Seattle – my fair city

Here is a video of my Courage Classic 2010 ride for the Kids. I bicycled with my friends Steve, Erik, Tony, Jen, and Kevin. It was an excellent 3 days of riding, although it rained on our way to Snoqualmie pass. I did better on all counts. Thanks to all of you we raised over $2,000, 100% of it went to the children in need of help. Also, with all of the love and encouragement from you, I did better on this my 4th year. My overall average was just shy of 16 mph and felt better at the end of each day compared to previous years. The total elevation gain for the 3 mountain passes, Snoqualmie, Blewett, and Stevens was over 11,000 feet, and we bicycled a total of 190 miles. I also plan to post the ride gps data with statistics and maps very soon. Check back here for a more detailed description of the ride.

I did another century mile ride this weekend. Part of the ride was done with my friend Tony. This century included 2 good climbs (max at 20%!) grade, Novelty Hill and Cougar Mountain. The ride went through Lynnwood, Duvall, Novelty Hill, Redmond, Lk. Sammamish, Cougar Mt, Newcastle, Renton, Beacon Hill, Golden Garden Pk and back home in Seattle. It was much tougher than my Urban Century ride 2 weeks ago which went on the mostly flat BG and Sam. bike trails. This was also a beautiful ride through the country side with relaxing stops for breakfast in Duvall and snacks at other points. I am using Ride with GPS to embed the details of the ride along with pictures. Also, check out the scrolling playback and 3D view, it is quite amazing. Please let me know if you like this entry. Of course, this is the last big ride in preparation for the Courage Classic next weekend. As I write this, next weekend at this time, we will be scaling Blewett Pass!. Thanks for all my friends who donated, if you have not done so, you can click on the fundraising widget on the right. There is still time!

Michael, Joachim, and I did a team ride to work yesterday. It was a challenge as Michael and Joachim had not ridden their bicycles in a long time. In fact, they did not even have bicycles! We loaned my old bike and Cam’s old bike and outfitted them with full bike clothing regalia. We had fun and rode back at the end of the day via the Bikefest at Magnusen Park. The two of them rode back home in their motorbikes with bike clothing still on, it was quite a spectacle!

I completed my first century ride this weekend. It felt particularly good that I did it by myself, I do wish I had some company though. My last record for a long ride was almost 12 years ago done with Cam! We went across the Puget Sound for that one.


For this ride I went around Green Lake, Lake Ballinger, Lake Sammamish, Lake Washington and Lake Union. Some of my big hills came at the very end. One was particularly important to me. I went up from Golden Garden Park to Sunset Point. I walked up those steps with my Dad when he visited me in Seattle. He was almost 90 years old then. It was hard for him, but persevered and I was very proud of him that he did it. I did it on my bike when I already ridden 90 miles. It was hard, especially with the uncontrollable tears streaming down my face. This ride is dedicated to the memory of my Dad.


I also do it for the abandoned Kids in the State of WA where I ride the Courage Classic to raise funds for the Mary Bridge Children;s Foundation. Please donate whatever you can in support of our Children by clicking the donate widget on your right.

Circumnavigate 3 lakes – Lake Union, Lake Washington, and Lake Sammamish in anti-clockwise direction. It was a tough ride. I did it without much rest, I could have gone further with some breaks in between. I also realized that I could have made it a tour of 4 lakes if I had included Green lake in the trip. You can see it and the other 3 lakes in the widget below.

I did have myself a feast upon coming home. In front of me, I have a cup of tea, biscuits, kettle corn, cashews, and carrots!

This was equivalent to Day 1 of Courage Classic with slightly higher elevation gain. I felt good, but it rained on me the entire way. I bought a veritable “ton” of fruits at the Vietnamese market and carried it all the way home on my back. It felt fine. I had an entire basket of mangoes in there along with Egg Plant, Oranges, Bananas, Ginger, & Cliantro.