it to my goal anyway. None of the various cities on the route were very good at signage. In Mountlake Terrace, for instance, they turned us off 76th Avenue, but didn't tell us where to turn back north. We made it up the big hill southeastward almost back to to I-5 before we decided to turn around. Just a mile extra . . .

The city of Shoreline has done some work, with a couple bridges at Aurora.

Chunlin didn't like them (we need to take the baskets off her pedals so she can make sharp turns), so on the way back, we just headed down Meridian to home.


Here's another bit of trail we skipped on the way back. I just charged up the hill on Meridian Avenue after crossing the county line. This trail was too narrow and curvy to get a good head of steam going up or down.

In Lynnwood, just near Scriber Lake, we stopped for lunch at Espresso Buono. Good coffee.


And here's Scriber Lake:


Ducks live there.


Yay!


Twice as many photos on flickr, if you'd like to see.

Lopez Weekend

I finished posting photos from last weekend's Lopez Island trip. So go look at them all, if you please.

Saturday, Chunlin and I took a 35 (or 40) mile bike ride around the island.

Shark Reef:




Davis Road, on the south end of the island:


Iceberg Point (or rather, a spot a ways to the east of Iceberg Point):




And back to Odlin Park for the night:


On the Odlin Park dock:


We had some time Sunday morning, so we drove over to Spencer Spit:


The tip of the spit is a couple hundred feet short of Frost Island:


And then my camera battery died, but rest assured that the view of Mt. Baker from the ferryboat was breathtaking.

As you can tell, we got a lot of chaperoning done!

Ride in the Rain!

Yesterday was the Kitsap Color Classic. Chunlin, my dad, and I rode the Hansville loop despite the threat of rain, rain, rain!

Apparently about half the registered riders didn't show up to ride. For shame! But there were still a few hundred.

Not many on the 10:10 ferry, though. About ten or twelve.


The Hansville loop went from Kingston to the northerly tip of the Kitsap Peninsula, home of the hamlet of Hansville and the Point No Point lighthouse.


It didn't rain on the ride north. In fact, we had a tailwind so it was rather warm.

Rain was nearby though, as evidenced by the rainbow over Whidbey Island.


On the way back, though, the rain kicked in. And with the headwind, it was wet.

I got mud splattered on my back, just like everyone else, but I also got mud splattered on the front of my shirt. I think it was because my tires have more tread than average road bikes. The front-wheel tread caught the water and threw it forward. Then, thanks to my airspeed, the mud droplets turned around and hit me.

Chunlin brought a change of clothes for after. I didn't.


We had one really steep hill and one really long hill. I managed to ride to the top of both, in my "granny" gear. One woman on the long hill yelled that I was cheating (as I passed her), but that's what the low gear is for!

Here's the top of the steep hill:


Speaking of gears, my chain fell off the front sprockets four times. The first two times, it fell off the inside when shifting from the middle sprocket to the small sprocket. I adjusted the shifter thingy. Then it fell off the outside when shifting from the middle sprocket to the large one. I adjusted it again. The chain then fell off the inside when shifting from the small sprocket to the middle sprocket. How did that happen? I didn't make any further adjustments, and yet it didn't fall off again.

Despite the inclement conditions, we all had a good time. Next year, the STP!

Bought a Bike

Chunlin and I took a bike ride from Redmond to Snoqualmie Falls yesterday. Or at least that was our plan. In actuality, we made it as far as . . . Redmond.

My borrowed bike's chain broke again as soon as I tried to shift gears the first time. I called Dad and he pointed us to the nearest bike shop. They sold us a new chain ($35) and said the bike really needs new gears, too. So I called Dad (see photo) to discuss. In the end, we didn't pay for the new gears, but rode it to REI with only the chain replaced.



At REI, we looked at new bikes. Since it's the end of the 2007 season, none of the stores have regular-sized bikes anymore. Plenty of extra-large and extra-small, though! The Redmond guy called Southcenter because they had a medium in the style I liked (K2 Mach 1), but it was on hold for someone else through Saturday night. I called Tacoma REI to put a K2 Mach 1 medium on hold. Southcenter REI put a K2 Mach 2 on hold for me.

This morning, I test-rode the K2 Mach 1 at Southcenter (the holdee customer didn't buy it yesterday). I don't like drop handlebars.

In short, four bike shops later, I bought a Marin Fairfax ('07) at the Seattle REI for $499. It's a flat-handlebar road bike. Chunlin chided me for the flat handlebars. Not hard-core enough! But it's what I'm comfortable with.

Sunday Ride

We took a bike ride from Kenmore to Redmond and back this afternoon. 25 miles or so. My first bike ride in . . . well . . . twenty years?

It was quite fun. It feels like I coasted most of the way, both directions. Just a few pumps and then just float along the path, the wind in my face.

But I'm sore in some unusual places. . .

And a couple miles from the car, on our return, the bike chain snapped. Luckily, a bike shop was just a half mile back, in Bothell. I scootered along while C & C rode.

The mechanics fixed the bike with no troubles and we were soon on our way home.

Also: At Cold Stone Creamery, Irish cream ice cream with almonds is good, but strawberry ice cream with graham crackers, caramel, and whipped cream is better.