Ride the Wave 2015

Wow! Perfect ride. The best ride so far. 65 awesome miles with some good climbs.

Cycle the WAVE is a fully supported bike ride with four different loops to choose from. I did the Burly Girly, which was PERFECT! I guess it was a combination of things that made the ride so perfect, it was like the universe aligned and decided to make this ride special.

I was wearing my newly purchased gaiters since the weather forecast said there was 70% chance of rain.

Gaiters!!!!

It didn't rain. Instead I had wet feet from sweating. No water came out though, so it must mean this gaiter thing works. If it can hold water in, it must be able to hold water out.

So - the weather was perfect. Overcast and cool. Just the way I like it. We headed out of the start area at Bellevue College  at 7 am. The stretch out of the start area was lined with cheerleaders.

I found a group of women to ride with, but the first group was a little too fast. I decided to hang back and picked up a woman named Gail. We ended up riding the whole ride together. Below is the Ride with GPS stats.


The loop we did was 62 miles of awesomeness. Just enough climbs to keep it interesting. I think I just found my new weekend ride.

At the first stop at Whole Foods in Redmond at the edge of Marymoore Park, there were women greeting us with flowers that they put in our helmets. I ate two bananas and some chocolate croissant.

The women handing out flowers

Bananas

The climb up to the highlands was interesting. I haven't biked from that side before and it was nice. I smelled plenty of cow manure which is a good sign of there being little car traffic. The last food stop was in Issaquah at Tibbet's Valley Park, where the firemen greeted us with Hot Tamales and chap sticks.



The sun had started to peek out. Still no rain in sight.

This rest stop marked the place where three of the routes met and we would all bike back to Bellevue College.

The finish line grub was yummy. I had sliders and a taco, milk and coconut water. I'm definitely doing this next year. Come rain or shine. Oh, and they switch up the route from year to year.

After a half hour of rest at the finish, it was time to head back home and up the 164 hill. Awesome day with awesome women.