A Lovely day, A Lot of Hills, and A Lost Little Girl

We took a team ride as I posted earlier around the South end of Lake Wa and across I90. For the first time, our 7 man team (New name pending suggestions) was together and we rode like the wind. Or rather we rode against the wind. Insert the sound of Leo impersonating the wind who seems to hate us and always push us down. Sorry I trailed off.

Anyway, a few team members had some anxiety and anger to blow off so we started off strong. Riding to enjoy the day, to get some exercise and to well work off some frustrations. The day was a little cloudy but after Chilly Hilly it was like I was pedaling in Hawaii! I should back up, I have NOT been on a bike since that dreadful event and honestly almost cried thinking about mounting up this week. Just a little PTSD....

Anyway the day was nice and we started out heading South towards Renton. To quote Jocelyn, "There are just a few hills on this route." Unfortunately for Joc, she became the Girl who cried wolf... There were a lot of hills, great training for our journey in August.

We curved around the SOuth end of Boeing Field and took a little rest for a snack at Seward Park in South Seattle. We mounted back up and headed towards I90 and Mercer Island.

Mike and I decided to ride up the hill while the rest took the flat route and then climbed the stairs to the top of the bridge. (Note to self: it was one hell of a hill, thanks Mike!)

Across I90 is always my favorite part and aside from some sand in my teeth it was no different. I did feel like it was soooo much easier this year as compared to last.

Now the interesting part. We ventured onto Mercer Island to add about 13 miles to the route by biking around the Perimter. About 11 miles in we all stopped to recuperate. Mike and JR had some leg cramps and the rest of us had to go to the bathroom bad. While we rested in some rich Mercer Islander's driveway, we saw a little girl walking along side the , not so safe, road. It looked as though she had popped out of the huge Mercer Island Trail system that goes for miles through the inside of the island.

She was crying, sobbing and shivering. We got her to come with us and finally got her name and her age, just 6 years old. Apparently her friend's dad dropped her off at home but then zoomed off in his sports car (that i am assuming, no idea what car he drives) before she got inside. Her house was locked and no one was home. So she started walking and walking attempting to find her way through her tears to her friend's house. Luckily she came upon us and not the awful people that are scattered in this world.

We called the MI police, and a hybrid SUV later, a nice cop showed up and helped us return her to her home. Not before reaming out the friend's mom and making our little lost girl feel safe again. I hope her parents give those other parents HELL about this and that the little girl is doing better today.

We rode on, with our anger and astonishment to propel us forward and we ended our 35 mile bike ride, some 4 hours later back at our cars. Starving and tired, and in desparate need of a bathroom.

Never a dull moment with Team _____________________ (Still looking for a new name).

Next up- Tulip Ride!!!

If Sunny Skies Prevail

How about this for our route on Sunday?

35.67 miles. Start at SE Bell park and ride, head south around the bottom of the lake, thru Seward Park and the Mercer Island Loop back to the car.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/29901148

Newest team member!!!

I would like to introduce everyone to Team Jarlos' newest team member and first fan, Mike! He finally got the nerve to join us for a ride this weekend. Without a "cough" holding him back, he manned up and rode 30 long, trecherous miles along the Centennial Trail! The ride was from Snohomish to south Marysville. Here is a pic of Mike (don't know what he's doing) with Marysville highschool in the background.

At the start, you can tell Mike was getting a little nervous. His cleats wouldn't let him fully clip into the pedal but he said screw it and we were off. Thank God for nice weather, especially after what was the worst sunday of my life last weekend. The ride was honestly so easy (even on my old piece of shit) that there really isn't much to talk about here! Just glad teammate number 5 finally joined in!
If you notice in the pic above, we're all holding the number 25 with our fingers. Reason for this is the last two miles of the first half was a pretty gradual downhill slope. Mike decided to take off showing off his insane bike skills. Soon after that, CLos passed me and I screamed out "I CAN'T HIT 25!!!!" This is because on my old piece of shit bike, the fastest I can go is about 25 mph, but it takes a force of God to get the speed up that fast!!!

Three strikes rule...

Hello everybody!!! So like Joc, this is my first post of the season, and also like Joc, I can't guarantee that there will be much more of these, but i'll try my hardest to keep you all entertained! (No that doesn't mean I'm hopping back on my mountain bike!)

So you're probably thinking about why I named my post "the three strikes rule," well I just want you to pay attention to the strikes throughout this post and keep in mind that once you reach three, you're usually out, you quit, you give up, you turn around... but for some reason, we didn't.

So for me the day started out questioning my sanity. I had a party to attend the night before and didn't get to sleep till about 2:30 in the morning KNOWING I had to be up bright and early for our first organized ride of the season. Exchanging texts with Joc at 6:30 and waiting for her to say "i'm out!" But that never happened. We all met at the Mercer Island park & ride with the weather a blistering 32 degrees! We loaded the bikes and were off to Seattle, along with our newest member of the team, Carlos' brother in law, Earl.

The ferry ride was probably the best part of the day, for the simple fact that I had half an apple fritter. It was delicious. Joc got a little nauseus (of course) and we hadn't started to ride yet. Disembarking the ferry, Carlos took quite the spill (strike number 1). He collapsed going an amazing 2 mph and happened to take another biker out with him. Apparently the other biker started doing push-ups and I think Hillary pee'd herself a bit. After everyone composed themselves we were off!

From the get-go things didn't seem to going well for one of our teammates, our first downhill Carlos' phone flies off his bike. Not the way you would think where the velcro gives from a bump and becomes detached, I mean, the unthinkable way. The phone completely comes out of it's casing and crashes to the ground in the middle of the hill forcing Carlos to turn around and climb up an unnecessary hill (strike number 2).

After those two nightmares to start off the ride things started to look up. We were all expecting rain/snow and cold weather but the sun was poking out and the scenery was GORGEOUS! Wait, I spoke too soon. Our first big hill it started to snow... just a bit. And at first we all were mocking the weather. "Look!! It's snowing! Wouldn't be a chilly hilly ride without the snow!!!" I wish I could take back that mockery now because it kicked our ass for the rest of the day!

After about another 10 miles of complaining about the cold, the wet, the snow, the hills and whatever else you can possibly think of we were close to the half way point. Except Carlos gets a flat about 2 miles away (strike number 3, time to quit??? Nope!) He repeatedly fills up his tire with air about every 4 pedals and finally makes it to the halfway point. At this point I've been waiting for about 20 minutes hoping that I would warm my feet up. My toes felt like they were frost bitten. Earl gave me a pair of socks to put over my shoes to try and block the wind, and surprisingly they worked for a bit. We all got some snacks, tea, and Carlos fixed his flat. Off for the second half.

Hill after hill, rain and more rain, snow and slippery roads we muscled through the second half of the ride. More gorgeous scenery and wind from hell. It's as if the devil himself was throwing us EVERY curve ball in the book to prevent us from finishing this ride. Carlos' chain kept falling off (strike number 4) and Hillary couldn't change gears anymore (strike number 5). But we all muscled through it!

At the finish line, soaking to the bone and Carlos' jacket weighing in at about 367lbs due to waterlog we were all looking forward to some chili, but the room was tiny, and it was a small bowl for $7. I know it's going to a good cause, but the best cause for us at that time was to get somewhere warm, and that tiny room was not it. We rode the last half mile to the ferry where we endured probably the coldest part of the ride. Sitting outside, not moving, waiting for the stupid cars to unload... absolutely miserable!

Looking back on things, you usually forget the bad things and only remember the good. Like for me for instance, I remember marine corps boot camp as being fun although going through it was hell. As for yesterdays ride? I don't remember a single good thing! That's gotta mean something! The good thing is, we finished. We triumphed through the harsh weather conditions, the miserable hills, all the problems with bikes, our frozen extremities. 3,000 less people rode this ride than recorded last year, and we were part of that insane group. Now that we can say we've completed it, we'll never do it again... right team????????

Now for Vancouver!!

Chilly Hilly: My first blog of the season

So this is my first blog of the season and because I’m a commitment-phobe I can’t commit that it won’t be my last. Below is a breakdown of Chilly Hilly from my perspective. I hope you enjoy it and if you take anything away from this blog…take this: Never, EVER do Chilly Hilly….it is miserable, sick and WRONG!

1. Started the day with fresh snow on the ground in my neighborhood…this should have been my first indication that I should have bailed.

2. Hillary, Leo and I shared a few text messages early that morning…all of us looking for one of us to call off the ride. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. We were gonna ride like champs, “In it to Win It!”

3. We met as a team on Mercer Island and everyone was on time…Let’s just say, this might have been the best part of the whole day!

4. The ferry ride was fine…although I did get a bit queasy.

5. Getting off the ferry was a bit tricky….Carlos fell while clipped in and knocked another rider over. That’s okay though cuz she dropped and did 20 (push-ups that is) right before hand…talk about obnoxious! This was the first highlight of the day…probably not for Carlos though. But we all had a good laugh seeing Carlos’ shoe still clipped in, as he stepped right out of the shoe to recover.

6. Off the ferry we headed up the hill, which was much better than I expected, except Carlos hit a bump on the way down and his T-Mobile MyTouch went flying and hit the ground. Don’t worry…because he had T-Mobile his phone survived the brutal crash. But poor Carlos, he seriously had a rough start…another indicator that we should have turned around and headed home.

7. The first few miles weren’t bad; although the weather was a bit chilly the scenery was beautiful. I’ve found my new dream neighborhood. As soon as I win the lottery I’m movin!

8. Then the rain came.

9. The more hills came.

10. Then the snow came.

11. Then Carlos got a flat…bless his heart for not quitting at that very moment.

12. Then we stopped for a quick break to warm up, fix Carlos’ tire and have a nice cup of Lipton tea.

13. About 20 minutes later we were back on our bikes and that’s when the pain came back to my fingers. The throbbing was intense, so much so that I had a challenging time shifting gears and fully clutching my brakes. We stopped a few miles down the way and I had tears welling up in my eyes because my fingers were soooo cold and hurting. I would have quit, but I was too embarrassed…didn’t want the team to see how weak I was

14. We all pushed through and continued on our way…another 13 or so miles to go.

15. The wind blew harder, the rain came harder, oh yes and the snow continued to fall off and on throughout the rest of the ride. There were points on the ride when I was pedaling with all of my power and yet the wind held me back as if I wasn’t moving at all. Talk about deflating.

16. Poor Hillary struggled a bit more than the rest of us on this ride. She is scared it is because she is still on her hybrid and the rest of us now have road bikes. I do believe the road bike would make it a bit easier for her…but I also think it was the miserable weather conditions and her gears…that didn’t seem to be shifting properly. I felt horrible for her because it truly sucks to struggle on a ride and feel you are holding the team back. But truth be told she held no one back and she rocked the shiz niz out of this ride. I’m impressed by her determination to push through!

Hold up…I’m gonna take a minute to say one thing…We have become a true team and no matter what happens, none of us hold each other back…we all have good days and bad days and we will ride together like the 3 musketeers, “All for one…one for All!”.

Okay…enough cheesiness...

17. Yes, I was miserable and on the verge of tears many times, but I have to admit I found myself having many “Cities of Angels Moments”…you know in the movie when Meg Ryan is riding her bike (no hands) and the sun is beating down on her face as if Heaven is opening its gates to her. No I’m not a bible banger…but I do cherish these moments when I can’t wipe the smile off my face.

18. Regardless of the ride conditions, we finished and we didn’t take the shortcut, so we truly “were in it to win it” and we did!

And on one final note…Hillary and I came to the conclusion that Leo isn’t as much fun now that he is riding a road bike and taking spinning 5 days a week. So we have decided he needs to ride his mountain bike going forward and lag behind to make us happy! Decision made and DONE!

Another note, Carlos’ bro-in-law, Earl, joined us. He was such a trooper and an awesome guy. This is a shout out to a new addition to our team…even if he never rides with us again.

One final note...the ride made the Seattle Times...check this out: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014352131_chillyhilly28m.html

Letter #1

Dear Mr. Pool,

May I call you Steve? First, allow me to start off by saying I usually complain about how wrong you are on a regular basis and I am sure hoping your forecast for today is REALLY, REALLY wrong.

You see, we have a big bike ride today, Chilly Hilly, the name says it all. But being a bit chilly on a ride is one thing, being freezing and fearing for your life on ice-covered roads is another.

So, what i am asking is for you to be wrong in your forecast. I am not asking for 60 and sunny but I am asking for it not to be 30 and icy. I guess I would settle for 40 degrees, just a little reprieve is all.

Oh please Mr. Steve, be wrong about your forecast one more time and allow us to have a pleasent first ride of the season.

Yours truly,

A nervous rider
Hillary

Where's Mike?

No post, just a question. I sure hope he pedals with us soon!