Up, up and away...in my beautiful, my beautiful....

Bicycle??? Well as the song goes a balloon would have been a lot easier but I have to confess it was fun in a morbid, self torturing sort of way. I set out to accomplish something that has

long been on my "to do" list or as they now call it "bucket list".

I have always had the desire to ride up Hurricane Ridge on my bike and this 

year with all the commuting under my belt I thought it was high time!

The elevation at the ridge is 5100 ft. The City of PA is 32 ft. That about sums up the ride.

Up!

So the day before the ride I got this idea to attach a camera 

to the front of my bike a video. So below are some photos and the

video. It is a little lengthy but hey, at least you don't have to do the ride to see it!

Me! And yes I was crazy enough to carry a pannier. I needed something to hold gear for going down!

 One of the tunnels that you travel through on the ride up the ridge. I have a cool video on going through the tunnels on the way down!

Victory photo at the top!!

The Video!!  Enjoy!

Victory Breakfast! Swedish Pancakes!!

And YES!!! A stupid flat at Mile 2.5!

Surprising....with this being the day after....I was expecting some soreness.

I was pleasantly surprised to only be fatigued this morning an gone this afternoon.

Guess all that daily riding has paid off after all!

Christmas in July (well I guess August now!!)

New Stuff!!

Everyone loves new stuff!  I just received a package in the mail today

and I was very excited about it! It contained new bike stuff.

I usually wait until fall to buy new stuff but I couldn't wait.

The WSDOT has had a serious problem keeping the side of 

road clear this summer. There is tons of debris on the shoulders, ranging

from glass shards to rocks. Perfect combination for a flat tire. And

I've had a few lately. Last week I had one that made me decide

it was time to make the BIG purchase. Puncture proof tires.

The main reason I haven't purchased them is the cost.

I took the plunge and bought them over the weekend.

Good thing too, cause on Monday I had 2 flat tires on my ride

to work. Yes, 2 flats, same tire, different locations, different holes.

I gave up, caught the next bus, and walked the rest of the way to work.

This evening my wonderful husband put my awesome new tires on....

Now....we wait and see!

(Oh, I also got new gloves, and a new CO2 repair kit!)