Friday, January 8, 2016

Trying One More Time (2016-01-01)

Despite my hard, hard efforts, I had to turn back again due to ice.

More after the break…

Outbound

After waiting for sunrise anyway last time, I started a little after 06:00 this time, heading south through Seattle. I thought that would also be late enough to avoid New Year's drunks, but apparently not.

Some of the clubs in SoDo seemed to still be partying, too.

Once I'd gotten far enough away from downtown Seattle, it got really cold again, and I had to stop at Randy's beside Boeing Field to warm up with coffee and hot food.


While there, some of the wait staff told me about cycling in snow they've done before, and how sometimes the frost is thick enough to look like snow in places.


Once past Boeing Field, I got onto the Green River Trail and followed it to the Interurban Trail.

I then followed the Interurban Trail, being very careful when crossing the frosty railroad crossings on it.

The trail was uneventful at the beginning, but then I saw a place where the trail had flooded and frozen in Auburn.

I later learned that the trail's been flooding a lot lately, and how people usually ignored the official trail closure during such times. Apparently, King County and Puget Sound Energy never renewed the easement through the southern reaches, so the county can't maintain the trail.

While I was able to get past the first icy bit, the second one pretty much kept me from continuing.

While you can't see it here, the grass on both sides had ice under it, so going around was a pretty bad idea, too.

Inbound

I decided to turn back, but head via the Green River Trail and Frager Road instead to get more distance. Aside from frost, this leg was pretty uneventful.

Once I'd gotten to Tukwila, I decided to get some tea at Starbucks as my stomach was very unhappy from all the coffee I'd been drinking.



To leave Tukwila, I continued along the Green River Trail all the way to South Park. While along it, I found something that was a good representation of how I'd been feeling that morning (WARNING: dead animal).

I also talked to a guy from the mountains in Pennsylvania who said that the wind chill was why I was so cold while riding. While I didn't disagree, I've been warm in similar conditions before.

I crossed the South Park Bridge, then followed East Marginal Way and 4th Avenue S north. I followed bike route signs eventually, and ended up at a place that wouldn't have allowed me to get across the huge railyard in SoDo.

I had to turn back, then head up 1st Ave S, next cutting over to East Marginal Way again. Once there, I took my typical route all the way home. I stopped at my now-closed for good local bike shop one last time to get a photo.

And then I headed straight home.

After getting home, I ended up with deathly shivers after a while due to a lack of common sense.

When I later brought up my findings with all these layers, I learned that having too many layers underneath a compacting outer layer is bad news since it results in less air and more fabric underneath said outer layer. Apparently, the whole point of insulation is to keep a layer of air warm around one's body. I really should've known that, but was't thinking.

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