#30DaysofBiking: Hell of a Hill

The town where I live is nestled in a valley between small mountains known as the Issaquah Alps. Squak Mountain is literally just a few blocks from my house and whenever I feel the need for a quick workout, a loop up and down Squak does the trick. At 2,024 feet it might not be much of a mountain, but it's a hell of a hill.

It's hard to capture a sense of grade in a photograph. In bike terms, you are looking at a granny gear grade.

The cross streets on Mountain Park Boulevard are named after other mountains. Mount Everest Lane is not the highest cross street, however.

Mount Kenya Drive is the highest point of the Mountain Park Boulevard/Sunset Way loop that I like to ride. When Jan Heine and I first designed the Issaquah Alps 100K for the Seattle Randonneurs, the ride ended at the Mount Kenya intersection on Mountain Park Boulevard. In recent years, the ride has ended more kindly, opting instead to finish at the downtown Issaquah Brew Pub.

The Upper Hillside Cemetery and the original Hillside Cemetery look out over the town.

Eddy Merckx used to advise that the best way to get faster & stronger wasn't to buy upgrades, it was to ride up grades. Squak Mountain is a good place to ride up grades.

3 hilly miles today.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Redbrick Road

Since there are #30DaysofBiking and only 26 letters in the AtoZChallenge, there are a few days this month when I'll be riding but my posts are not alphabetically constrained. So while tomorrow I'll post something with an "H" theme, today I'm free to make anything the theme of my ride. It's a shame it's not the "R" day because I decided to ride up to the Redbrick Road in Redmond. I figure if there are guys racing on the cobbles of Paris-Roubaix today half a world away, I might as well wander my way up along the shores of Lake Sammamish on this lovely spring morning and ride a bit of the scenic old road.

So that's what I did.

28 miles today.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Gilman & Gilman Boulevard

The town of Issaquah was originally known as Gilman and reminders of the old name abound in the town. For this morning's ride, I took a few pictures of the old town hall and Gilman Boulevard. Gilman Boulevard runs parallel to I-90 and is honestly one of the less pretty roads in town, but in the summer many of the trees that are bare in these pictures green up nicely with apples, pears, plums and other lovely fruits.

5 miles this morning.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

Bonus Post - Fiction For Friday

The #30DaysofBiking and Blogging From A to Z Challenge posts are brief snapshots of the daily rides I'm taking this month, but I also work on some other projects that find expression in other forms. As a Friday bonus, I'm posting one of these, a short bit of fiction I wrote recently. My friend Mimi Torchia Boothby created a lovely watercolor to illustrate the story.

I hope you enjoy it. Have a wonderful and blessed weekend.

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

Update 11/20/2012

The bad news is that the story isn't here any more. The good news is that it is being published in Ride 2, a collection of short fiction about bicycles. When the anthology is published, I'll put a link to it on my blog. Thanks for all the comments. I've got more stories in the works.

Update 12/9/2012

Here's the link: http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/2012/12/ride-2-more-short-fiction-about-bicycles.html

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Friday Full of Fish

There's something Fishy about Issaquah, the town in which I live. Here's a bit of proof:

Every fall the salmon run in the creek, but the reminders of the fish are here year round.

Four miles for this morning's ride.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Evergreens & Elevenses

Washington was nicknamed "The Evergreen State" by a pioneering Seattle realtor who probably thought that the scrub desert of the eastern half of the state wasn't worth mentioning. He also may have thought that "The Everwet State" probably wasn't a slogan that would inspire people to settle here, so he decided to focus instead on the green growth that results from all the rain. Probably a wise move.

There was a bit of a break in the wet weather this morning and Christine and I ventured forth for Elevenses, which folks from the UK and Hobbits will tell you is one of the many important meals of the day.

3 more miles added to the monthly total.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Dodging Drizzle on the Dahon

Today Dawned a bit Dank, but unDeterred my Dahon and I Dodged the Drizzle. It's mostly a matter of proper timing and picking a good place to go. As you can see, the Issaquah-Preston trail was muddy but the Maxxis Hookworm tires I have on the Dahon are about two inches wide and handled the mud with ease.


The trail is part of the Mountains to Sound Greenway.


This is one of my favorite spots and it's only a couple of miles from my home.

The trail becomes paved thru Preston. I stopped for coffee in Preston, read a bit more in Maggie's excellent book on energy and then rolled on home.

11 miles for the day.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Creamy Cone Cruise

I Couldn't Coax Christine from her Coziness for an early evening Creamy Cone Cruise, but today was Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's, so off I rode. The Issaquah Ben & Jerry's is in the Highlands, on High Street, so you can probably guess which direction it is from our place. The Cone was worth the Climb.


This Cow was very Cheerful about her job.


Cherry Garcia, the Cone of Champions.


I always looks suspicious when I'm getting my picture taken, even when I'm the one taking the picture.

Note the rainbow and the little kid's Strider bike.

Another 4 miles added to today's total.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Coffee with Commuting Christine

My lovely wife Christine works as a shopper for Safeway.com and she bikes off to work very early in the morning. On days when I'm not working at the bike shop, Christine will often call me when her shift is done and I'll ride over to the Safeway and we'll have coffee together. Actually, Christine is a tea drinker but the important thing on a damp day like today is to fuel up with something warm in a place that's dry.


After coffee (or tea) and conversation, we head back to the Safeway and Christine puts her pro-level shopping skills into action once again. She buys a big pannier's worth of food to last us the next few days. Between her D2R pannier, her backpack, and her Allant's basket, she can haul a lot of groceries. While there are some days when I help carry the load and don't look like a total cad, this wasn't one of those days.



The only load I carried today was my little waterproof camera to take pictures of Christine in action!

Just a bit under three miles round trip, but it's Christine's every work day commute, rain or shine. (She draws the line at ice and walks on the very few icy days we get each winter.)

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson
Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Blossoms on Bush Street

On the days when I'm working in the shop, I try to get my ride in early in the morning. It's still dark when I leave the house, thinking about the letter B. Today is the second day of the month and with the alpha-blogging limit I've set for myself, today is the day for the letter B. It's still dark when I Bike over Issaquah's several Bridges. The Birds are singing and the Busses are gathering up the kids for school. Before I get too Befuddled Bemusing my Bounty of B-themed Blogging options, I turn down Bush Street and see the Blossoms, heavy on the trees and Blanketing the ground. "Beautiful," I think. I stop, take a picture and head home for Breakfast.

Brief ride today, about 4 miles.

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA

#30DaysofBiking: Around the Lake on an Allant

Today is the beginning of April and the first day of the #30DaysofBiking and Blogging From A to Z Challenge. Some challenges are easier than others and some times you get lucky. It's raining as I type this but I just got back from a lovely ride.

Today's letter is "A" and my bike is an Allant. Christine tells me that "Allant" is basically French for "To Go" and indeed our Allants are good at going. But the musical definition of Allant that I found here really strikes a note (so to speak!) with me. It defines Allant as:

The French musical command allant is an indication to play in a casual, relaxed tempo; faster than à l’aise, but slower than modéré.

That would be a good definition of today's ride: play in a casual, relaxed tempo.

The wind was strong from the south when I left a bit after 7:00 this morning, with a good threat of rain in both the sky and the forecast. I rode north along the western shore of Lake Sammamish, dawdling now and then to take pictures of light and flowers and bits of green.

At the north end of the lake the thing that almost never happens happened. The wind died down and the skies cleared a bit. The light on the lake at Idlewood Beach was warm and wonderful. My route down the east side of Lake Sammamish was detoured by road construction so I got to climb up Northrup Way and 8th Street and verify that yes, the low gears on my Allant work just fine. Back in Issaquah I stopped at Trader Joe's for groceries and important things like chocolate.

And now I'm back home. If I tally the day's miles it's probably about 25. The rain just stopped again and I'm working this afternoon at a job I enjoy, selling bikes to people and keeping bikes rolling down the roads and trails. As days go, I'm perfectly happy to give this one an "A".

Keep 'em rolling,

Kent "Mountain Turtle" Peterson

Issaquah WA USA