Stuff weirdly worked out today where Liza and I got an unexpected couple hours to take a ride. Liza wanted to shake down the new build of the RB-1 before we take a mini-credit-card anniversary 
tour in the next week or so.
tour in the next week or so.We took one of my favorite loops: Joe's Marshal Loop. This is a great ride: it has dirt roads, some single track, a chunk of rail trail, good climbs, fast road sections, and a nice descent or two. And it's only about 20 miles. I couldn't believe that Liza had never been on this ride before, as I ride it at least once a month or so. But thinking about it, she hasn't had a bike that would be much fun on this ride until now. The "Fat-Tired Road Bike" is the bike to end all bikes in my mind. And Liza is becoming a convert with this 650b-afied RB-1. She had a great ride today and was full of energy while I was bonking and suffering up the last few hills on the way home.
Part of the ride is on the Fish Lake Trail, which is slated for a full paving in the next year or so -- once some more money is secured. It will be interesting to see the bike traffic increase on that trail once it be
comes paved. It will be a road-bike highway on the weekends for sure. Hopefully, we'll see some commute traffic on the weekdays too. I'll miss the dirt, but it will make getting out to Badger Lake and beyond a bit quicker for the last-minute S24O.
On the way to school this morning, Maddie said that she wanted "those things" (drop-bar brakes) on her tandem. I think I'll work up some small drops with dummy hoods for her. Yay.
I tried out the Fish Lake trail starting at Sunset Blvd (wasn't quite sure where the trailhead was) for the first time just last Sunday and really liked it. At times I was wishing I had waited one more day to put on my new fenders though. The coarse gravel made it a literal shakedown ride at times. Once it's paved the whole way into town I expect it to be pretty popular.
ReplyDeleteHave you ridden on the 20 mile portion of the Columbia Plateau Trail that runs through Turnbull Wildlife Refuge? I had to turn around at the trailhead because I needed to get back home, but I'm looking forward to exploring that portion at some point in the future.
Yeah. The CPT is a great way to get to Badger and Williams Lakes. There's a great loop out to Badger that starts on the trail -- then you take this little overgrown road/goat trail off to the south side of Badger Lake. It's documented here: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Badger-Lake-Loop
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