Timberland Regional Library: Olympia

This week saw the start of the Thurston County Bicycle Commuter Contest and the National Bike Challenge. I've had a great week! I kicked it off riding to work, even with the questionable weather conditions and was greeted with some fantastic mornings.

Morning Field

Spots of rain on the first couple days but it wasn't bad at all. I felt really strong the first day riding to work. It's about 17 miles to work, 16 on the way back (I take a bit longer on the way to work to avoid a difficult left turn and a busy intersection).

Deschutes River

The second morning was a lot like the first. Both mornings I took the route I usually drive, which runs along Rich Rd. No shoulder, tight corners, but the drivers were considerate. It's still a bit nerve-wracking. In a few weeks construction begins to widen the road, adding bike lanes and making the corners more gradual. That'll be nice when it's done, but it's going to mean taking a different route until then.

By the third day I was tired, it was raining hard, so took an easy day, running errands in town and then back home.

Yesterday I undertook my most ambitious commute yet! I headed down the Yelm-Tenino trail to Tenino and then took 99 over Chein Hill. Although it's longer than the Rich Rd route, there's a shoulder the whole way so I felt much safer.

Then, after a few hours working in Tumwater I got back on the bike and rode down to Olympia to help with their Overdrive event.

Olympia Timberland Library

This marks the first time I've ridden to the Olympia Timberland Library on my Trek Marlin, so I can check the last Thurston county library off my list! Nice ride from Tumwater down to Olympia with bike lanes almost the whole way and even on 8th there wasn't much traffic. Plus the speed limit in Olympia is only 25 MPH, so it's a nicer city to ride in than some others.

Overdrive's Digital Bookmobile

Overdrive had provided their digital bookmobile to showcase our ebook collection and demonstrate various devices. I was on hand to talk to patrons about what we offer, and answer questions. I had a good conversation with local children's author Alan Shue about the challenges with digital publishing in this new world, and the difficulties independent authors face getting their work in libraries.

After working at the event I headed back out on the bike for the long ride home, taking the Woodland trail out to Lacey to join up with the Chehalis-Western trail. Along the way I saw lots of fallen trees from the snow and ice damage this winter, but the trail was clear and well-maintained. It's been a long time since I rode this trail and I noticed more walking/horse trails off the main trail.

It's nice seeing how improved the trail has become too. Last time I rode this way there was talk about painting one of the industrial buildings along the way — and now it's actually done!

Mural

That's only a part of the mural, but it looks good. The landscaping is coming along too. So much different than the stark scrub and dingy look it had before!

Shortly past the mural I turned up the Chehalis-Western trail and rode home, taking the Yelm-Tenino trail again at the end.

Long commute! 49.37 miles by bike today. I'm actually a bit surprised I managed to ride that far, it sets a new personal best for me. I need to work on building my mileage. It amazes me that riders on the Tour Divide do 120+ miles per day, for weeks, under much harder conditions! I dream about doing it, but sometimes it's hard to imagine being in that kind of shape. I'm working on it.

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!

Highway Commute

Highway 507

This morning I decided to take the highway instead of the bike trail. There's a few reasons for that:

• More hills! I'm working on my mileage but the Yelm-Tenino trail is a converted railway trail so the grade and hills are mild. There aren't any huge hills on the stretch of the highway either, but it's a bit more hilly than the trail. That's a good thing.
• More traffic! I'd rather not ride with cars around, honestly, but since cars aren't going to vanish and my new commute (switching to a new position and a ~17.3 mi commute) will involve more riding on roads, I need to feel more comfortable with the traffic.
• More visible! I think it's important for drivers to see more cyclists on the roads. The trail is nice, but we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking that cyclists must ride the trail. By being out on the highway it reminds drivers that there are other folks on the roads. Maybe that helps.

Right after I took the blurry picture above (sorry, my phone takes terrible pictures), the rain started. A few drops became many drops and then before long I was soaked. I was wearing bike shorts and a jersey, messenger bag over my shoulder. Helmet, of course. My work clothes were in a handlebar bag. I'd actually put on my fenders this morning in anticipation of the chance of rain. The forecast only said 30%, but clearly we hit that! 

The wind blew, the temperature was cool to cold and felt colder with the rain. I'm sure this might sound odd to some, but I had fun! It was a great ride speeding along the highway with cars zipping past and the rain pouring down. The Marlin took the hills pretty easily. The wide shoulder gave me plenty of room but I also kept an eye on approaching cars with my helmet mirror. The dim conditions emphasized what a difference headlights make! Cars with their lights off were much harder to see. I had my rear blinker on but I hadn't taken batteries for my headlights. I need to start doing that because it wasn't nearly as light as I would have liked and even with my screaming yellow jersey I would have felt better with a headlight.

After work I decided to take the trail back home instead of recreating the morning's ride along the highway. I felt tired and wanted to take it easier without the added stress of cars passing. But I do plan to do much more street riding in the days ahead. I'm already making plans for my next library rides!

Timberland Regional Library: Tenino

Tenino Timberland Regional Library

Interestingly the library where I currently work was the third building I visited in my goal to ride to all the Timberland Regional Libraries. I'm actually on vacation, but this morning I headed out to visit the Tenino library.

A few things made the ride stand out from my usual commute. One, I wore sunglasses. I've never been a sunglasses-wearer but I got tired of bugs hitting my eyes. That gave the ride a different hue than I'm used to, sort of like watching a 3D film or something rather than something I was seeing for myself.

Before I left I added fenders to the bike. No rain today, but I wanted to test out how they worked. These are Shockblade 29er fenders, easy to mount and easy to remove. Once I was riding I pretty much forgot they were there but it'll be nice when the weather turns nasty and I'm commuting to work.

The other thing that struck me about the ride was once again the feeling of being up so high! I think because the Yelm-Tenino trail is such a familiar route that riding it on the Marlin let me see it from a different perspective.

I made pretty good time on the ride, compared to my previous commutes I knocked a good half-hour or so off my time, about fifteen minutes each way. I think once I get used to the bike and switch to clipless pedals I'll see that improve a little bit more.

Timberland Regional Library: Service Center

At the Service Center

This morning I checked the first building off my list of Timberland Regional Libraries to visit on my bicycle. I rode out to the Administrative Service Center. At over 17 miles that made it one of the longer distances I've ridden. I had a meeting to go to and we were car-pooling from the Service Center so that made it a good day to try riding. I left earlier than I actually needed to, just to be sure I'd have time.

Riding out I headed down the Chehalis Western Trail. I haven't ridden that far down the trail in a long time, so that was nice to see sights along the trail again.

Marker About Trail Project

The Trek Marlin 29er

Riding the bike is very different, fun, and a bit uncomfortable. I'm not used to a bike seat yet. I don't know that there's anything terribly wrong with the saddle that came on the bike, but I'm thinking of getting something different. I think I should also try bike shorts to see if that helps.

The meeting was out at the Amanda Park Library, I had a hard time imagining riding all the way out there, but one of these days I'd like to try it!

On the way home I stopped at a historical marker that I've always driven past. On the bike it was easy to swing in and stop.

George Washington Bush marker

With the heat, and the fact that I haven't ridden a bike in years, coming home took  a few minutes longer and left me pretty tired. I really like the bike and look forward to getting stronger and better at riding. There's a couple other things I want to get to make the ride nicer. A helmet mirror, so I can see when cars are coming up behind. Sunglasses, mostly to stop the bugs from hitting my eyes like the dragonfly that hit me today. Bike shorts, hopefully will make things more comfortable. And a new saddle, one that might be a bit more comfortable. I'd also like to try going to clipless pedals.

But that's for later. Right now I'm glad that I've got the bike and am building up mileage.