Cycling Seattle - Day 1

I arrived in Seattle in the early afternoon on Saturday. I took the light rail from the airport to the downtown area. I exited the light rail station and was faced with a 3 block walk uphill to the motel. This proved to be a bit of a task hauling more than 70 lbs of luggage, including my Bike Friday, safely tucked away in the Samsonite F'lite 30 suitcase.

My first order of business was to unpack the bike and ready her for riding. However, not being familiar with Seattle and having never actually ridden in a big city, I decided to take a walk and do a little recon. The traffic was bumper to bumper and I have to admit I was more than a bit intimidated. I decided to skip riding on this first day and just explore the city on foot.

The next morning, I was up early and out for a ride.  It was cold and a light rain was falling.  I rode down to the waterfront...

I rode North from there and found a bike path.  Which, by the way, is not hard to do in Seattle. 

That path was near the space needle, so I took a little detour into town to get a closer look...

Making my way back to the bike path, I continued riding it which took me around a commercial fishing yard, through a rail yard and past a marina until it finally ended with a spectacular view across and up the Puget Sound...

Turning around, I made my way back to the downtown area.  By this time the city had awakened and was bustling with activity.  I spent some time riding and exploring downtown Seattle.  I wandered through the Pike Place Market and found the original Starbucks...

After half a day a riding. It was time to make my way back to motel, the only thing that stood between the motel and I was 7 blocks of a nut-buster climb...

This was the first time in my life that I was actually praying to miss the lights, so that I could take a little break and catch my breath.  It was also the first time in my life that every light turned green just as I reached it.  Cute God - real cute!

I finally made it back to the motel and hung my clothes out to dry.  Sitting on the edge of my bed, I was a bit tired, but felt good. I was glad that earlier that morning, when faced with the cold and the rain, I resisted the urge to turn around and head back to my room. I was cold and I got wet, but I had an awesome ride, through an amazing city.