More Spring Velo News

Saturday and Friday were two of the finest weather days in Olympia since...oh, say...last fall. Friday was as mostly sunny, partly cloudy 58 degree day. Saturday was all sunshine and 68 degrees. I rode both days, a perfect convergence of weather and timing. On Friday, with stiff northeast headwind, I found a new route in that direction that gave me a tailwind for the return trip. Now I have two northeastern routes for those rare days when the wind is from that direction. Saturday I went south on the Chehalis Western Trail. The wind was still from the northeast but without not Friday's 18 mph gust. More like 5 or 6 mph, enough to notice but not especially bothersome. Lots of folkswere on the trail on this most pleasant day.

During Saturday's ride my odometer passed 5,000 miles. I've had this bike computer since 1998 when my original crapped out with about 2,500 to 3,000 miles on it. So that means I've ridden about 7,500 miles on this bicycle in 22 years. Just under half of those miles have been since I moved to Olympia three and a half years ago. Olympia is by far the best cycling environment I've ridden in. Phoenix was pretty good--the canal banks and secondary streets made for some good routes--but throughout much of the year the best riding is limited to early morning which is somewhat of a blessing because it avoids much of the very intense traffic. In Olympia, I can ride throughout the day and traffic is never intense. Olympia does not have either the eternally stiff headwinds or occasional dog packs that made riding on the Navajo reservation so challenging.

Saturday's ride was also my first for documenting my route photographically. Here we go...

Heading east on the Olympia-Woodland Trail:

One of three garter snakes seen on Saturday:

Heading south on the Chehalis-Western Trail:




Turnaround at the Deschutes River Bridge on Waldrick Road:


Break spot along the trail beside the Deschutes:


Returning north on the CWT: