John’s Ramblings

I set out on Saturday to take three friends on an STP preview of sorts. The plan was to bicycle 40 miles of the route from Auburn to Yelm. Then, my creative streak cut in and I tried to find a route that would make this trip a loop rather than an out-and-back on the same roads. Splendid idea, John!

We met at the Supermall in Auburn at 8 AM Saturday. We were rolling soon after that, heading south on West Valley Highway. I had ridden the first 15 miles two weeks prior, so getting lost wasn’t an issue (at this point anyway). It was cool and cloudy as we began our ride, and as it turns out the promise of “afternoon sun” amounted to exactly two sunbreaks of short duration.

We missed the turn…

We wound our way south on the STP route, did the dreaded hill, and proceeded left on Canyon Road. Then John missed the turn for Waller Road, and we ended up doing 5 or 6 very hostile miles on Canyon, through a construction zone with concrete barricades on our right, honking pickup trucks on our left, and much noise, dust, and commotion. By the time your’s truly figured out that he had missed said turn, it was far too late to turn back. I wasn’t all that worried about being lost, as we were basically parallel to the road we needed, so at the next main cross street (which would be 170th) we turned right, went a few miles, and soon came to Pacific Avenue.

Back on course, we cruised (with captain wrong-way in the lead) on to Roy, getting spelled in front for a bit by Chet. WAY more scenic that the section we had done through Tacoma and Spanaway, to be sure. This section is pretty flat, with some very mild rolling at times. It wasn’t long before we passed through McKenna, and pulled into Yelm for our mid-point lunch stop at 11 AM.

We missed the straight…

After lunch, I we backtracked a little bit to McKenna, then turned east on Hwy 702 on my newly-invented return route. Not much to it, really. Go east, straight, for 13 miles. My cue sheet was a little shady, and then I was confused when I realized that I was doing part of the route that Terri and I had done for the Daffodil Classic, only backwards. Kevin thankfully stepped up and pulled our little train on this section while I tried to digest my too-large sandwich. Fatigue, lingering sleepiness from my Quizno Sub, and the Daffodil flashback somehow made me decide to bear right after crossing Hwy 7, leading us to Eatonville rather than Orting. When we made our next stop at a mini mart with no functioning water, I let the troops know that our mileage would likely be in the low 90′s rather than the promised 80. Silence ensues. I’d eventually be forgiven when we made it back to Auburn, but I’ll certainly be more careful to either a.) make no promises about mileage, or b.) pre-ride the route!

Once again, I found myself riding past places that I found too far to drive to (in this case, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park). We made a comfort stop at a honey-bucket at Clear Lake (because the mini mart had no water, remember?), but Kevin declared the facility so vile that he would not even set foot into it. I took a picture in the opposite direction, Kevin Chet and Donna standing in front of Clear Lake. The camera effectively freezes the action so you can’t see Kevin dancing…

The rest of the trip was fairly painless and uneventful. We made it to Orting, and took a break in the city park there. They had the streets blocked off for some kind of car show, which drew no interest from our sagging little troop. Kevin made use of the facilities, and after a short rest in the grass we headed north on the Foothills Trail to Puyallup. From there, it’s the un-scenic journey through Sumner, Pacific, and Algona to the start point. We ended the day with 93 miles, but no one wanted to jump back on the Interurban Trail to book another 7 for the even century. Therefore, the almost century is what this shall be.

93 miles, 6 hours 11 minutes.

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