Great Year So Far!

So far this year I have been riding in some awesome rides!  I rode the Chilly Hilly on Sunday, February 28th with two good friends,  Marizel and Wendy.  Though we started together we soon separated into our own paces.  We met after the ride and enjoyed a delicious meal at the Crab Pot.  Our day began early on a ferry ride from Seattle to Bainbridge Island on a blustery, wet, cold and windy day.  Our bike ride around Bainbridge had everything.  Rain, wind and even sunshine.  It was as hilly as I remembered.  But I had a blast!  This ride is the official start of the cycling season in the Seattle area.  

The next great ride was the Emerald City Bike Ride on Sunday, April 3rd.  This year was the first.  We actually got to ride across the brand new 520 floating bridge.  It wasn't opened to traffic yet and the city put on a fantastic weekend to celebrate the new bridge.  On Saturday there was a run across the bridge and on Sunday, Cascade Bicycle Club had the ECBR which I participated in with my friend Candice.  Besides riding across the new bridge we got to ride on Seattle streets and highways without car traffic.  It was totally awesome!  A once in a life time ride and I got to do it!  Sweet!

The next ride that I did this year that I feel was pretty darn exceptional was the Flying Wheels Century Bike Ride on Saturday, June 4th.  The weather for the day was a record breaker.  We reached the mid 90s with plenty of hot sun and wind.  It was a tough but fun ride.  I also rode this one with my friend Candice.  This was her very first Flying Wheels.  Even though it had a few very steep climbs, was hot and windy we both had an awesome day on our bikes.  We celebrated when we got back to the finish eating gyros and drinking chocolate milk underneath the shade of a big tree.  We saw friends come in and chatted with many.  It was a very celebratory atmosphere.  I wish I had done the century (I usually do) but bowed out due to the heat.  I wasn't sure how well I would do riding it.  I was fine in the end but my friend Candice got a bad sunburn.