gugie 

Bob’s, leave at 11

Drillium Dude 

Had a fun time yesterday shepherding the group from Issaquah to Fall City. Dan and Ryan led us out from Elysian after lunch (thanks for the free meal, guys!). Ryan turned around at the I-90 bridge due to possible commitment but planned to meet for dinner in NB in case his plans fell through (which they did and he did come out). Dan took point all the way to Issaquah in fine style. Dan and Bill then split off from the group to head up-lake on the east Lake Sammamish trail while the rest of us stopped off at XXX Root Beer in Issaquah for some shakes/floats. It was getting pretty warm by this point!

After that, we made a short climb up and over I-90 and joined the Preston-Fall City trail into the woods. I'd really hoped for more pics, but my camera's lens was acting up. Nice ride in the shade after the uphill portion petered out. We then came down off the trail and onto Preston-Fall City road proper where I immediately punctured my rear tire (!). About 7 minutes later we were back on our way and met Bob in Fall City. He led us out onto 202, then down Fish Hatchery Road (more shade), then up and across 202 to the steepest (and shortest) climb of the day: the 1/3 mile grunt up to the Tokul trailhead of the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. I was running a 24t bailout so that was a bit of a challenge for me!

We left the trail, then stopped off at Snoqualmie falls for some pics, then wound our way along the Mill Pond Road, and joined the SVT one more time to roll into town and the hotel. There was an issue with getting into the hotel immediately which I'm sure someone will share; I headed over to Bob's, got showered and changed, then we drove over to the NB Bar & Grill for a super dinner and great conversation. Around 10pm we broke up and I dropped Bob back at his place, loaded up my bike and headed home. I was a bit tired after a long day!

That was a really fun day out on the bike. Mixture of surfaces, and much of it was either on paved/gravel trails or low-travel roadways. We only ever got honked at once - oh, and a lady in her 50s on an electric bike passed us all going uphill as we neared Issaquah. Great to ride with a bunch of people you can just tell know how to ride safely together as a group.

Some pics 'cause it did happen:

King Street Station:



The gang at Elysian before the off:



The group in Issaquah:



Refreshments time:



Root beer float and chocolate shake:



Maybe not good for you, but good? You bet!



Cool car:



Bridge over Tokul Creek:



Some beautiful scenery today:



Snoqualmie Falls:



DD

SurferRosa

Me too. Thanks, everyone, for lettin' me hang.

That was sad. Wanted to keep going with y'all.

But that may be the last time I take the 520 trail. Really uneventful. Tons of climbing and very little to see. Going instead all the way up to Bothel on the Sammamish River Trail would have added only four miles, I think.

Woulda been a brutal return without Dan's navigation and camaraderie. Thanks, bro. At least we got to see 'em flying around the Marymoor Velodrome. That was cool...

Drillium Dude 

I was wondering how you guys played it. And yeah, the run all the way up to Bothell and then down Burke-Gilman to home only adds about 4/5 miles. But it may have been crowded, too, so you never know. But thanks for the feedback on the 520 trail - I believe I'll avoid bothering with that one in future.

Glad you guys had a nice ride back - and great riding with you both.

DD

rccardr 

Wow, looks like fun.

Kinda light on pics of thr bikes, tho...

Wildwood 

So I arrived at the designated departure location, (ahead of departure time! ) and figured this was possibly the right spot.



Excellent reason for a helmet! Maybe there is justification for a built-in ‘sun’ shield.


The line-up

Wildwood 

In no particular order.
Which bikes am I missing?

Wildwood 

The touring peloton Sunday AM.
Pavement warm-up before the gravel.
I did a short out and back.

droppedandlost 

There they go into the magical mystery tunnel

ryansu

Abandon light all ye who enter here....unless you brought your hub generator or LED lights then never mind. That tunnel and the long ride leading up to it from the start of the John Wayne/Iron horse trail is on my to do list. I've done portions but never all the way to the Tunnel. Tailwinds intrepid tour riders.

SurferRosa

It's like a how-to guide for the new modern classic touring bike: integrated or bar-end shifters, wide tires, rim brakes, brooks saddles, modern aero levers, efficient gearing, compact drop bars, handlebar bags, classic paint schemes.

gugie 

We had a late start yesterday waiting for the majority of the marathon runners coming towards us on the Ironhorse Trail, so we headed over to Bob Freeman’s house of bikes.





Hugh and Andrew stare in amazement.

Rather than try and post the 48 pix I took, go here:

Andy_K 

While the Fab Six are busy riding, I'll share my own experience from day 1 of the tour.

Since @Spaghetti Legs could get off from work in time to join his bike and the other five principal riders in Portland, I showed up at the Atelier much earlier than I am usually awake on a Saturday morning and rode HUgh's bike to Union Station in Portland. About a mile from the station I thought my foot had slipped out of the pedal. Looking down, I saw that in fact I was still securely clipped in. The pedal just wasn't securely attached to the spindle anymore.



Sadly, this isn't even the first time this has happened to me with Crank Brothers pedals. I am familiar with the proper repair procedure but there was no time for that, so we rode to the station and made hasty arrangements for @Dfrost, who was already planning to meet us for lunch in Seattle, to bring replacements. In spite of the mishap, @gugie, Jim G. and I made it to Union Station just about 30 seconds ahead of the other trio of riders and in plenty of time to catch the train.



In Seattle, we had a great lunch as has already been well documented on this thread. Here, I parted ways with the tour, awkwardly standing around without a bike as a few people who didn't know my plan counted bikes and riders and guessed that perhaps I was going to grab one of the ubiquitous Lime bikes nearby.



Instead, I had a pleasant day in Seattle and caught the evening train back to Portland, walked to a MAX stop and rode MAX to Beaverton Transit Center where I had previously staged a bike to ride back to the Atelier to pick up my car. At first I was alarmed, thinking someone had vandalized my bike, then I remembered it always looks like this. Pictures don't do it justice, but it's the kind of bike I'd be happy to discover someone had stolen while I left it locked up at the transit center all day.



I made it back to the Atelier about 11:30 PM and hopefully snuck my car out without distubring the gugie household too much. Now, I will anxiously await reports from the field and hope to go out to meet the intrepid travelers on July 4 in Cascade Locks to join them for part of their triumphant return to the Rose City (but only part of it, because they're riding a really long distance that day).

Wildwood 

Spotted on Monday.
Caught in Ellensburg for 2nd breakfast.
(wasn’t that a hobbit thing)



Departure photo. Ellensbrug


Nice wide shoulder


Low traffic for side shots

Wildwood 

Into the canyon, full sun, 80s. Low traffic, good views.






Was this the ‘bad joke’ pause, is that why all the heads hanging.

CO_Hoya 

Weather looks like it’s been glorious so far.

ryansu

I hear there's wineries out that way.....

Andy_K 

Dang! I knew I should have called in sick this week.

Spaghetti Legs 

Quick post to say the weather and people have been great. Meet and greets and rides with fellow BFers every day. We finished in a stiff headwind with a threat of rain in the distance today but easily beat it. Quick pic from day one on the Snoqualmie Valley Trail. Lotta good pics yet to transfer over to my iPad; I’ll eventually get them up here.

johnnyace 

Yeah, same here. If I hadn't already scheduled my vacation time this summer, I would have been in. Looks like a fantastic ride!

gugie 

Others have posted about our third day riding. I should note that the “handlebar temp” recorded on Garmin topped out at 104F! We stopped a few times to cool down.



Neal and Hugh let minnows clean their toes

After a refueling stop in Selah we checked the weather and saw rain approaching, so an audible took us thru a boring but faster route to Naches. The rooms were huge, if slightly odd, but very comfortable and clean. Laundromat across the street and two bars, one with food made for a great finish to the day.

gugie 

Neal tells me we had 3100’ of climbing, but it felt like more. Adding to that was a predicted 25-20mph headwind.

First we needed to fuel up. so we hung up our hats and went in to the only breakfast place open early enough to meet our plans.




This is what a 15-20mph headwind looks like to six experienced cyclists.




After a few miles we turned left onto Washington State 12 and pointed our bikes towards White Pass. Drafting strategy changed to a left echelon.




As we neared the top we stopped at a viewpoint. Jim decided a table was a good place for a nap.





We finally summited, ate, put on all of our warm clothing and descended in total miles less than an hour what it took to climb in over four!

The next day will be 60 miles with 5000’ of climbing and nowhere to eat, so we loaded up at the supermarket in Packwood. It’s dangerous to shop for food when hungry

Velocivixen

@gugie - great ride. So you’re arriving at atelier tomorrow?

ryansu

Velocivixen from post 36 of this thread

• Thursday, 4th of July will be our most ambitious day, 93 miles and over 5k feet of climbing with a bit more gravel coming out of Trout Lake before we make a looooooooooong descent into Carson, cross the might Columbia River on the Bridge of the Gods, then take the Gorge Highway back to Portland. @Andy_K was thinking about riding out to meet us at somewhere like Vista Point, then turn around and ride back to Portland with us. I'm sure there'll be a victory dinner somewhere in Portland that evening.

gugie 

Update from @Andy_K, he plans on joining us at The Bridge of the Gods around noon and riding partway back with is. What he doesn’t know is he will be sag support if needed.