For the last few Memorial Days, I've done the 7 Hills of Kirkland charity ride - yesterday included. It's usually the only organized road ride I do all year. It's for a good cause, I can ride to the start from home, and now after a few years kind of a tradition for me. I've watched this ride grow over the years, now capped at 1500 riders. Mostly recreational types, but a few race teams as well.
They have 3 ride options - 40, 60 and 100 miles. All pretty hilly as advertised. I go for the 40 miler, with about 3000 feet of climbing. Taken at a fast clip (for me), just enough for a holiday morning. For the second year in a row, coworker and riding pal, Phil Caple came along for the spin. We're pretty evenly matched riding wise, so a fun ride - without anyone feeling like they're holding up the show or getting totally hammered keeping up.
I felt kind of crappy when I woke up, but rode anyway - then felt okay after a few miles. Nose was running a bit towards the end of the ride, then after getting home was wacked with a nice head cold - that put me on the couch for a few hours. Lucky, just a quick deal and I feel almost normal today.
The ride itself was awesome - perfect weather, little to no traffic, fast pace to keep things interesting, some suffering on the climbs and best of all - big brownies at the end. The 7 Hills crew traditionally serves strawberry shortcake at the finish, that I usually give to my kids - as I did yesterday when they met me afterwards.
No pictures from me - ancient Nikon digital camera too bulky to carry in a jersey. Tried to take a few shots after the ride and discovered after 9 years, camera finally died - ready for the big landfill in the sky. R.I.P.
Picked a up a new Canon today to replace it. Smaller, lighter, full of megapixel goodness and even a HD video mode. Looking forward to adding more riding pics to the blog.
Stay tuned for future two wheeled nonsense with actual photographic proof.
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