Kasia really wanted to do the century with me, but as this was only her second ride of the year (after a 3+ month break) she decided to ride "only" the first 40 miles. Her first ride of the year was ~21 miles, but it was just the day before the century.
We put a lot of thought into organizing the ride in order to maximize our options. At the start, we didn't know if Kasia would want to bail out after 10 miles (extremely unlikely) or if she would attempt the full century (slightly less unlikely). Our plan:
- Put the bikes on the truck and drive to Marymoor Park in Redmond.
- Ride along the Sammamish River Trail and the Burke Gilman Trail until Kasia feels like turning around.
- Ride back to the truck.
- If she's completely finished at this point, I could drive her home.
- If she feels up to it, we could bike home from here.
- After getting Kasia home, I finish the century.
We road along the trails to Log Boom Park in Kenmore and turned around there. Round trip was about 26 miles. After returning to the truck, we biked to our house. Total biking distance at this point was about 39 miles.
For only her second ride this year after a lengthy break, I think she did great!
After riding with Kasia to our house, I rode back to Marymoor Park, then along the Sammamish River and Burke Gilman Trails to Gas Works Park in Seattle. The weather was still great, and the trails were very busy (hardly a coincidence). At Gas Works Park I ate some munchies I brought along, then headed back to Marymoor.
The last hour or so was in the dark, but that's cool -- I've always enjoyed riding that part of the trail at night. The only real hazards are bunny rabbits -- I probably saw 15 or 20 along the trail.
I finished the ride with 101.5 miles in 7:38 (average speed ~13.3). I'm not fast, but I'm persistent. At last my cycling log looks a little less lame now:
No longer loitering at the far end of the suckiness scale
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