RedSpoke Preparation

Burke-Gillman Trail

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We put my bike together and adjusted Brett's bike for doing some preparation riding on Sunday and Monday prior to RedSpoke. We'll take Tuesday off and rest our legs prior to the start of the 5 day ride. Since there aren't any hills of significance in Florida I was especially interested in doing some Seattle riding and testing my legs and my new cassette's 11-28 range with my big rings 52-42-30. Kim suggested a ride to the Montlake area where we could pick up the Burke-Gillman Trail. It turned out to be a pleasant but cool day with a little sunshine mixed with some Seattle mist until the last mile or so when we got rained on pretty good. Overall, the Burke-Gillman is quite a nice trail and high in scenic beauty as one rides along Lake Washington. We had fish n' chips at Ivars in Bothell which gave us a nice break. Our pace along the trail was 18-22 mph and we finished with an average speed of 15 mph. Later we learned the speed limit along the trail is only 15 mph. The Burke-Gillman turns into the Sammamish trail near 102nd Ave in Bothell. Unfortunately, the trail is not well marked where this transition takes place and we got a little lost near Canyon Park and turned around. On the way back we missed 175th Street somehow and had to climb up over the hill near Sandpoint (around 85th Street). This route gave us a taste of hill climbing as some parts were as steep as 13% grade. My bike started making strange noises going up these climbs, screaching and clanking at times. My thinking was my crank or rear hub needed some attention. Our ride time was 3 hr 16 min with elevation gain of 2055 ft over 48 plus miles. Everytrail uses total elapsed time so it includes the time at Ivars and stop lights which normally wouldn't be included.