RSVP 2006 Trip Report

Claire Petersky said:

I stuck it on my meditations site, just to plop it somewhere:

http://www.bicyclemeditations.org//RSVP2006.html

That looks like a really nice ride. I've driven from SeaTac to
Bellingham (and back) on 5, but the alternate bike route looks like an
easy one to follow, and far more interesting. .... And then there was
the time that I started a tour from Seattle to Boulder by going up and
around the north end of Lake Washington on the bike path, but I went
east to Issaquah.

But the highlight .... to cycle into Canada for a party. Well all right.
I'd love to do a ride like that sometime.

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
*****************************

"Chuck Anderson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Claire Petersky said:

I stuck it on my meditations site, just to plop it somewhere:

http://www.bicyclemeditations.org//RSVP2006.html

That looks like a really nice ride. I've driven from SeaTac to Bellingham
(and back) on 5,

On I-5? Ick.

Quoted message said:

.... And then there was the time that I started a tour from Seattle to
Boulder by going up and around the north end of Lake Washington on the
bike path, but I went east to Issaquah.

You could have done just as well using the I-90 bike trail.

Quoted message said:

But the highlight .... to cycle into Canada for a party. Well all right.
I'd love to do a ride like that sometime.

It's a lot better than STP. STP is fun just because you're doing it with
9000 other people. And it's not a bad ride for beginners because it has so
much support. But RSVP is a better ride in terms of who else is on the road
with you, and the scenery is far superior.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Hi, Claire. Where does the phrase "blue room" come from? And what is a
"Dan Henry"? RSVP sounds like a journey I'd like to challenge myself,
one day. Regards, Roy Zipris

"Roy Zipris" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Hi, Claire. Where does the phrase "blue room" come from?

My friend Lynne is who I heard it from. Generally in the PNW, the Honey
Bucket company provides the portable toilets for bicycle events. The
standard portable toilet by this company is blue, hence the moniker "Blue
Room". (For a picture:
http://www.honeybucket.com/images/HBProductsImages/1Standard/MaximLarge.jpg)
Once over the border, it was a different company, so I guess we had some
yellow and green Blue Rooms instead.

Quoted message said:

And what is a
"Dan Henry"?

A Dan Henry is the painted directional arrow on the pavement. As usual,
Sheldon Brown has the scoop: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gloss_ha-i.html,
scroll or search for Dan Henry. The simplest ones are a circle with a little
pointer, like those used on the 7 Hills of Kirkland
(http://www.7hillskirkland.com/images/faq.ht1.jpg). On some rides I've been
on, they use a color coded system, where, for example, the half-metric
century loop is one color, the metric century is another, and the 100 mile
is yet a third. Then the maps and cue sheets are sometimes color coordinated
too -- if you're following the green Dan Henrys, then you use the green map.

For this particular ride, the Dan Henrys were stenciled: an apple on the
Washington State side, a maple leaf on the Canadian side. Many of the
Canadian cities have rules against permanent paint on the pavement, so
Cascade uses a water soluable paint. This wreaked havoc with the very rainy
2004 ride, during which all the Dan Henrys were washed away. Yeah, you can
use the cue sheet (map is far too general), but there are a lot of turns on
the ride, and they're easy to miss.

Quoted message said:

RSVP sounds like a journey I'd like to challenge myself,
one day.

It's lots of fun. I thought of you when I was up in Bellingham, thinking, I
bet Mr. Zipris would like this town.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

Claire Petersky said:

"Chuck Anderson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Claire Petersky said:

I stuck it on my meditations site, just to plop it somewhere:

http://www.bicyclemeditations.org//RSVP2006.html

That looks like a really nice ride. I've driven from SeaTac to Bellingham
(and back) on 5,

On I-5? Ick.

Well, yeah, ... No bikes involved. I had a few days available to see my
grand daughter on her 7th birthday (daughter and grand daughter lived in
Bellingham in early 2005), so I flew into SeaTac, rented a car, and
drove to their house as fast as I could.

And now .... they're in Boston (go figure).

(I also serendipitously got this picture of downtown Seattle on that trip:
<http://www.cycletourist.com/photos/misc/index.php?ds=1>

I've been to Seattle four times, three of those were to start bike tours.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

.... And then there was the time that I started a tour from Seattle to
Boulder by going up and around the north end of Lake Washington on the
bike path, but I went east to Issaquah.

You could have done just as well using the I-90 bike trail.

Okay, I guess I got that description all screwed up. That was quite some
years back. I had to dig out my old maps to clear this up.

After crossing I-5 (from SeaTac), climbing a very steep hill and
noodling around somewhere south and west of SeaTac, I was scratching my
head, looking at a map when a large pack/pace line stopped at a
convenience store across the street, so I asked for help. One member (I
believe they were with the Cascade Bicycling Club) told me to follow him
to Renton and then he showed me how to get on the path on the *west*
side of Lake Washington. A little north of there I got on a road that
paralleled I-90 (on the south side) to Issaquah. That was quite some
years back, but I'll never forget that favor.

And Issaquah was the perfect place to end up after an airplane/travel
day (I'd gotten into SeaTac about 2 or 3 in the afternoon).

At that time ('94), the Iron Horse Trail did not go through (or so I was
told, anyway), so the next day I cycled right on up I-90 to Denny Creek,
where I finally got off the Interstate.

--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://www.CycleTourist.com
*****************************

"Chuck Anderson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

After crossing I-5 (from SeaTac), climbing a very steep hill and noodling
around somewhere south and west of SeaTac, I was scratching my head,
looking at a map when a large pack/pace line stopped at a convenience
store across the street, so I asked for help. One member (I believe they
were with the Cascade Bicycling Club) told me to follow him to Renton and
then he showed me how to get on the path on the *west* side of Lake
Washington.

In general, it is difficult to get oneself on the Lake Washington Loop route
(which is what you eventually got on) from any of the other major bike
routes in the south end of the county. There's been lots of requests for
wayfinding and signage. I've been that way a couple dozen times, and I have
to do it blindly/by the seat of the shorts pretty much every time. About
half the time I'll suddenly find myself on a major arterial in a huge amount
of fast moving motor vehicle traffic, thinking "help!"

Quoted message said:

A little north of there I got on a road that paralleled I-90 (on the south
side) to Issaquah.

Probably Lake Sammamish Parkway. There's another very nice cycling road that
parallels on the north, too.

Quoted message said:

At that time ('94), the Iron Horse Trail did not go through (or so I was
told, anyway), so the next day I cycled right on up I-90 to Denny Creek,
where I finally got off the Interstate.

You could now have left the interstate at North Bend. The Iron Horse is
hard-packed gravel, OK for a wider touring tire.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
http://www.bicyclemeditations.org/
See the books I've set free at: http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky