Monday, October 10, 2016

John Wayne Pioneer Trail II (2016-09-30)

After the easy time I had with my Davidson on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail, I decided to try something a bit more involved.

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This was yet another one of my rides where I shamelessly kept trying to make my knees happy. I found the right saddle height range, but fore-aft still needed work at the end.

More after the break…

Part 1: To Bus

I left home at about 04:30, an hour earlier than I would've typically done so for heading east.


I've never had this happen before, and now I have to be paranoid every time I get on a bus with a bike. The wheel hook was positioned well within the green zone, too.

Part 2: Outbound

I realized my mistake in starting so early when I got to Issaquah: it would remain dark for a while, and it was much colder than in Seattle. To warm up and await some semblance of light, I stopped at the local Panera as I've been doing on a lot of these rides.

Once done there, I headed along the rocky trail to Preston.

I then went down through Fall City and up to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail.

Then passed through Snoqualmie and North Bend.

When I got to the bottom of the climb up to Rattlesnake Lake, I decided to reduce tire pressure as the rocky trail earlier had been a bit rough. That did the trick!

Once up the climb and after stopping for water at the Cedar River Watershed Education Center, I headed up the John Wayne Pioneer Trail.

After all that climbing, I made it to the tunnel. Rather than continuing to Keechelus Lake, however, I decided to turn back once I got water at the other end of the tunnel to save time. After all, the last time I did this, I spent the night in Easton, and I couldn't do that this time due to work the next morning.

He was walking through the tunnel when I first saw him, as his derailleur was having trouble indexing and he didn't want to adjust cable tension until out of the tunnel. He talked about how his friend who had recently passed was the fittest of the three of them, too.

The tunnel was fun as always, and cold enough for a sweater.

Part 3: Inbound

I started my return trip by going back through the tunnel, then zipped down the descent all the way to North Bend. It was pretty fast, too!

At North Bend, I increased tire pressure to 55 psi for a little more speed, then headed out of town along the 'truck route' that avoided downtown Snoqualmie and the narrow bridge. It was a pretty nice route.

I passed by the Salish Lodge, then went down the windy descent of SR-202 to Fall City.

Next, I went up Preston–Fall City Road to the Preston–Snoqualmie Trail and stopped for water in Preston.

After carefully heading along the High Point–Preston Trail, I jumped onto I-90 for a quick descent on its shoulder.

And then I caught the bus back to Seattle. Thankfully, the driver didn't feel the need to damage my fender this time.

Part 4: Return Home

When I disembarked the bus, I had to spend a bit of time tackling a major issue, but managed nonetheless.

I got home fairly late, but not too late to make work the next day difficult. Also, it rained much of the next day, so I dodged a bullet by working on the weekend instead of riding!

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