Chris wears his (moderately creepy) mustache well.

We did the lazy young man’s starting time of 8am on this ride. It didn’t do us any favors this time around. Future rides will hopefully factor in the fact that it starts getting dark around 4-5pm now.

Chris and I met up around 7am to start our climb up and over Beacon Hill to get down in towards Leschi. We have a relatively easy route over the hill, but it is always a little shaky before that first cup of coffee. Thankfully, that was easily obtained since we got to the start at Starbucks about 15 minutes early to meet up with Matt.

The weather looked promising in this first hour. We knew that scattered showers were in our forcast, but maybe we would get lucky. Just around the time that we turned on to Burke Gilman, the rain started falling. It wasn’t heavy at first, but it slowly rolled into it. We made sure all of the appropriate gear was on and kept on the move.

Our first control was an informational control. This means that we have to read something in the area and mark down the answer to a question given with our brevet cards. This particular question asked about an artist who did the mural on the bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathroom was completely demolished and there was a new frame where the old one was. We took note and headed out.

Burke Gilman hooked up to Sammamish River Trail and provided some easy, no car traffic riding. The rain was coming down pretty good, but our spirits were high and we kept a nice tempo. Chris pulled an early flat and we lost a few minutes on the way in to Whole Foods in Redmond.

We were all hungry and probably spent a little more time than necessary, but every control seemed very inviting on this permanent. Pretty much every time we stopped, there were food and drink consumed on the spot.

From there we set off to climb Novelty Hill Rd and pace our way towards Carnation, Washington. Novelty seemed like an endless series of upward hills. My body lost most of its real fitness in a very short amount of time. I still have “it” in me; “it” just doesn’t want to do anything this winter.

We hit some impassable roads that were flooded out around Carnation. Our iPhones came in handy again to rerouting purposes. We rode a bit further south than was planned and hooked back up with NE Carnation Farm Rd. Another info control (the second of three) awaited us.

The section between miles 40 (Carnation) and 62 (North Bend) were the most stunning of the day. It could have been the fact that the rain was dying down and the sun even peeked out a bit between the clouds on our approach to Mount Si.

We spent quit a bit of time at the info control near Three Forks Park. We didn’t understand the question because we couldn’t find the park sign at first. It wasn’t until we got a few miles down the road that we relized that the milage was incorrect on the cue sheet. Still, every little breather was refreshing. With some sun coming out, we all still felt pretty great.

The North Bend QFC has just about the greatest view of Mount Si possible. We stocked up on water and the usual rando nonsense like candy bars, peanuts, and salty chips. We were half way finished and were on track towards our standard 12 hour finish. I’m not sure why it always works out that way. Whenever we are going much faster, we have mechanical problems. If we are going slower, the controls are quick and we make it in on time. I’ve given up on doing these things any faster (at least for the winter). I am trying to just enjoy the day on the bike.

The 30 miles down towards New Castle took us through Fall City and Issaquah. The whole permanent was like bits and pieces of roads from other brevets and personal rides all strung together in to one nice mini epic.

The sun was already quickly fading as we fixed a flat in Issaquah and was completely gone by the time we hit Newcastle. I had been craving Doritos for miles and was happy to fill that hole in my stomach. We spent plenty of time talking and eating at this control as well.

Chris had a proper headlight and guided us through some of the next few turns in to our Maple Valley control. I can’t recall much of it, but I do remember being pretty sick of riding my bike at that point.

Out of Maple Valley, we hit 10 miles of this phenominal trail. It felt freshly paved, freshly sweeped (leaves were in full on slippery mode all day), and slightly down hill the entire way. We might of had a tail wind on top of that too, because we were screaming down it.

Once we hit Rainier Ave, we turned on auto pilot and pushed our legs a bit harder than I probably should have. It was good to be “done” with the ride. The only place that was still open in Leschi was an overpriced restaruant, but beer sounded like it was going to hit the spot.

We all split up after the drinks. Chris and I rode about 10 miles back home to South Park. I cursed him on the way back up Beacon Hill for picking that route home. Curse you, Chris. Curse you.

Summary of Sunday – I tried to not move my legs too much. Ouch.