May Day Metric . . . Sort of!

Today was the annual May Day Metric hosted by Phil’s South Side Cyclery. I had planned on doing this ride but slept in! I had a good reason. My hubby had a 6:00 AM flight this morning. I was up at 3:30 AM to take Joe to the airport. When I got back home I thought an hours sleep would be wonderful. Well, I didn’t get up until 9:00 AM! Way too late to get to Federal Way before registration closed. So trying to make the best of this beautiful day I had my breakfast, got dressed, got on my bike and left my house to do my own ride. I headed down into Orting and caught the May Day Metric trail! I incorporated parts of the May Day Metric 70 and 100 mile routes into my ride and ended up getting 63 miles in! Not bad.

The weather was a bit cool at the start. There was cloud coverage but the sun did its work and about an hour into the ride blue sky peeked through along with the sun. I had a great ride. I tried to keep to the back roads where there is very little traffic. I had beautiful views of fields and meadows. Sadly I did not see Mt. Rainier on my ride as it was hiding behind clouds. The only clouds that seemed to resist the suns rays and the winds efforts to rid the sky of them.

Oh I did have a run in with a mean dog. I thought for sure he was going to bite me. He came charging after me snarling, with lips curled, teeth showing, and barking up a storm. I stayed calm and slowed down a bit and looked directly at him and said in the most authoritative voice I could muster, “NO! GO HOME!” and he did stop! I was so relieved. Usually Joe handles the dogs. He always tells me to show no fear and to carry my mace when I ride without him but of course I forgot my mace so I had to depend on myself. I'm glad I didn't panic and stood my ground!

In my rush to get out the door this moring I forgot my camera. But I did have my cell phone and so I took a few pictures with it. They're not as good as my camera's pictures but I think they came out okay.

About 15 miles before the end of my ride I stopped at Wally’s Drive-In restaurant in Buckley for a hamburger and lemonade. I was famished. After all I hadn't had a thing to eat since breakfast hours ago. I did stop at the Starbucks in Orting at mile 16 and had a tall mocha but nothing to eat. Needless to say that hamburger was the best hamburger I had ever eaten! I was famished! With my stomach full and a nice little rest too, I was feeling good again and ready to finish the ride. I finally rolled into my driveway exhausted but happy that I did go out for a ride on this beautiful spring day.

I got 63 miles in and my average speed was 14.3. The course had a lot of rolling hills and 4 BIG MAJOR CLIMBS! One must have been 10% I swear! I did pass people walking up these hills! But I made every single hill.



Dan Henry . . . May Day Metric
I followed the 70 and 100 mile routes.
Cows in a beautiful meadow.
Barn and silo.