Another ride through these areas, though I was too burned out from over-exertion caused by caffeine to ride everything I had planned.
Related albums:
More after the break…
Part 1: To Sumner
I started at about 05:00 like usual, and started south on my usual route out of Seattle. If I'm not mistaken, there was a little drizzle about, which progressively worsened.
I had almost forgotten how awful the light timing was on 1st Ave downtown.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
You can tell how much SDOT really cares because your bus stop features 4 inches of standing water instead of a sidewalk.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
Rather than sticking to that route, however, I crossed the South Park Bridge and used the Duwamish Route and Green River Trail to leave Seattle.
@MikeTurmenne I think I got the fit perfect by raising the back of my saddle. Need to tip it back to 'normal' and raise the seat post when…
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
@MikeTurmenne …the Constrictor is put on. Something like 1mm is needed.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
FlyKy's new electric-assist bike wheel can push you for 60 miles http://t.co/ywFv7ixdlK pic.twitter.com/9vjKg6QdHh
— Popular Science (@PopSci) January 10, 2015
Despite the Green River Trail detour (still in place), I stuck to the trail until I hit the sign.
@BikingBis@seabikeblog The sign here says February 2015 is when the trail is to open. #seabikes
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
@inertiald@MikeTurmenne This tweet is no longer relevant as the saddle height is correct now.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
I followed my own detour on the major road nearby, then rejoined the trail at S 196 St.
Then I followed the trail until its end at the Interurban Trail, and followed that instead until 15th St SW.
At NW 15th St, I cut over to the C Street SW trail to its end. I then followed the East Valley Highway to Sumner, where I stopped for coffee.
Rain erodes my resolve. (@ Starbucks in Sumner, WA) https://t.co/WoEDJUh2yy
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
@MikeTurmenne That's because I'm pretty sure my 'junk' is supposed to clear the nose of the Swift despite the 'dip.'
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
Saddle position: 100%. Back is still not liking where the bars are, though. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
Saw a group ride go by when I left Starbucks in Sumner; saw them again just now, headed back the other way. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
While I was drinking my coffee, the rain stopped. This has happened before.
This is not the first time that coffee has made the rain go away on one of my rides.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
My route out of Sumner was along the Foothills Trail, which was pretty empty.
Just found a metal spoon in my bag that I thought I had lost on a ride a while back.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
While riding along the trail in Orting, something caught my eye.
Stopping to chat with folks at places like these is one of my favorite parts of touring. (@ Trailside Cyclery) https://t.co/xsvrmQZnlk
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
The mechanic at the shop was a couple years younger than me, but had already done some long tours.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
She dislikes carbon and disc brakes, and likes steel. Too bad there aren't more folks like her on the road. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
I really enjoyed discussing bikes with her. I also picked up some anti-friction cream.
A customer at that shop had a beautiful lugged Soma he got by trading a Specialized Roubaix. Good people out here. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
It was a Soma Stanyan. He talked about how he was looking into getting either a Davidson or R&E custom bike built up.
When I left, I noticed a noise that sounded like tire tread rubbing on something, so I headed back into the shop to have her look at it. As it turned out, I the wheel wasn't all the way in the dropout.
The new fit is so good that I was strong enough to end up walking my rear wheel out of the horizontal dropout. Need bolt-on axles. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
I then continued to South Prairie, where I stopped for an Italian soda to drink with some food I had brought.
Part 2: Foothills
Next, I headed up to Buckley via SR-162. I also saw a car that was headed to the 'missing link' of the trail, but there was a "ROAD CLOSED" barrier on the trail itself.
I saw a car with two bikes on it head down the private road to the secret section of the Foothills Trail, but the trail was closed. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
I used SR-410 to exit Buckley, but unlike last time, I exited Enumclaw via Cumberland Road and headed further into the foothills along it.
Rain's back and the caffeine wore off. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 10, 2015
The rain returned as I rode through there, and I knew the caffeine had worn off, so I stopped for some more.
Ended up getting more caffeine in Cumberland.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
The chain started making noise similar to when the derailleur isn't aligned to a sprocket correctly, but no matter how much trimming I did, I couldn't get the noise to go away.
I eventually made it to Palmer, where I hung a left toward Ravensdale.
At Ravensdale, I headed south via Black Diamond, where the chain started dropping on both sides of the ring.
First the chain felt noisy, then RD shifting started getting sloppy, then the FD dropped the chain on both sides.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
I completely soaked the chain in lube, which was fine because the rain was still falling pretty hard.
Coated my chain in emergency lube in Black Diamond.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
From Black Diamond, I barreled down into the Green Valley, then headed toward Auburn.
The rain started dying off when I hit the Green Valley.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
When I arrived, I went to Zola's Cafe for coffee
I'm at Zola's Coffee in Auburn, WA https://t.co/Uf5JHiNIsm
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
Last time I stopped at a place called Secreto Coffee Shop, but I haven't been able to find it since. I asked the barista at Zola's about it, but she had no idea despite living in Auburn. Looking into it, it would be just before Zola's Cafe when heading west, but I haven't seen the storefront.
The weather should continue to improve. pic.twitter.com/RjrYUuRhDj
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
The seat position is pretty much perfect now. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
"When drivers make turns at full speed w.out even looking, or speed thru intersections + kill ppl," thats no accident http://t.co/laWxgJXNck
— newyorkist (@Newyorkist) January 11, 2015
Part 3: To Othello Station
While heading further west on Main St to head home, I started seeing a lot of closed streets downtown. I had to detour a couple blocks north in order to find my way around it. I also had a lot of trouble with my chain dropping on the crank side of the big ring, and had to make sure to put almost no tension on it when shifting to the big ring.
There was a thick mist in the air that reduced visibility like fog would, but also collected on my riding glasses. I had to stop every few miles to wipe them off.
This mist somehow manages to be worse than fog.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
Still have to baby the front derailleur. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
I took the Interurban Trail to head north, then crossed over at S 196th St to Oakesdale Way to get into Renton. Next, I headed along Rainier Way and the Lake Washington Loop, and both had far lighter traffic than usual. While climbing the hills of the latter, I realized that I just didn't have the strength to continue like that, and headed to take Link to SoDo.
Partially giving up. (@ Othello LINK Station - @soundtransit in Seattle, WA) https://t.co/ZyvH7zJfWQ
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
I was wondering why traffic was so light, but then I realized there was a #Seahawks game going on.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
I don't have enough strength left to conquer the Lake Washington Loop. I blame the caffeine.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
The indoor wheel hooks are pretty nice.
Part 4: Return Home
From SoDo Station, I rode along the SoDo Trail. There were a lot of crowds leaving the train from the Seahawks game, so I took it slow whenever I approached them.
Thank goodness for public transport. I continued cycling from SoDo, though.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
When I got onto the street, I had to contend with a lot of slow traffic all the way up through downtown. The traffic lights were all in flashing mode and the police were directing traffic.
Traffic downtown was awful as expected on a game day.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
Nothing happened though, despite the crowds of pedestrians meandering aimlessly.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
Once out of downtown, I took my normal route home.
One car passenger tried to startle me by barking, but I was too burned out to even notice at the time.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
Managed to make it home in no more pieces than usual.
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
Ended up only losing something like 5-7 miles
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
Amazingly, there are no stress points I'm my legs: everything is pretty equally worn. Also no major abrasion. #cycling
— 竹下憲二 (@takeshita_kenji) January 11, 2015
Epilogue
The following morning, I gave my drivetrain a good scrubbing to see if that would help with shifting on the front.
When riding to the farmers' market, it the problem still occurred, though slightly less often, so I stopped by my local bike shop to get it looked at.
The mechanic there at the time was unable to fix it, but she did not ice this bad behavior.
Even days later, nobody has a consensus on the issue. I've left the bike hanging on the wall in the meantime.
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