Seattle Cycle TEAM

Saturday July 18th was a perfect riding morning.  The sun was out, but the temperature was still pretty mild.  Add in enough of a breeze to help cool you off, but not make a horrible head wind and you have a wonderful riding atmosphere.

We had a drawing for some LUNA swag….4 lucky ladies went away with boxes of moons & a water bottle.

Of course everyone enjoyed the free LUNA mini’s & some of our great electrolyte mix.

DiAnn, Sara, Daria and Amanda showed up to help co-ordinate the ride which was the perfect amount of Luna Chix to break the 11 other riders into two groups.  Amanda led the slightly faster group while Sara swept and DiAnn led the more leisurely group with Daria sweeping.  The ride called for a 35 mile course from the park and ride on Mercer Island to Coulon Park, back through the Beau Arts neighborhood of Bellevue and then finishing up with a loop around Mercer Island.

The quicker group took off as an 8 man team, but added another rider at the first water stop.  From the I-90 trail to Coulon Park, through Beau Arts and back to I-90 we averaged around 14mph.  Upon getting back onto Mercer Island the riders wanted to pick up the pace a bit.  Since Sara and I were up for the challenge I bumped the pace a bit to have some fun and challenge the riders that wanted to go a bit faster.

My favorite part of the Mercer Island loop are the curves on the east side of the island.  It is about 2-4 miles of curves with slight up and down hill grades that are fun to zoom through.  At this point the pace kept creeping up, but how can you not push yourself when it is the best part of the ride?  The group kept up nicely and I think we were all having fun and pushing our legs.  The pace stayed up a bit for the rest of the ride and the group seemed to have a love/hate relationship with this part of the ride.  They liked the pace and being challenged, but at the top of one of the last hills I asked how the group was doing and one person said “hating you right now.”  We all got a good laugh out of this because the hill is a killer and we got up pretty quickly.

The rest of the ride (the last mile or two) we kept the pace going and finished the ride strong.  Back at the park and ride everyone was very happy with the ride and the fact that we pushed ourselves towards the end of it.  I must say there are a lot of props to be given to every woman who was in that group.  I am horrible with names so I will just give a couple – thanks to everyone who pushed me to bring the pace up and challenge ourselves (great riding and attitude by all).  Props to the woman who completed her very first 30+ mile ride (nice job keeping up with the group and challenging us to go faster) and to the woman who attacked some of the hills like they were nothing. Props to the woman who has done 3+ centuries this year alone and to the woman who is doing the Danskin triathlon for her first one (good luck).  All in all it was a great ride with a wonderful group of women.  I can’t wait to head out again this Saturday..

Thanks again everyone that turned up to ride.  I hope to see you at our ride next Saturday!

Amanda..