A memorable August weekend bike ride

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It's not everyday that I have a rolling conversation with a guy riding a bike with one wheel, also known as a unicycle. That's just one reason why I'll remember my 56-mile bike ride from Saturday for a long time.

Memories from most of my bicycle rides dissolve away in a matter of days. Same route.  Same traffic. Dry in August, wet the other 11 months. Rinse. Repeat.

But on Saturday, after finding that my planned route was very clogged with bicyclists enjoying the super weather here in the Pacific Northwest, I hung a right turn up the bicycle ramp toward Factoria.

Goodbye to the cycling hordes cyclists hammering around Lake Washington.

No destination

With no clear destination in mind, I meandered out toward Issaquah, Redmond and the Sammamish Plateau (where I got lost) before returning to Bellevue via Fall City and Preston.

I was riding my old Specialized Rockhopper, which I'm slowly outfitting for on and off-road touring. The latest change has been replacing the knobbies with 1.25-inch slick tires.

Oddly, my first 10-speed bought 35 years ago had 1.25-inch tires and they seemed dangerously narrow. Now, that width seems almost fat.

Test

I tested these new tires on just about every surface available:

1. Shoulderless road (For instance: Issaquah-Fall City Road)
2. Shouldered road (Newport Way)
2. Bike lane (Eastgate Way, Bellevue)
3. Green-paved bike lane (20th Street, Sammamish)
4. Gravel trail (East Lake Sammamish Trail; Issaquah-Preston Trail near High Point Road)
5. Paved trail (Preston-Snoqualmie Trail)
6. Singletrack dirt trail (Grand View Park)

The only problem was turning on deep gravel; it's like trying to steer on ice.

Unicyclist

Lots of people were out wheeling around, and I had the time to chat with some friendly folks along the way.

The guy on a unicycle I met near Beaver Lake told me some secrets of his avocation, such as going uphill is a lot easier than going downhill. Climbing is like going upstairs, but going downhill puts a lot of stress on your knees to keep from going too fast.

He'd never ridden STP, but he did do a century once. His friend created a ride called “Century to Nowhere” in which the unicyclist pedaled a 2-mile course around his neighborhood for 100 miles. “It got boring after the first loop.”

He also helped direct me off the Sammamish Plateau, where I had become seriously lost.

Broken chain

It was my turn to help someone next, as I came across two guys working on one of their road bikes near the bottom of Issaquah-Fall City Road. I figured it was just a puncture, but no. They asked if I knew how to fix a chain.

Not only do I know how, but I carry a chain tool.

It took about half-an-hour (these things are never easy, but easier with an extra set of hands) to fix the link and get them back on the road. They thanked me, repeatedly, adding that they were going to “invest” in one of those things.


Travelers

Later, on the trail between Preston and Issaquah I met two young women and a man who were bicycling from Seattle to Idaho. It was about 4 in the afternoon, and they were heading to Alice Creek on the John Wayne Pioneer Trail to camp for the night.

They had a good 30 miles of mostly uphill riding ahead of them but didn't seem to be in a hurry. Only one had done any bicycle touring and they were planning to take the John Wayne all the way across Washington to some rail trails in Idaho.

They have some rough road (or trail) ahead of them. But they're young, and I'm sure they'll learn to adapt as they go along.

I wished them good luck on their adventure and headed down the trail.

Flat

Soon, I noticed that my rear tire had gone soft. As far as a place to have a flat, this was one of the best — shaded, dry and away from traffic. (Patching the tube later, I discovered it was a pinch flat. These 1.25-inch tires do have their limits.)

On my final passage home, I worried about another flat (I carried only one spare), but put most of those concerns aside by imagining the adventures that trio of bicycle travelers faced.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.bikingbis.com/2011/08/29/a-memorable-august-weekend-bike-ride/

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