Timberland Regional Library: Tumwater

Tumwater Timberland Library

Yesterday I checked another library off my list of Timberland Regional Libraries to visit on my bicycle, when I went by the Tumwater library.

In a couple weeks I'm starting a new position with the library system and will be based at the administrative service center just a short distance away from the Tumwater library. Yesterday I was working out there for training so I decided it'd be a good day to practice the commute with the added detour by the library.

It was 39°F when I left the house at sunrise. Beautiful morning with only a few clouds but cold! I'd bundled up, though, so I wasn't actually all that cold. I'm gradually getting my gear together so that I can handle any temperature. If it was colder I might want a pair of lobster claw gloves, maybe a baklava and another layer on my legs if it got really cold. I don't want to get too warm though so it's a balancing act. On this ride it worked out just about right.

I also got to test out a new app that I installed on my Optimus V phone, called MyTracks from Google. It's a GPS app that tracks your route, live speed/distance/elevation numbers (although the elevation isn't accurate). After you're done recording your route you can share it to various Google services or with friends. It worked very well at tracking my route.


View 2011-10-19 07:31 Timberland SC in a larger map

Since it exports to Google Docs you can build a spreadsheet of your rides, which will be nice as I add mileage and track my progress.

After work I headed home without the added detour. It was much warmer on the way home so I was down to my shorts once again. I started the day riding at sunrise and finished the day riding at sunset. Not too bad!

Only one Thurston county library remains: Olympia!

Tenino Old Oregon Trail Marker

Old Oregon Trail Marker

On Friday I decided to take the long way to work, which brought me into town via the main highway / Sussex where I stopped to take a picture of this marker. I've known about it and I've even ridden by it but hadn't stopped to take a picture until now.

I found an article about this marker in an article about the Seattle to Portland ride, which points out that this was the first marker laid by Ezra Meeker. That's the cool thing about taking a minute to look at markers like this, they remind us of history. Most of the time when I've gone past this marker I didn't stop, didn't really think about it much. It becomes an invisible piece of the landscape. But on the bike you have more of an opportunity to just stop and think about what is around you. In this case, a chance to stop and look at the marker, and then think about it and read a little about the history of it, coming away feeling a bit more connected to the history of this place.

It prompted me to download The Ox Team by Ezra Meeker, which looks very interesting to read, from Google Books.

I didn't set out on the ride with the goal of riding past the marker, but I did think about it before I left. My main objective for taking the long way was to get in more mileage and hills. My route took me down the Chehalis-Western trail to Waldrick, on over to old highway 99 and then up over "Chain Hill".

Coming up on Chain Hill

Chain Hill isn't a big hill. It's about 300' of climbing over a fairly short distance, but it isn't too bad. It's just one of the bigger hills around this fairly flat area. There are bigger hills, but I'll have to go off the paved roads to find them. This route is pretty much my new commute, except with the new route I'll turn right off Waldrick instead of left. Either way ends up being about 17 miles, a little farther for the new commute. And of course with the new commute I've  got ~17.5 miles to ride to get home. On this ride I took the Yelm-Tenino trail home, so my final distance was about 7 or 8 miles less. Still, it was good practice and fun!

Fall is Here

Fall Trail

The rain let up today, the temperature wasn't that cold, so it turned out to be a nice morning for a commute. With all the rain and storms we've had recently there's a lot of Douglas fir needles, branches and leaves down on the trail. It felt great getting out and riding to work.

Tree Down

Near the lake there was a tree down across the trail (sorry for the blurry picture). I'd was able to go around the tree without any problem. It looked like the Parks folks had been cleaning up this portion of the trail and I think the tree fell when other brush was removed. By the time I came back in the afternoon the tree was already cleaned up and gone.

I'm trying to get out more, build up more mileage but I feel like I'm making slow progress. I need to get out riding more days than I've been doing and I want to build up more distance. This weekend I'm thinking of doing another library ride and head down to Olympia, but we'll see.