February 22, 2005
Four days till we leave!
Michele put together a bon-voyage party for us the other night, which was a gas. Below is a shot of Karalee, me, and Ed at the party.
Karalee and Dan Sloan and I went out for one last training ride on Sunday, out to Marymoor Park and back.
We're busy packing and wondering what last minute things we need to get.
Friday night we leave, flying first to Vancouver, then to Hong Kong, then to Hanoi.
Woo-hoo!
Posted by oren at 07:23 AM | Comments (0)
February 02, 2005
Pet peeves of Seattle area biking
After last weekend's rides, I've got several things that I think are wrong with Seattle-area biking:
1. Why isn't there a paved bike path through the Arboretum?
This is one of the most heavily utilized bike routes in the city, connecting the Burke-Gillman bike trail to the north with Lake Washington Boulevard to the south. I see that a bike/pedestrian trail is listed in the 2001 master plan approved by the City Council, but apparently the implementation of the plan has yet to be funded.
2. There ought to be a bike path through downtown Bellevue!
The streets are crowded with huge SUVs that aren't paying the slightest attention to bikes. This is a dangerous area to bike, and they ought to know better in Bellevue.
3. There should be a better exit onto Lk Washington Blvd from I-90.
Back before they rebuilt the Floating Bridge there used to be an exit from the westbound lane on the bridge right onto Lake Washington Blvd. That's thankfully not there for cars anymore, as it was pretty much a 90-degree turn off the bridge which stopped traffic and was dangerous as hell, but it seems like they could've retained it for bike and pedestrian use. Now bikes have to go up a very steep little hill in order to then get down onto the lakeshore.
Posted by oren at 11:28 AM | Comments (0)
January 31, 2005
Now we're training!
Less than a month to go before we leave on the ride! So we're busy trying to cram in all of the training we haven't done all winter. This weekend we rode 28 miles around town on Saturday, going up north through Greenwood, down to Shilshole, across the locks, over Magnolia through Discovery Park, downtown, through the International District, and back over Capitol Hill and Montlake. Here's a picture Ed took of me at the Ballard Locks.
Sunday we took our friend Dan Sloan and rode around the north end of Lake Washington, through the oh-so-tony areas of Juanita and Kirkland (there's a great coast downhill coming into Kirkland), through the wasteland of Bellevue, and back across the I-90 bridge. We stopped at Pert's in Leschi for lunch and then headed for home, some 36 miles later.
Posted by oren at 10:03 PM | Comments (1)
January 02, 2005
First ride of the new year
Ed and I, along with Ed's daughter Katie, took our first ride of the new year this afternoon.
The weather was beautifully (and uncharacteristically) sunny, but cold (at least for Seattle), and the effects of a few weeks off of training, the holidays and my time relaxing on a Caribbean cruise were far too apparent. Time to get serious - only eight weeks left till we leave!
We rode down to the I-90 bridge, across to Mercer Island, around the island and back up Martin Luther King Boulevard - about 35 miles or so.
Posted by oren at 09:54 PM | Comments (0)
December 12, 2004
Training ride with the gang
Yesterday Ed and I rode with Karalee Woody, who is the trip organizer, and Mary Vu Tripoli, who was on last years bike ride. Despite the forecast, which called for clouds and showers, it turned out to be a beautiful sunny winter day in Seattle. We rode down the lake to Seward Park and back - turned out to be about 27 miles for me. Not too long, but we were fighting a noticeable headwind on the return half.
Mary has a web site where she has her blog posts from last year's ride and lots of links to photos etc. I've also placed a link to it in the links section of the sidebar.
Here's some pictures from yesterday, courtesy of Mary.
Tne view of Lake Washington
Karalee, Oren, and Ed
Mary
Posted by oren at 03:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2004
Back on the training circuit
Yesterday, in what might have been the final gasp of beautiful fall weather, Ed and I and our friend Dan Sloan took an afternoon ride along the Burke-Gillman Bike Trail out to Marymoor Park - about 35 miles round trip. It was a great ride, the scenery was great, the company good - chatting about the elections, the incredible reserve of American non-intelligence (like the proportion of US citizens who don't believe in the fact of evolution - sheesh), and other arcane topics. We managed to get back home just as the sun was dipping below the horizon in its new Standard Time northwestern early hour - 4 pm!
We're still hoping to take our 80-miler to Granite Falls soon.
Posted by oren at 03:21 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2004
Thanks Oren!
Many thanks Oren for putting up this very nice blogsite! From the beginning we agreed that we wanted to find a way to stay in touch with all of you who are supporting our efforts to raise funds for Kids First. Our hope is to provide you with updates on our training and then regularly post narratives and photos from Vietnam. We understand that web access is available even in rural VN!
So far the training has gone well; we're tackling an 85-miler this weekend. We had one eventful day a few weeks ago when I dropped out of the ride after shredding a tire and Oren fell a few miles further on after catching a tire in some railroad tracks. My tire is replaced and Oren has healed and we're pushing on...
Now, having said that, if anyone is interested in joining us some weekend for a ride we'd welcome you. As the days grow wetter and colder we could use some extra riders to huddle together with for warmth.
Thank you all for your tremendous response to our fundraising letter. We are very, very grateful for the generosity of our families and friends. We could not make this happen without you!
Posted by ed at 05:35 PM | Comments (0)
Sixty miles around town
We're training for the ride! This past weekend Ed and I, along with Ed's neighbor Ken, rode sixty miles around Seattle. The route took us south along the west shore of Lake Washington to Seward Park, through Rainier Beach, across to a point just north of SeaTac Airport (where we had a spectacular view of planes looming out of the fog above us as they touched down). Then we worked our way north through Burien and White Center, past the ferry terminal at Fauntelroy. We stopped for a lovely lunch at the Alki Bakery, and took a brief pause outside Safeco Field to hear the score of the Mariner's final game of the season (3-0 Texas in the seventh). We returned home, tired but happy, through Interbay, Fremont, and the Burke-Gilman trail.
I'm going to have to start taking a camera on these training rides!
Posted by oren at 06:23 AM | Comments (0)