518 Mile Weekend

I had the day off on Friday, so I went for a ride. I frequently ride alone. In fact, I probably ride alone 75% of the time. My skills are good enough that I'm in no greater danger by being alone than I am with riding with others. I don't go more than a few hours from home, and have my cell, so I could call for help if I needed. Someone asked me on Thursday wasn't I scared to ride alone. Not at all. I'm equally as comfortable alone as I am with others. Perhaps that would be different if I was on the freeway more. Two or more bikes are easier to see than one. But I go out looking for scenic and hopefully twisty roads. Interstates are boring.

Friday I rode a 210 mile loop along US HWY 101 following the Hood Canal. From 101 I hit State Route 106 to carry me to Twanoh State Park.



While stopping for the picture, a couple of boys on bicycles stopped to admire my bike. I'd guess their ages at 8 and 10. They were pretty impressed with her. :)

From there, I rode State Route 3 back to 104, crossing the Hool Canal Bridge for the first time. I had been nervous about the steel grate decking, but thankfully it wasn't an issue at all. Once on the other side, I explored a park I drive past frequently. I thought it would give me a good view of the bridge, and it did not disappoint.



104 reconnects to 101 to take me home. 6 hours (including a lunch stop at Red Robin (Yuuuum!)) and 210 miles later, I was home.

Saturday I took the MSF Intermediate Riders Course. For this one, you take your own bike and go through all of the riding exercises from the basic course, plus a couple more. I did really well with most of it. I did NOT complete the "stay in the box" one, along with the corresponding S curve on exit successfully. I didn't trust that I wouldn't drop my bike, and since I haven't dropped it yet, I didn't want to start. I explained to the instructor, and he understood. There was nothing "on the line" with the class. I already have my endorsement, so there was nothing to "pass" or "fail". What I got out of the class is that I'm not looking far enough ahead of the bike/road. I discovered this while doing the offset cones weave, where the cones are really staggered, but not so far apart. I made a mental note of it, and that was that, I thought.

After class, I rode up to Hurricane Ridge to chase a phototag.



The road leading there is very, very smooth and very, VERY twisty. It was SO MUCH FUN and I rode SO MUCH BETTER by increasing my line of sight. What a difference. I was so much smoother on the throttle and a little bit faster in the corners. With class, Hurricane Ridge, and a little more phototag chasing, I ended Saturday with another 96 miles.

This morning, I finally found that pesky phototag.



After that, I went on a group ride with my BF and some people from out of town. State HWY 112 is right in our backyard. People trek from all over WA to ride that road. (OK, so most of them come from the greater Seattle area, unless they happen to be visiting the area from points East.) We rode the ~150 miles to Neah Bay and back, then I went out for another solo voyage up Hurricane Ridge and down...twice. I had a GoPro camera mounted to my bike, but my computer decided to eat the footage. Bummer.

I saw 4 deer, all polite enough to stay on the side of the road they were on. I also saw SEVERAL cars cross the center line on the turns. Some of them were coming into my lane, and some of them were cars I was following and noting how they just decided to straighten out the corners by ignoring the yellow line. Good things to remember when riding the 1/3 of the lane next to the center line.

That put Sunday's mileage at 212, finally meeting my short-term goal of getting my first 3000 miles under my belt.