Monday, October 20, 2014

Snohomish Bowtie (2014-10-18)

A fairly mundane ride centered around the city of Snohomish.

Map: 127 miles
Geotagged Album

NOTE:A fairly mundane ride centered around the city of Snohomish. I was having trouble getting my camera to focus, so I manually sharpened a few of these after the fact.

More after the break…

Part 1: To Snohomish

I started at the usual time of 05:00, and headed out along the Burke-Gilman Trail through the rain. It kind of reminded me of fog with its limited visibility.

I continued along it through Bothell, avoiding the Sammamish River Trail until 102 Ave NE, when I cut over to it.

I left that trail for the Redmond Central Connector and then headed up along Avondale Road and Novelty Hill Road.

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Novelty Hill Road wasn't too easy, but it wasn't as bad as a later hill.

I barreled down into the Snoqualmie River Valley, then made a left to follow the western edge of it. In the past, I would often hang a right at Crescent Lake Road, but I instead continued north. High Bridge Road wasn't too easy, with numerous steep grades, and, of course, no shoulder in most places. One cool part was a short bridge over which the road ran.

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I then passed under SR-522, with the new bridge construction underway. At this point, the rain came and went periodically.

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The porta-potty there wasn't locked, which made it very convenient.

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I hung a right onto Connelly Road, which was a lot flatter.

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This took me to a spot where the road passed under the old Woodinville Subdivision.

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I soon met up with Broadway, then headed straight for downtown Snohomish where I got a hot chocolate to escape the rain.

There were a bunch of other cyclists (roadies) there who were admiring the wheel lock on my bike. We chatted a bit before I headed on my way.

Part 2: To Granite Falls

I left Snohomish via the lower river route, and rode through Everett.

My route took me under Pacific Avenue and up a much smaller road.

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There was a closed road on my route, so I had to take a parallel street instead.

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I took my typical route along SR-529 to get to Marysville.

But then I hung a right onto 88th St NE, which took me up the steepest hill I've ever managed to haul a bike up, at least for that kind of distance.

From there, I just followed the road to SR-92, then continued the couple miles into Granite Falls.

I headed into a local diner to check out their ice cream, but the service was slow enough to discourage me. I started heading along SR-92 toward Lake Stevens shortly after.

Once in Lake Stevens, headed south along the Centennial Trail toward Snohomish.

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I was thinking about getting an egg nog latte, but the guy already had my normal triple mocha ready when I went up there to pay. Next time, then.

In the past, I've noticed that I keep getting a "chain tattoo" on my inner right leg. I've mulled the idea of getting a real one there, but that hasn't happened yet.

Before I left, I chatted bikes with some of the shop folks (the cafe is inside the bike shop). Apparently, a shop can only carry a major brand's bikes (Giant, Trek, Specialized, etc.) if they don't sell any other major brands.

Part 4: Return Home

I then proceeded along my normal route south out of Snohomish, my XT cassette making it much easier than it had been in the past.

And then I headed home along the Burke-Gilman Trail. I felt stronger and faster than I would've normally been at that point, as this ride had been shorter overall.

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