Rainy Day Training

So today a small group of us headed up to Monroe to ride a hilly route from Monroe to Index and back. Of course being JUNE it was cold and rainy! So most of us decided that maybe if we headed south instead of East towards the mountain we would hit better weather. (My comment was I had not brought my passport so I did not think we could go far enough south...) At this point we lost the other tandem and a couple single bike riders who decided Index was really the way to go. The rest of us headed off towards Carnation by way of a little 4 mile climb up Lake Fontal Rd. and a screaming descent back down to Hwy 203 where we turned to head South some more. I quickly passed the fender-less bikes in the party to keep from eating all the mud and yuck they where throwing up from the increasingly wet and rainy road. And well it was flat and wet and a busy road and I did mention flat right? So I might have pushed the pace a tad - Up to 20+ Pretty soon I spun most of the group off the back so slowed a tad. Especially important that one slows down enough to keep the ride leader close when one does not know the route!
We soon hit our turnoff where we lost three more of or group... They decided the cold and rain was too much fun and they should get out of it before they had too much more...... At this point we headed up NE Cherry Valley Rd. We were down to Max and I on the tandem and Steve the ride Leader and Barb. We stayed together for a while but the single bikes soon out climbed us. Max and I enjoyed the climbing and really enjoyed the long descent afterwards down to Stillwater for a quick break and regroup. We decided to keep heading towards Carnation where Max and I would head off over Union Hill towards Redmond where I was thinking about leaving the bike at the Sammamish Valley cycle for its scheduled maintenance next week and we would call for rescue. Steve was thinking about heading off with us until Barb protested that she had to get back to Monroe! Oopsie! we had forgotten that bit. Steve immediately said not to worry he would hang with Barb. Off we headed (still going South - still rainy, but only a little mist now.) We almost immediately spun Barb off the back when she dropped her chain. We slowed down and let her catch up (I try to be a good paceline participant- and on the flats especially with a strong stoker you have to watch out that you don't ride the single bikes off the back.)
We had a cosy and warm stop at Sandy's(??) in Carnation where we got some warm drinks. We then headed off again this time across the valley where on the downhill by the old Carnation farms we snuck by at speed - Steve managed to jump onto our wheel but Barb wisely decided to save her breath.
Of course soon we where across the valley and Barb and Steve headed back towards Monroe - Max and I headed on up Union Hill - We kept waiting for the really hard part but it never really came. We stopped and took our rain jackets off on the way up. The rain of course had stopped.... Once in Redmond we stopped at the shop and Susan drove up with some dry clothes on and offered us a lift. No worries we where already wet - only had a little bit of flat trail and then a yucky hill back to my house....
So back at home we got almost exactly a 100k ride in.


For the Picasaweb pics:

Rainy Training