This is one of the first long-distance bike rides I've done, ever. I used to run cross-country back in high school and I still run regularly, but I've never really biked that much. Watching the Tour de France this year gave me the inspiration to start riding.

Because I'm currently on a pretty low budget, I went on craigslist.org and found a listing and picture of what looked like a good road bike for $30. As it turned out, the guy who was selling it hadn't been riding it very much in the last few years, so it was in decent shape. It's a ~1980 VolksCycle Mark100. It's 10-speed and has Shimano brakes and gear apparatus. I went to REI here in Seattle and replaced the tires (27"), break pads, put some grease on the chain, and got a pump, patch kit, helmet, bicycle shorts and a jersey. It has strap-in pedals and I haven't replaced them yet so I wear my running shoes. Overall, the bike works great so far! I'll post a picture of it soon.

Now back to the bike ride. It was a hot Monday early afternoon. I started riding about 12:30 from Belltown near downtown Seattle, headed along Drexter? Ave. 'til I hit the Burke-Gilman trail and continued past Matthews Beach on Lake Washington 'til the end of the trail. I was feeling pretty good and didn't yet use up my water bottle that I had inside the sack on the back of my jersey (I don't have a built-in holder on the rim). I decided to keep going 'til I hit 25 miles on my GPS reader to make it a 50-mile ride. The trail ended, and within a couple of miles, to my surprise, I went by Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodenville, where I've driven before to taste wine! I remember it took me about half an hour to drive there from downtown Seattle, so I knew I was pretty far out. I went past the winery, turned right at the T-intersection and went uphill and turned back.

I got lost on the way back because I turned left early and subsuquently tried to make a shortcut through a small forest because my GPS device was showing I was close to the road I came on the other way. Unfortunately the small dirt road ended and I had to turn back (it's the light-blue zigzag on the upper-right side of the map). I finally made it to a road that took me back around the other side of Chateau St. Michelle and was eventually back on route 202 which interesects with the Burke-Gilman bike trail. By this time I was exausted and as soon as I hit 202 I stopped at a grocery store right by some small dive bar (I later looked it up - it's called the Hollywood Tavern). The thought to dive in and gulp down a cold beer actually entered my mind but I'm glad I didn't because I probably wouldn't have made it back. Instead, I bought a Gatorade and a rice cake and soon headed back. It was probably close to 85 by now, around 3pm. I made it back, but barely. It was a mistake to go that far on my first bike ride. On the other hand, it was worth it. No injuries and I only needed a day break and by Wendesday I recovered sufficiently enough to go for a 5-mile run.

By the way, I just got the idea to put up this blog so I still have a couple of past rides to post but by next week the rides should be "live".