Nice Ride Info

The picture above is from last year's ride on this route. Doesn't it look pretty? Doesn't it look like the riders are having a good time? I think everybody did have a good time on a good route, so we're doing this ride again. Here are the details.

What? The Nice Ride for Dave Nice. Dave is a pal of mine who was racing the Great Divide Mountain Bike Race this year when he got his bike and stuff ripped off while he was taking a nap. Yeah, major bummer. Dave learned a valuable lesson -- check out this post on his blog:

http://cellarrat.blogspot.com/2006/07/new-mt-napping-routine.html

So what is this ride? It's a ride mostly on gravel rail-trails and gravel roads from North Bend to Snoqualmie Pass and back. It's a bit over 60 miles (just under 100 kilometers) and it's just a fun ride, not a race or anything. The route is rideable on a roadbike with fat tires, a cyclocross bike, a hybrid or a mountain bike. You probably don't want to do this on 23mm skinny roadie tires, however.

There is a couple of mile long dark and spooky tunnel up at the pass. You'll need lights for the trip through the tunnel. It's cold in the tunnel as well, so you might want to bring along an extra layer.

Why? Even though various of Dave's pals scraped together cash for a replacement bike, he still has to replace his gear and finance his race for next year. Dave's a good guy who had some bad luck and I came up with this scheme to help him out. We're doing this ride and we're collecting donations. This ride is FREE but anything you want to donate will be sent to Dave.

When? Sunday July 30th, 9:00 AM.

Where? We're meeting at parking area at the corner of North Bend Way & East McClellan Street in North Bend. I'll be riding up from my place in Issaquah. If you want to get up early and have a longer ride, drop me a note and we'll work something out.

What about food? I don't know how many people are showing up for this and I have no idea what kind of food people want or how much to bring. So let's do this. Bring what you'd like to eat and some food to share. It'll be kind of a potluck. We'll picnic up at Hyak.

Do you have a route sheet? Yep. I'll have copies of the cue sheet that I'll hand out at the start, but you can preview it and/or print your own copies of the route sheet here:

http://www.carsstink.org/peterson/NiceRide.html

I also used Bikely to map out the route and you can check that out here:

http://www.bikely.com

OK, I think I've got the basics covered. If anybody has any questions or comments, email me or use the comment feature of the blog.

Keep 'em rolling.

Kent