Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Foothills Loop (2015-05-09)

After a couple of incomplete loops due to bad circumstances, I finally managed to complete it proper. I finalized my fit adjustment technique, which has allowed me to make better progress than ever before on it.

Geotagged Album

Related albums:

Truncated Foothills Loop (Album)
Wilkeson, Detour, and Too Much Caffeine (Album)
Carbon and Green Valleys II (Album)
Franklin (Album)
Carbon and Green Valleys (Album)
Connecting South Prairie to Black Diamond (Album)
Orting and South Prairie (Album)

More after the break…

I recently had the cockpit of Red Miles converted to use bar-end shifters, and this was their big test ride.

New Cockpit: Narrower bars, bar-end shifters

I also had Schwalbe Marathon tires installed in place of the Marathon Plus ones I had been using, as the latter were uncomfortable.

Schwalbe Marathon: Much more comfortable than the Marathon Plus

Part 1: To Carbon River

Part 1: To Carbon River

I started at the usual time of 05:00, and headed south on my typical route through downtown and SoDo. Rather than staying on the big road through Tukwila, however, I crossed at the South Park Bridge and took the Green River Trail from its start.

I followed the trail all the way to the detour, which I recalled from last time. Unlike last time, however, I didn't make the mistake of following that route and stuck to 64th Ave S all the way until W Meeker Street, then got back onto the trail there.

Bridge Across the Green River: I've gone past this bridge a number of times, and only stopped to photograph it this time.

Running low on water, I turned into downtown Auburn, only to find a long freight train slowly trundling its way through. Rather than waiting, I just went to a diner I've seen many times for water.

I ended up ordering a small plate of biscuits and gravy.

I then got back onto the Interurban Trail for a little bit, then jumped over to the C Street Trail, and then the E Valley Highway, which I took into Sumner. I just passed right through Sumner, taking SR-162 to the Foothills Trail.

On that trail, I slowly gained on a roadie paceline until a faster roadie paceline passed me. I joined that one, drafting off it to pass the slower one, and didn't see the latter again until I stopped to use the restroom in Orting.

From Orting, I took the Foothills Trail to where South Prairie Creek splits off the Carbon River, then followed the latter on a small, quiet road. The public road ended at the base of a big hill, the top of which housed a number of "20 to 30 acre properties" that were being advertised.

Carbon River
Carbon River
Red Miles at the Carbon River
Road to Nowhere
Carbon River
Carbon River Hills
Carbon River
Carbon River
Free Rock

Part 1: To Bothell

Part 2: To Bothell

After taking photos of the river, I then zipped back down the road to SR-162 and took it to the Foothills Trail again, which I followed to South Prairie.

It started getting rather warm as I made my way through Buckley and Enumclaw. At least the bridge wasn't out like last time.

I've developed an aversion to taking SR-169 between Enumclaw and Black Diamond after dealing with the steep bridge with only a shoulder on the downhill side, so I headed through Cumberland instead. The general store there is a nice stop, too, as most of them are.

Car Storage: The original Northern Pacific mainline through the area is now relegated to this, as it's been truncated at Enumclaw.
Old Mainline

After Cumberland, I made my way through the middle of nowhere to Kangley, then hung a left to get to Ravensdale, and then a right to head north to Hobart. Between Ravensdale and Kangley, there's a gated community miles from pretty much anything, which seems pointless as nobody else would even want to go out there.

After going through Hobart, I just continued downhill to Issaquah where I finally got coffee. One of the road's shoulders was packed with cars despite signs.

Since I was in Issaquah, I decided to pop by Bicycle Center of Issaquah to chat with Kent for a bit.

This also put me on the west side of the major north-south thoroughfare in Issaquah, which I thought would be a good idea since getting to the trail under I-90 is always a bit of an undertaking with it there. Unfortunately, it didn't do any good at all, and I had to walk a bit through a park to pass though, and I had to deal with a diagonal thoroughfare after anyway.

Once past I-90, I got onto the East Lake Sammamish Parkway, then followed it to Marymoor Park. There were a lot of cyclists around the area, but especially in the park.

I then got onto the Sammamish River Trail and followed it to Bothell. I passed another roadie paceline along the way, despite the long day on a heavy bike with a load.

When I got to Bothell, I left the trail at Cascadia/UW Bothell, then skirted downtown Bothell before heading north to the Canyon Park area, the destination of my ride.

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