Sunday Ride

(A little interlude before I return to the San Diego trip.)

I had a wonderful hilly run yesterday. It was then sunny and dry the rest of the day so I was able to work out in the yard a bit. Spring is coming!

It was mildly raining this morning but I thought I still get out for a short in-city ride. I just did my normal almost 20 mile route of around Green Lake, down Stoneway and around Lake Union and back. It was relatively warm and no traffic was out.

I haven't been riding all that much because the foot injury which was affecting running also is bothered by my bike shoes. It was time to replace my old, tight fitting ones and I was glad to try out the new pair outside this am. I still have a bit of tweaking to do to avoid irritating that silly little sesamoid bone but it's definitely better. I might need to change my style of riding in-city as well. I tend to crank on the sore foot to get started at lights. That doesn't help but it is hard to change this riding habit without being a danger of falling over!

Since I haven't been outside riding I must've missed the sneaky city putting up tons of bike route signs. When did this happen? And how'd they figure out what to sign and where? This particular sign is at 8th Ave NE and NE 88th St. in my neighborhood. Who bikes along 8th? And why would you ever go towards Magnuson Park this way? 88th? Really? Holy Hills, Batman!

It is still nice to see the attention to cyclists. I'm still hoping for better street sweeping after icing and snow events. Gary Prince was my bike buddy when I first learned how to bike commute and is out of riding for a while. We had another small snow event a couple of weeks ago and all the sand seems to be back although not as bad.

And I'm hoping there might be some pavement repair on the agenda too. If you see my back bike light and batteries along Fairview Ave N, I have the other half for you. I guess I need a new light as my old one got shook apart on the ride.

I did my good deed for the day. I could see a gal on her bike waiting for the turn traffic light to Stoneway way up ahead. I cranked it out seeing if I could make the light. Nope. then I realized she hadn't triggered the turn light properly so I coasted along until I came up behind her. Turns out she hadn't triggered the light (and was waiting through almost 3 cycles of the traffic lights) because she was in the crosswalk and not on the "T marks the spot" where the traffic light will be triggered. "Oh!" She didn't seem to realize that is what that mark meant. Nope, they don't always work quite right but they are handy to know about and not every city has these.

For the sad, dramatic moment this morning, I was riding by the emergency vet and could see a family with very long faces and a vet employee going to the back of the suv. Obviously they had lost a cherished family member. I happily noticed all the very waggy-tailed dogs being walked today. Give your pet a hug!

Happy riding! I've been really tempted to sign up for a sprint tri this summer. Too bad about that whole swimming in gross Seattle pools thing...