Spring in Bellevue Washington

Visiting Doreen

I wanted to visit the grave site of my grandmother. She had passed in 2023. Our last trip to Bellevue was in May of 2024, when we dropped off Doreen’s remains with the cemetery. Although we had ordered the grave stone many months before our arrival, the site was not ready and we did not get the opportunity to see here enter her final resting place. I was excited to see the stone work and gravesite. The site looked good, I was disappointed that the memorial vase stone work was loose.

Cycling in Seattle

I was able to get many rides in while in Seattle. Riding with new groups and people is fun. I typically try and join a groups social ride first, however sometimes I just show up and ride the A group rides.

Cascade Bicycle Club

A very formal riding experience. I like formality to rides, In My Opinion: Every ride should start with a quick brief. This is what we do, this is what we expect in a ride, this is how we are going to ride this route today.

What was interesting to me is the ride leader after going through safety items and how we would regroup. He made a point to let me know that some people climb faster then others (while looking my shape up and down). I did feel he was telling me I would not hang on this ride and although it was a no drop ride, I needed to keep up. I nodded, let him know I understood the situation and was excited to be on the ride with him and this group. For me the route was a small/medium ride which I planned on putting a medium spicy effort into.

All in the route was ~55 miles and 3.5K feet of climbing. After the safety brief we rolled out and hit our first climb, I sat in and watched the group climb the hill, nothing spicy, just a grind. The next set of hills, I put a little effort into climbing and blew past the lead group and waited at the top of the climb (per leaders guidelines) for a solid 4-5 minutes for them to reach the top.

It is common that other riders judge me based upon my shape. For those of you who don’t ride bikes with me, my bike, equipment, and body are about 260 pounds. It’s often easy for others riders to misjudge my power and skill on the bike. Honestly, I get why, I don’t look like a cyclist. Another honest point, I enjoy being misjudged by cyclists.

Cascade Bicycle Club

Rapha Cycling Club

I am a long time Rapha Cycling Club member. Rapha is one of the groups I will always be a member of. I like the rides and community. Additionally, I know if I am in other big cities, the likelihood that I find other like minded cyclists at a Rapha ride is high.
The social ride was fun, we meet for coffee and rode through the Seattle arboretum (Washington Park). I rode to the from Bellevue (17 miles) at a pretty quick pace (17+ MPH). Seattle is a lovely place to ride, I feel like the city has awesome bike infrastructure. I rode across a few large bridges that have their own dedicated bike way. The ability to ride a bike on the same path as cars without having to share space is great.
Seattle is normally wet, I live where it’s dry, water on the road in Santa Monica is always called out by cyclists. Water on the road in LA is always a mystery: Is it going to be slick? Will their be a large pothole? Is it urine? It is fluid from some vehicle? Seattle cyclists think it’s funny when I call out water on the road. Water on the road in Seattle is common and the likelihood that it’s just water is high.

Mercer Island

Whenever I visit Seattle, I always ride around Mercer island. It’s a bit of a fitness test for me. I always enjoy myself and the ride gives me a good feeling about the local cycling community. This years rides around Mercer felt great.

Where we camped

Bellevue Washington

We were fortunate to stay in Bellevue at the Trailer Inns RV Park in Bellevue. We stayed here in 2004 and enjoyed it. The location is perfect for the things we needed to get done. Cycling, visiting my grandmothers grave site, and visiting past colleagues were on the agenda while in Seattle. The weather was near perfect our whole stay. Two downsides exist at this RV Park. 1. The campsites are very small. You must be creative with your space. With space tight it’s also important to make sure you are only using the space allotted to you. 2. Many semi-long term residents live here. Why long term residents are a downside is that often these tenants sites are messy/trashy.

We all enjoyed the walks around the neighborhood. It was neat to walk familiar streets in place where we are strangers. All in I like Bellevue, Washington.

Renton, Washington.

When visiting my grandmothers grave site or any graveyard, I really enjoy walking around looking at gravestones. Apparently Jimi Hendrix is buried in the same cemetery.

Seattle Beers

Donna and I visited some of my favorite breweries while in Seattle. For many years I have been a fan of Freemont brewing. While in Port Angeles, I tried a beer from a place called Georgetown brewing, which scored very high in my like category. We were able to visit both breweries. We took a tour at Georgetown brewery, hands down it was the best brewery tour we had ever taken. Spoiler: we have taken many brewery tours. Georgetown is making great beer.

Sunny Seattle

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