The Burke-Gilman Trail
Its been a week since I got the Schwinn fastback sport 24 road bike, but I haven't used it much except to commute to and from university and home. Today I went to the IMA to check out the indoor running track. I wanted to do some intervals or speed running on the track, but since I hadn't registered for courses yet and officially wasn't a student, I was denied entry inside...So I decided to check out the Burke-Gilman trail instead.
I started off from the husky stadium and when I hit the trail, I was pretty impressed by its functionality - a path exclusively for hikers/joggers/runnners/bikers.
As I progressed along the trail and increased my pedalling rate or cadence, I realised that a mere t-shirt and shorts wasn't going to serve me good in the chilly environs. But since I had come this far, I decided to continue further. I also noticed that the trail wasn't smooth in that there were a lot of cracks and small bumps on the road which were affecting my riding experience. I am used to cycling on really smooth stretches as in highways like the east coast road in Chennai, so this trail didn't live upto my expectations. The trail didn't get any better as I went further on and stayed the same through my 30 minute ride upto NE 125th street(12kms). Ofcourse, there were some smooth stretches, but the overall experience wasn't one that I really revelled in. Its like you pump in effort and increase your speed, only to slow down when you come at a crossing or a really cracked stretch of road.
But I had some fun riding in tandem with another biker, who I presume was commuting back from work. I would accelerate and go ahead of him only to have him catch me at the next crossing. Also 8 kms into the trail, the view of the washington river and the cascade ranges in the background was really breath-taking. So yeah, as my landlord, John says, the trails may not offer a great ride to a road biker, but its a lot safer than highways and affords some scenic views.
Still, I would like to do some real quick biking on the roads of seattle!
I started off from the husky stadium and when I hit the trail, I was pretty impressed by its functionality - a path exclusively for hikers/joggers/runnners/bikers.
As I progressed along the trail and increased my pedalling rate or cadence, I realised that a mere t-shirt and shorts wasn't going to serve me good in the chilly environs. But since I had come this far, I decided to continue further. I also noticed that the trail wasn't smooth in that there were a lot of cracks and small bumps on the road which were affecting my riding experience. I am used to cycling on really smooth stretches as in highways like the east coast road in Chennai, so this trail didn't live upto my expectations. The trail didn't get any better as I went further on and stayed the same through my 30 minute ride upto NE 125th street(12kms). Ofcourse, there were some smooth stretches, but the overall experience wasn't one that I really revelled in. Its like you pump in effort and increase your speed, only to slow down when you come at a crossing or a really cracked stretch of road.
But I had some fun riding in tandem with another biker, who I presume was commuting back from work. I would accelerate and go ahead of him only to have him catch me at the next crossing. Also 8 kms into the trail, the view of the washington river and the cascade ranges in the background was really breath-taking. So yeah, as my landlord, John says, the trails may not offer a great ride to a road biker, but its a lot safer than highways and affords some scenic views.
Kennenisa Bekele with the WR
A favorite in 1996 and 2000 olympics, El G finally realised his dream at the 2004 olympics with a double gold
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