Aug 7, 2019:
My friends have also started to take advantage of my new bicycle job. Two of them stopped by the office to purchase the old fleet of orbea bikes and mentioned their interest in doing a bike ride after work. So I texted the group and set a meeting point.
We get to the World Market parking lot in Redmond and I am the only one in full, official bike gear. Everyone else is dressed in workout gear; which I myself would prefer to be wearing instead of my glaringly obvious spandex getup.
They oo and ahhh and tease me about the uniform ( I fire back that I don’t own bike clothes and the butt padding is what really makes this more tolerable for me) and we get our bikes together. Since I have at least ridden this trail before, I get to be the group guide.
The Sammamish River Trail is lovely and flat and a warm summer evening provided the perfect environment for this ride. Since I was with like minded people we had a goal of the Hollywood Tavern as a halfway stopping point. I felt really good leading the pack and keeping pace. We all made it in one piece to the tavern and celebrated with fried pickles and boozy milkshakes. And then we remembered we had to ride back…
Surprisingly though it was smooth sailing back and the hazy pink sunset made for a scenic route. I felt rejuvenated, happy and full (although that part was probably the fried pickles). We immediately made plans for our next ride the following week.
