John’s Ramblings

In my zeal to improve my cycling, and more specifically my climbing, I’m always on the lookout for interesting training rides that I can take in the area. The goal is to improve my climbing speed and stamina without destroying my knees, or my will to live.

A road we sometimes frequent to our favorite pub is Pacific Highway South, where it climbs from Milton up across the Pierce-King county line to Federal Way. My perception in the car was always that this was a long but not steep climb that might help to improve stamina.

I set out Monday on my own to do this ride. I started at the Auburn Supermall, and headed south to Sumner, where I ran across an interesting storefront. Although it’s only a furniture refinisher, they must have a good sense of humor to choose that name for their business.

Next I skirted downtown Puyallup and stumbled across a nice little side road named Todd Road. At the end of this road I cut through a warehouse parking lot, and found myself on the Valley Avenue heading to Fife. On a bridge over the Union Pacific railroad tracks, I was able to catch this shot of the pumpkin fields. The foliage is dying back, revealing the pumpkins lying on the ground.

After passing several tribal smokeshops I made a right turn on 70th Ave, crossed over I-5 at the “Fife Turn”, and found myself at the bottom of the hill. After a pause to suck down a gel and some water, I set out on my quest.

As I thought, it was long and not very steep. Not steep at all, in fact. My post-ride calculations show that the grade is less than 2%. I was glad I did it, but dissappointed that it wasn’t a bit more challenging. If we go to Sequim in the next couple of days to squander the last couple of days of vacation, maybe I’ll try Hurricane Ridge to see if I’ve just become a climbing machine! Kevin (of RSVP fame) wants to do the Sunrise (Mt. Rainier) climb with me as well. We’ve tentatively scheduled that one for the weekend of 9/17, weather permitting.

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