Chilly Hilly
Chilly Hilly, brought to you by the Cascade Bicycling Club, has been kicking off the cycling season in the Northwest for the past 36 years. Sure, there’s a few races that take place prior to this and the racers amongst us have most likely been out on training rides, but the 33-mile route around Bainbridge Island ushers in the hope for spring, good weather, and dry trails.
529 Participants: Nate Marsh, Raman Sarin, Tina Sarin, Ty Hedlund, Rob Bangerter, and Sergei Shevlyagin.
Unlike most years, this years ride was not chilly, but it was still plenty hilly and the word on the street is that the hills got the best of one of the 529 participants. Interestingly, that was not John Barr. The past few years, John has led the charge for the 529 participants and this year was no different, with one exception. He arrived in Seattle to take the early ferry over to the start of the ride on Bainbridge Island, one of the unique parts of this event, but when he was unable to board the early ferry because it was already full, he opted for option number two and headed out on a ride around West Seattle. Why you ask? Because the USA/Canada hockey game was on and if he waited for the next ferry, he’d have missed the game. Tough to fault ‘em, right!?
Rumor has it there’s a story behind why folks didn’t make the first ferry, but I’ve been unable to get that out of anybody, so it remains a mystery, for now. Back to the ride…
Overall it was pretty uneventful, as one would expect. Unofficial goal was to finish in under 2 hours. Ever notice how it’s impossible for Type A personalities to not make everything a competition!? 
Anyhow, the group was on pace to hit their target, but around the 20 mile mark, our good friend Ty started to cramp. Interestingly, in the past 5 years of riding with Ty, there’s only two known instances of him cramping and both happen to be during the Chilly Hilly. A few potential theories… that many miles on the road causes dirt withdrawals for the mtb rider or maybe, just maybe, this has something to do with missing the early ferry!? Regardless, the group just missed their target, even after they split into two groups. Maybe next year.
Some Ride Stats:
Weather = Sunny and high 40′s to low 50′s.
Avg heart rate = 148bpm
Peak heart rate = 187bpm
Calories burned = 2,150
If you haven’t been riding, spring is just around the corner. Get out and enjoy some of the good weather. Hope we’ll see you at the next couple of 2010 Budu Racing cross country events…
About Cascade Bicycle Club
Cascade Bicycle Club, a non-profit organization based in Seattle, Washington, serves 11,000 members and the Puget Sound bicycling community. Our mission is to Create a Better Community through Bicycling. Cascade is operated by a 13-member volunteer Board of Directors, 22 professional staff, four AmeriCorps members, and thousands of volunteers.