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Donald's Winter Solstice Ride
It's been a long, long year, and somewhere back there in early September, along came Pansy Palmetto, throwing down the gauntlet and challenging Raleighdon to a duel. Now, RD is no dummy, well, he's been called Crash and even received the CRASH TEST DUMMY AWARD: 
but that's a story for a different day. September and October were tough months. Pansy was gaining fast (miles, that is) and Raleighdon knew he was going to have to get tough. At family dinners, he managed to keep himself pumped up by talking endlessly (he's usually so quiet and reserved, you know) about "Pansy This" and "Pansy That", until the family was, quite frankly, quite tired of it all. 
Then, he announced he was going to finish it all on the 21st. He talked on bike journal about it. He talked to his family about it. He talked to his co-workers about it. NOBODY seemed to care. He went out to dinner with Mimitabby on Wednesday night in a fierce rainstorm after just buying her a brand new dishwasher for Christmas (he's a generous sort of bloke, after all), and even talked to the waitress at the restaurant about this fantastic challenge of the stars he was engaged in, and when she brought out the fortune cookies, what should he find, but clear messages for both himself and Mimitabby. Guess Who Got Which One? 
Thursday night, Josiah came over for dinner, and Raleighdon, just in passing of course, mentioned this to his son, who said "DAD, I've got my eye on you. You'd better get this done so we can get on with our lives." 
So, Raleighdon got everything all packed up and ready to go. And on Friday morning, it was cold. A sheet of frost was everywhere, and the zipper on his trusty rainjacket failed yet again, with no hope this time for repair. But not to worry, Mimitabby brought out an early Christmas present for him and he was ready to ride. 
So he grabbed the waiting Katrina 
and headed out the door, only to find everything coated in a layer of frost. 
He got almost to the corner before he hit his first ice patch, nearly landing on his bum. 
He got off and walked the bike up the hill to Beacon Avenue, which was for the most part dry and free of ice, except any place there were puddles that had frozen. 
No ice, but plenty of darkness When he got to the Jose P. Rizal Bridge on 12th, he knew he was going to have to walk. The ice was glaringly obvious, as he knew it would be. 
And some guys just aren't as smart as Raleighdon. This guy should probably have taken the bus to work. 
Hmmmmm....... Getting into downtown, Raleighdon found solace in the lack of cars on 3rd Avenue which is closed to bikes and busses only. 
And as he was tooling along, one of the Metro coaches reminded him of just a month ago when he was enjoying 80 degree weather with all his bike journal buddies. 
At work, all he could think of all day was getting back on his bike and heading off to finish this little NOT A RACE challenge he and Pansy were embarked on. He was reminded frequently by his little buddy "Blackie" who sits on his desktop. 
Finally, 4:15 came and he headed off into the the "sunset" with the Space Needle all decorated up for Christmas. 
Of course, he rode over Dexter, where the smell of fresh baking Hostess Twinkies? wafted through the evening air. 
Into Fremont just as darkness was falling, he was treated to a spectacular light show over Lake Union to the East. 
Aurora Bridge from Fremont Bridge Up through the University of Washington, and then heading south, he wove his way up through the neighborhoods, where some joker in an SUV tried to ruin his day, throwing a CD out of their driver's side window at him, striking him firmly in the chest. While no harm was done, if this would have hit ol' Raleighdon in the face, it could have seriously impacted his day. But, not knowing what they'd thrown right away, he stopped to find it, and as he picked it up, he looked up into the tree to find this Christmas decor. It is difficult to see, but this is a cyclist dreaming of a new Davidson, Rodriguez or Serotta for Christmas. Very cool, I thought. 
The ride continued into Leschi, where Raleighdon got a cup of hot chocolate and did two laps of the Lakeview Blvd./Lake Washington Blvd. Loop, stopping at the top of the Mt. Baker tunnel at one point to catch a glimpse of the really pretty near full moon over the lake and the Bellevue skyline in the distance. 
He was really glad he wasn't stuck in rush hour traffic on the I-90 bridge below. 
But it was time to move on. He was about 4 miles from GOAL TIME and feeling pretty darned good. 
And Katrina was also feeling and looking like the champion she was. 
Katrina at the Tunnel Head of Mercer Island Bridge So he rode off towards Seward Park, and up the 4% - 7% grade from there to the top. Just as he approached the top of the hill and got ready to pull over to the curb to call Mimitabby and tell her he'd be home in 20 minutes (time for her to start his dinner, he figured (wrongly), the ol' bike computer did its own magic, clicking over from 7999 to that magic 8000 
8,000 miles in one year Well, he'd planned to sit down to cookies and milk, and taunt PansyPalmetto by eating that last remaining cookie Kathi gave him, but in cahoots with Mimitabby, PansyPalmetto had made certain he would not be able to do so. NO BIG DEAL. Raleighdon is resourceful. And as promised, He's done and now gets to sit and eat cookies RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE OL' (and I do mean OLD) GAL. 
AND AS Promised Now remember, kids: Ride safely Have a lot of fun Get to 8,000 with a smile |
