Monday, January 4, 2016

Spin Around Lake Washington (2015-12-28)

I took my fast bike around the lake through the latter half of the day. Aside from a mystery flat near Bellevue, it was a lot of fun!

Neil, Red Retro Rocket, and Cedar River
Map
Geotagged Album

Since this ride was a relatively short loop, I'm not going to divide it into sections.

More after the break…

I started mid-day, as I wasn't planning for a ridiculously long ride after having done a long ride recently. Rather than taking the official Lake Washington Loop to get around Seattle, however, I went downtown, then up to Broadway, and down over First and Beacon Hill, eventually making my way to the Chief Sealth Trail. I took the trail all the way to Rainier Beach.

Once there, I joined the Lake Washington loop to Renton.

Red Retro Rocket and Cedar River
Cedar River Bridge

There, I saw that the Cedar River had flooded a pedestrian and bicycle underpass, and said underpass wasn't draining.

Flooded Underpass: Another casualty of the recent floods.

I then headed east to what looked like an interesting route on the map. To my surprise, I found a route under NE Park Drive!

Lake Washington Loop Underpass: For the longest time, I lamented the lack of a nice route on the Lake Washington Loop here. Little did I know, this very convenient underpass was right there!
Lake Washington Loop Underpass: For the longest time, I lamented the lack of a nice route on the Lake Washington Loop here. Little did I know, this very convenient underpass was right there!
Lake Washington Loop Underpass: For the longest time, I lamented the lack of a nice route on the Lake Washington Loop here. Little did I know, this very convenient underpass was right there!
BNSF Line: As far as I know, these tracks are no longer in use.
Lake Washington Loop in Redmond

After passing through the area, I went along the rooty, crumbling Lake Washington Trail and the associated streets on the Lake Washington Loop to make my way to Bellevue. Once barely in the city limits, I noticed that my rear tire was very squishy, so I spent a good long while fighting the tire beads to get it off. I couldn't find anything in the tire, so I chalked it up to the horrid pavement of the trail, then proceeded to place in a new tube and fill it with air.

For the longest time, I've been using this nifty bit of hose with a typical pump head that allows me to convert any frame pump into a pump with a hose. Unfortunately, I didn't open the valve of the hose, so I kept pumping the pump itself with gusto…until I bent its shaft. A bit broken up, I tried a mini pump I had as a backup, but it wasn't able to get the tire pressure high enough. With much more care than before, I managed to use the bent pump to get the tire nice and firm, only after wasting way too much time.

I proceeded through Bellevue, though avoiding downtown like the plague. My Pacer climbed beautifully with me out of the saddle, which was important with the steep hills around there. With effort, I climbed up and over the 520 Trail to Redmond, where I stopped for more coffee.

The coffee wasn't very good, but it did get me going up the Sammamish River Trail with force!

It was rather dark, but my hub dynamo kept me from getting discouraged.

Red Retro Rocket on the Burke-Gilman Trail: Technically, using the trail at night isn't legal since it's a park. Nobody cares, though.

I made it home rather late, but in a pretty good mood. I was glad I decided to ride that day after all.

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