Adventures of the Northwest

A Sunday afternoon jaunt with Milly….

Sunday afternoon I decided it was nice and I needed to get out. I wanted to go for a bike ride and was debating with the way my hip has been hurting – do I take my road bike or Milly. I decided I would take Milly and see how I felt afterwards. I put my road bike’s pump and saddle bag on her. I raised the seat, to the max height line, and I put air in the tires. We were off to Marymoor to start our ride.

I got to Marymoor, prepped her for riding and we were off. In the parking lot I heard a woman state ‘did you see her wheels?’ as I smiled at the comment and started on the trail. I rode Milly with confidence, riding high and yet cautious to not go too fast until I understood her stopping power with the much expected jigging and jagging I would need to do on her with the ‘crowds’. I was feeling pretty good on her and able to steer without problems, slow down without problems and speed up just fine. A few times I was concerned upon passing other trail users and gave a much needed early warning of ‘on your left’. As I was riding I felt like – ‘dang! This seat is just not working for me. If this is all she has for height on this seat post then I am in trouble. I need more because I feel as if I am kissing my knees. I was also concerned not having any water. I stopped at the Woodinville area and got some water. Relaxed a few moments and kept on going. As I was leaving a gentleman was behind me and stated ‘great purple chain’. I don’t know why – but I said: “It’s pink but they have purple too!”…. ok so what, he’s old enough to be my dad so I guess it is ok I didn’t just take the compliment and be more social. LOL!! I got to Tracy Owen’s/Logboom Park and rested there for a moment. The water fountain wasn’t good enough to even TRY to drink at this point. I realized that my seat had actually fallen down. Yep! It actually slipped almost all the way down so I had to readjust it. As I was doing that I spoke with a gentleman that was quite intrigued by my bike. He really liked it. Then we discussed his recumbent – a Bacchetta - new model. He is the 2nd one to have that model in the NW. Very cool! Seemed very relaxing and good to ride. :) We talked a bit and then I was off.

I stopped at the Bothell Landing park for a bit. Sat on Milly for a bit, gazing in the river, hearing kids play, seeing ducks swim and just deep in thought. Kind of felt good and was very much needed. Then I was off again. Stopped at Woodinville again. I had a little girl, maybe about 6, tell her dad what a cute bike I had. I had a couple other people state something about the tires and such. One woman was a runner and I passed her, coming from Marymoor, earlier in the day. I talked to another gentleman that had a handmade bike, from his friend, about 20 years ago. Kind of looked like a Pinarello but I can’t remember the name…. started with a K – almost a ‘german’ like name… or scandian or something…. It was pretty cool looking blue though. I then started off again.

I decided to stop for a drink at the concession booth. There were a few bicyclists there that stopped to talk to Milly. They asked what kind of tires, if I painted the chain myself, what kind of bike she was. One guy said that he had a frame that was similar but didn’t know what it was so he was interested. I had a woman that walked by and stated – oh I love the tires. I smiled like a proud mother and said do you want to see them spin? She said sure. Oh she loved them!!! :) Of course, so do I!!! Hee hee As I am approaching Marymoor I had a gentleman pass me, announcing himself, on the left. As he was passing me he said, “Excuse me but are those speedblend tires?”. I said in a proud momma’s voice – “Well, yes they are!” and so he was off. LOL!!! It was a good ride. I was a bit concerned about the small ‘inclines’ along the trail on the way to Tracy Owen’s/Logboom Park but Milly handled them just fine without any challenges! I am ready to go along Lake Sammamish now! It will be a lot of fun!! :)

posted by Seattlebiker @ 4:49 PM