For the last officially scheduled HOWC of 2008, we had spectacular weather with brilliant sunshine and rapidly warming temperatures. Early in the ride,we fought a north wind that was not only brisk, it was chilly. By the time we reached Shoreline and turned south, it was simply delightful to have the full sail effect to push us home.
Jeff led the ride, and took us counter clockwise along what we consider the classic north route, inner loop version. We did the climb by Chism Park in Enatai, and combined Juanita with Holmes Point. We used Perkins to reach 185th in Shoreline, and did the short Dayton climb just before a stop at Bitter Lake. There were six of us, including two newbie’s.
After crossing the Ballard Bridge with the big tailwind, we did a loop around Magnolia, culminating with a rapid transit stretch along the bluff, again with that wind shoving us along. We wound up with 53 miles and around 4000' of climbing. While the ride didn't go off at the frenzied pace typical in summer, Jeff did his best to make sure we all rode pretty hard, especially for the end of October.
While this is the last scheduled ride of 2008, Jeff and/or I may decide to post a web only ride if the weather looks promising for a Saturday or Sunday. Check Cascade.org for info, as well as the Team HPC message Board.
Look for the regularly scheduled ride to start back up in January.
I hope to see you on the road.
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