Winter's End Velo News

After three days of sunshine and clear night skies last week, the weather turned rainy and windy this weekend. The forecast was showers, rain and wind Saturday and Sunday with a "maybe" window Saturday morning if I go out early. Saturday did not look promising early but by 8:30 rain had stopped and the sky was a bit open. I was out by 9:15 heading west and north for The Evergreen State College, keeping a watchful eye on the sky. Evergreen's central plaza, Red Square, is exactly 6.66 miles from my house. While there, I pulled off my extra shirt; the day was turning out warmer than I expected. The sky was off and on gray and dark but no rain so far.

From Evergreen I went south on the bike trail to Mud Bay Road. The trail is deeply wooded and seemingly far removed from the parkway that it parallels. It has lots of twists and turns. I followed Mud Bay Road back toward town where it becomes Harrison, maybe two miles and the heaviest traffic I encountered. There's a bike lane almost all the way, except for the last 60 meters or so from Black Lake Road and Cushing Street where I turn into the neighborhood.

Once off Harrison I zig-zagged through southwest Olympia to the 4th Avenue traffic circle and down the ramp to 5th Avenue. The weather was still good so I extended my route to the Capitol Campus. The first rain drops began to fall but I was within a few miles of home, I figured could handle getting wet. I looped around Watershed Park, ending up on Eastside Street and home. Rain was coming down steadily if not hard by the time I pulled in.

Nineteen miles in all. It's been raining or very wet ever since. Today was predicted to be even wetter and windier. It's definitely windy but the rain has been off and on, interspersed with far more sunshine than we had yesterday. Then the clouds return and the rain comes sweeping in again.

With the Vernal Equinox occurring at 1:14 am on 20 March, Olympia has 197 hours (and change)of winter remaining. Actual spring weather may not be noticeably different, though.