The last couple of days have been like summer...

Here in Western Washington we have been getting jipped on our summer weather but I cannot complain about the last couple of days 1) because of the warm weather & sunshine and 2) because I have had off of work :-)

On Thursday morning my Mom and I woke up at 7:30 PM. What greeted our eyes when we looked out the kitchen window were sunshine and a clear blue sky! So we quickly ate breakfast and then got ready for a bike ride. You see we are trying to ride like crazy right now because we are training for the MS 150. The MS 150 is a ride Septemeber 8th & 9th that raises money for MS. I have raised over $500 and have been training hard. I look forward to the ride.

We decided to do a ride in Enumclaw that morning since the back roads are beautiful! We arrived in Enumclaw and parked and then we got ourselves ready. We were on our way by 9:30 AM. The morning air was nice, the pastures were beautiful, and the roads quiet with hardly any traffic on them.

We were initially going to follow the 45 mile Headwater Century route. The Dan Henry markings were freshly painted on the roads for the upcoming September 9th Headwater Century. But I did not want to go down one particular hill. It is a steep and winding hill that drops you down into the valley and takes you to Flaming Geyser. I had a terrible crash about 1 ½ months ago on a similar steep and winding hill (I got a flat tire going 30+ and it just flipped me, I broke my helmet, injured my head, shoulder, and neck!!) I just need some time to work up to a hill like that. So, we we made a quick change to our plans (thanks mom). When we came to the left hand turn that would have taken us to the steep winding hill we instead continued straight and crossed hwy 169. We climbed a steep hill and came down a steep but straight downhill that placed us at Veazie-Cumberland Road SE. We turned left onto Veazie and after pedaling for 2 miles we reached Nolte State Park, our first rest stop. After refilling our water bottles eating our power bars and visiting the rest room we were ready to continue on. We were really into our ride at this point. Before we knew it we were passing Kanaskat Palmer State Park then we were crossing the Green River. This part of the ride was very hilly. Like a roller coaster, up and down. I think it's a great route for building up the strength in your legs. I absolutely loved it! After about 4 more miles we reached a “T” in the road where we turned left onto SE Retreat Kanaskat Rd. Shortly after passing Retreat Lake we turned left onto SE Kent Kangley Rd. which took us into Ravensdale where we pulled into a park for a rest. We decided to turn around here and go back. The reason for the turn around it my mom and I had no idea how much further Ravensdale & Black Diamond were from that point and I had not brought enough food/water if we were going to end up doing 60+ miles. We had PLANNED a 40-45 mile ride. So, we turned around and went back the way we had just come.

By the time we got back to our cars we had cycled over 40 hilly miles. If we would have continued on into Black Diamond we would have done over 50 miles. Oh well perhaps on another day we will do the 50 mile ride.

Well, we left at 9:30 and we were back by 12:17. After we got the bikes loaded and all our gear packed up we were ready for food. We were both very hungry. My mom suggested we have lunch at “The Mint” in Enumclaw. I thought that was a great idea so off we went to the Mint. The food tasted so delicious. Isn’t it amazing how hard exercise enhances the taste of food?! And the ice tea was so cold and refreshing. I’ve never tasted a better glass of ice tea! After our delicious lunch we drove back home. We pulled into the driveway a little before 2:00 PM and we both agreed it was a great ride!

Next time I will take some pictures :-)