I know 2010 is the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese calendar, but the bicycle is far more talismanic for me. I think the bike bug stems originally from my first long ride – New York to Nova Scotia – with my younger brother back in 1980, when we decided it would be fun to follow Route 202 through New England up to Maine, and then cross on the Portland-Yarmouth overnight ferry and continue in Nova Scotia. Man we were young and stupid: No helmets (of course, this was back in the day) on crappy bikes, and with a tent, sleeping bags and gear we set out in 100 deg. August heat. Two weeks, 500 miles, a bunch of flats, wrecked wheel and one big adventure later, we met up with our parents at our uncle’s place in Maine, exhausted but exhilarated. I had the bug. I was never a competitive cyclist, but there’s just something about the freedom of getting on a bicycle and going that is unbeatable.
Susan has the bug, too. In fact, a large part of why we came out to Seattle in the first place is because it is cycle-friendly. We were regularly doing organized century (100 mile) rides and rides like the STP before Malcolm was born. We kind of lost our groove for a while after that, but now that Malcolm can handle longer (25 – 40 mile) riles as “stoker” on a trailer bike we’re picking up the ride calendar again.
February starts with Chilly Hilly, the unofficial start of cycling season here in Seattle. I did it last year, we’re both going to ride this year. June brings both Flying Wheels (we’ll do it with Malcolm again this year) and then – for me at least – The Tour de Blast which is 4300 feet of elevation in 41 miles climbing Mt. St. Helens, then the return trip back down. Better start training now for that!
July brings the STP (my goal is to do it in one day this year) and we cap the season off with some touring on the Oregon coast before Labor Day. And hopefully a bunch of decent weekend and training rides in between.
[My trusty steed, above, has taken me through all kinds of rides including the only triathlon I ever did (in Denmark in 2005) and she just got new handlebars , shifters and tires from Gregg’s around the corner. On the test ride out of the shop, I had a big, stupid, loopy grin on my face.. it feels like a new bike, and I shellaced the cork bar tape to weather-proof and give it a classic look. Still not sure about clip-in pedals, though.]
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