CATS #2 – Mercer Island Loop

A break from the SIR rides this weekend as I’m going to do next weekend’s Bellingham 300k rather than the one being held this weekend.

I decided to join the Cascade Training series ride that was going from Magnuson Park around Mercer Island for a quick training ride to focus on raising my cruising speed. I rode with the Purple group who average 18-20 mph on the flats, apparently the Orange group, while stated as 21mph+, can range up to 25 so I left that group for another day.

I like the loop around Mercer Island and it was a good chance to do it at a decent pace. A front group of about 10 people broke away once we picked up the pace a bit on Mercer Island and I rode with them comfortably enough (until a slow puncture near the end of the loop made my bike start responding pretty strangely and I slowed down to nurse it in to the regroup before we headed back over the I90 bridge). I swapped out the tube and was good to go by the time everyone had caught back up.

I saw a couple people I knew from previous rides which was fun. The Cascade rides have a bit of a different feel to them than the SIR ones but it was a nice reminder of my first season training for STP in 2005.

Here’s the elevation for the ride: