weirdest ride ever
Today, I rode bikes with Eldan and Stef. The plan was to start at our house, ride around Alki to the West Seattle ferry, take that to Southworth, ride from there to Port Orchard, take the passenger ferry from Port Orchard to Bremerton, and then the Bremerton-Seattle ferry home.
Everything went according to plan for the first half of the ride. West Seattle was windy and overcast, but not unpleasant, and there weren't that many people out. The ferry ride was gorgeous. Southworth was lovely, and we saw some great views, and a few places where the road apparently gets submerged at low tide sometimes. There were hardly any cars anywhere.
Then we got to Manchester.
Eldan had mapped out a detour that gave us a "little climb" instead of going through Manchester on its main road, which he thought might be a little busy.
It turned out that this little climb actually ascends 300 feet in the space of about 4 blocks. I felt awesome, because I made it up, and had to rest for a good 5 minutes in order to not puke. A guy in a big shiny pickup waved at us for even being up there.
Google maps had given us a plausible way down, through a subdivision that was named for the states. We were supposed to go down Nevada St., which would hook back up with Beach Drive, and we could continue on our merry way.
The first 4x4 that we saw roar down Nevada St. should have given us some indication that the construction on it hadn't been finished yet. We decided to try some impromptu mountain biking, mostly because we didn't know what else to do, and it looked like fun. It was fun. It was incredible amounts of fun, but no such fun is complete with out a comedic pratfall, which I ended up taking when I decided to move out of a rut with 3 inches of mud in it to a more packed down part of the "road".
Falling over would have been extremely hilarious if I hadn't hit my crotch on the top tube of my bike. As it was, it was only mildly hilarious.
We made it down to Beach Drive, and continued on, when I saw something that I'd never seen before outside of a zoo. Camels.
After gawking at the camels, we continued on towards Port Orchard. I didn't like Port Orchard. My dislike stems from the fact that while we were on a part of the road with no shoulder, someone decided to shout "JUST RUN THEM OVER" at some cars that had gotten stuck behind us. That and the fact that the passenger ferry to Bremerton doesn't run on Sundays, which we had no idea about.
In the absence of a passenger ferry between Port Orchard and Bremerton, the alternative is to ride your bike to Bremerton. On the shoulder of the expressway. It was actually only about as scary than riding in Port Orchard, and there were some nice workarounds that made it a lot easier. Still, I wouldn't want to do it again - there's just something about cars and debris going along next to me at upwards of 60 mph that makes me wish I had a full-face helmet, or a car.
We finally got to Bremerton, which had a host of confusing detours, and had some tacos at a Chinese restaurant that was masquerading as a Mexican one. Or maybe it was the other way around. Whatever, it was cold and starting to drizzle a little, so I was just glad to be off the expressway and heading home.
Don't mistake this post for too much complaining, though. It was still a fun day, but it was probably the best worst bike ride ever. I feel good, I got to ride my bike around, and my crotch doesn't hurt too badly at the moment.
Everything went according to plan for the first half of the ride. West Seattle was windy and overcast, but not unpleasant, and there weren't that many people out. The ferry ride was gorgeous. Southworth was lovely, and we saw some great views, and a few places where the road apparently gets submerged at low tide sometimes. There were hardly any cars anywhere.
Then we got to Manchester.
Eldan had mapped out a detour that gave us a "little climb" instead of going through Manchester on its main road, which he thought might be a little busy.
It turned out that this little climb actually ascends 300 feet in the space of about 4 blocks. I felt awesome, because I made it up, and had to rest for a good 5 minutes in order to not puke. A guy in a big shiny pickup waved at us for even being up there.
Google maps had given us a plausible way down, through a subdivision that was named for the states. We were supposed to go down Nevada St., which would hook back up with Beach Drive, and we could continue on our merry way.
The first 4x4 that we saw roar down Nevada St. should have given us some indication that the construction on it hadn't been finished yet. We decided to try some impromptu mountain biking, mostly because we didn't know what else to do, and it looked like fun. It was fun. It was incredible amounts of fun, but no such fun is complete with out a comedic pratfall, which I ended up taking when I decided to move out of a rut with 3 inches of mud in it to a more packed down part of the "road".
Falling over would have been extremely hilarious if I hadn't hit my crotch on the top tube of my bike. As it was, it was only mildly hilarious.
We made it down to Beach Drive, and continued on, when I saw something that I'd never seen before outside of a zoo. Camels.
After gawking at the camels, we continued on towards Port Orchard. I didn't like Port Orchard. My dislike stems from the fact that while we were on a part of the road with no shoulder, someone decided to shout "JUST RUN THEM OVER" at some cars that had gotten stuck behind us. That and the fact that the passenger ferry to Bremerton doesn't run on Sundays, which we had no idea about.
In the absence of a passenger ferry between Port Orchard and Bremerton, the alternative is to ride your bike to Bremerton. On the shoulder of the expressway. It was actually only about as scary than riding in Port Orchard, and there were some nice workarounds that made it a lot easier. Still, I wouldn't want to do it again - there's just something about cars and debris going along next to me at upwards of 60 mph that makes me wish I had a full-face helmet, or a car.
We finally got to Bremerton, which had a host of confusing detours, and had some tacos at a Chinese restaurant that was masquerading as a Mexican one. Or maybe it was the other way around. Whatever, it was cold and starting to drizzle a little, so I was just glad to be off the expressway and heading home.
Don't mistake this post for too much complaining, though. It was still a fun day, but it was probably the best worst bike ride ever. I feel good, I got to ride my bike around, and my crotch doesn't hurt too badly at the moment.