Chilly Hilly ... a little silly

Did the Chilly Hilly bicycle "season opener" on Bainbridge Island this past Sunday. Jeff Kramer and his friend Mike and I were a "team" and we rode the 33 miles around the Island. Last year Jeff and I did this ride with Danny and the weather was crappy! It was rainy, cold, windy, overcast, totally unfriendly. The break areas were muddy and there was simply no joy in the day except in the feeling of success for persevering this gruelling ride. There's a total elevation gain of some 2700 feet. The island barely gives you a chance to recover from a climb. Not soon after a slight decent there is a climb that seems in excess of that decent. Some climbs are so severe that many bikers this early in the season yield to gravity and walk their bikes up the incline. I am happy to report I was not among them. I have a technique of not overdoing so there is always a bit of reserve either in my legs or at least in my head to get me up hills. I find a reasonable cadance and stick with it. My bike had a little jumping of rear gears but held on for the day. Yesterday the cable to the rear deraileur broke and I had to limp along with three front rings to choose from after locking the rear on #2 large sprocket to get me around. Today I repaired it good as new. I forgot to say the day of the Chilly Hilly was spectacular this year and over 4000 riders were present. Enjoy some the the photos, all taken with my camera phone!




Our stop at the Treehouse Cafe (above) was a nice pause near the end of the trek. This is not a race and stopping to watch riders cruise by is a great deal of fun. With only about 4 miles left after this stop I felt a little sad the ride wasn't longer.



As the day went on and we were on the southeast corner of Bainbridge Island the view looking towards Seattle was fantastic. I was riding up from the view of Seattle on a grade passing a wonderful street called Creosote Way, when I could see a ferry departing Winslow on it's way out the channel towards Seattle. I turned the bike around and rode down to a spot for a quick photo of the ferry with Seattle behind...click.....coooooooooooool!


We never worried about our time of this day but the Finish Line shown above was a welcomed sight. Jeff and I had stopped at various rests and views along the way awaiting our friend Mike riding a very 'classic' bicycle. When we arrived at the finish we found Mike had arrived 1/2 hour earlier!
To view last years miserable ride follow this link
http://narrowsbikecommuter.blogspot.com/2007/02/chilly-hilly2007.html