...and it started raining.

A couple of weeks ago I heard about a mountain biking trail that would be a good place for Lindy to try her first "off road" biking. The trail is called Iron Horse trail and is found just west of Seattle. The trail follows the old Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad for over 100 miles. It was a nice trail to ride together, wide enough so we could ride side by side and steep enough to give us a good workout. For the part of the trail we rode it was all uphill on the way out and all downhill on the way back. We started out at the base of the trail just a couple miles from the Rattlesnake trail we hiked a couple weeks ago. It was really pretty, and very green with the ferns, trees, wild strawberries and raspberries growing along the side of the trail. We had heard that the trail was supposed to be pretty crowded, but were pleasantly surprised to not see very many people. There were a few bikers we saw on their way down the trail and they were almost all wearing long sleeves and pants – which we couldn’t understand because it was such a beautiful day. We were both wearing shorts and t-shirts basically and felt great, it would have been really hot to wear long sleeves while climbing that trail. We stopped after riding a few miles and ate some lunch and then continued for a couple more miles. We had gone about six miles up the trail when we started thinking about turning around. We were starting to get a little tired, and lets just say sitting on a bike for an extended period of time is not what you’d call pleasant. Lindy decided she wanted to go a few more miles to make it an even ten miles up the trail, so we clambered back on the bikes and kept going.

Around mile nine we were both pretty tired and looking forward to making our goal of ten miles…and it started raining. At first it was a light rain, but then it really started coming down. It was fun to be riding in the rain, not something you do everyday. We made it to the ten mile marker and turned around. Lindy put on her jacket she had brought, while I, being the smart person that I am, was forced to keep on riding in my t-shirt because I didn’t bring a jacket. I mean, it’s not like it rains here very much. The trip back down went much quicker than the trip up the trail, but we were both really cold. Something I’ve learned about riding your bike in the rain is that you get hit in the face with it twice. The rain gets in your face, which is expected, but if you’re going fast enough it all flies up off your front tire into your face. After a couple of miles of riding in the rain we were thoroughly soaked and our backs were covered in mud. My arms felt like they were locked in place from the cold and the rain. It felt really good when the rain stopped and the clouds parted just before we got to the car. We didn’t get any pictures of the trail because we were going to take them on the way down, but with the cold rain we chose to just finish the ride and go back another day for pictures. We did manage to get these pictures of ourselves after the ride was over.

All in all we rode bikes for about three hours. I bet some of you have never even talked to your dad on the phone for that long! Hopefully we’ll go back sometime to get some pictures. If we do, we’ll be sure to bring jackets.