Training Log Archive: tommyturbo

Local trails and gravel: Prognosticators be damned. Despite a non-stop dour forecast, I did six rides this week, with nary a raindrop. Four were pretty solid, and the last two were EZPZ. There was an all-day ultra trail run on Grand Ridge.

Local trails, roads, and gravel: Another dire forecast goes awry. After a few overnight showers, it's been dry all day with a lot of blue sky. While I am happy the all day rain didn't materialize, I am glad the gusty wind part of the forecast came to be. I needed something to reduce the temptation to do another hard trail ride at Grand Ridge. I prefer not to be in dense forest when trees might be toppling over.

Grand Ridge RT-Duthie-Soaring Eagle: End of a streak, a first, and a milestone all are appropriate during Masters week. Since June 8th, I have loaded the MTB in the car and taken several road trips every week to Olallie, Tiger, or Raging River. Mostly I did this twice a week, but smoky skies from fires limited me to a single trip one week. Two other weeks, I made three trips, and three times I went to two "road trip areas" in one day. This week has all been local. I did some math in my head while riding today, and I realized that I have recently gone over 1000 riding days at Grand Ridge. On three of the last four days, I did a big ride over and back on GR, with loops around Duthie and Soaring Eagle. I am quite positive that doing the "big ride" three for four is a first. It's great to be able to roll out of the garage and ride these three areas that King County Parks maintains like the greenskeepers at Augusta National. Yes, it's odd to have the Masters in November, but not odd at all to be riding GR-D-SE.

Grand Ridge RT-Duthie-Soaring Eagle: Felt like summer was just yesterday, and not because of the super spreader event at Duthie. There were easily 100+ people hanging out in the Duthie central area, and lots more on the trails, with hardly a soul wearing a mask. Ripe for another shutdown? Just over a week ago, I rode a double at Tiger and Raging River, while wearing short sleeves in bright sun and 65 degree temps. Now the same trails are buried in snow!

Syc-Gunnery

Grand Ridge RT-Duthie-Soaring Eagle: Peak leaf or not? Thanks to KCP, 99% of GR trails are clean as a whistle. There are still some Duthie and SE trails with leaves so thick that the dirt is totally obscured and the trail not even discernible.

Lake Samm-Marymoor-Woodinville: People who exercise don't care much about the Seahawks. The roads were pretty devoid of traffic, but on the bike paths (and roads) and playing fields, I saw tons of walkers, runners, cyclists, roller bladers, "ski pedal" riders, scooters, tennis and pickle ball players, soccer players, rock climbers, and model airplane flyers (does that count?). It was such a beautiful fall day that on the lake and river I saw a few kayakers and sailors.