Fellow Riders: The good riding season is finally here, sorta. Did my first
ride with no over-layers two weeks ago, followed by an 80mi in heavy rain and
headwinds. Sunday was again a great day on the Bent.

I do the Maymoor / Redmond to Golden Gardens / Ballard ride using the Sammamish
River and Burke Gillman Trails 1-2 times a week, usually late afternoon and
evening. 70-80 mi RT depending on how I connect a few of the links.
So what follows is an update on trail conditions:
There has been an increase in Bents / Trikes on the Trails in the last 6 weeks
or so. A lot of Visions (seems like more than last year), old and newer
Bachettas, Rans w & w/o fairings, a Cruzbike, an Optima (very cool), a few Cats,
several WizWs, and several different configs of hand trikes.

All the bathrooms enroute are open except the set at the Burke Gillman
Playground behind Metropolitan Market / Ronald McDonald House. I don't know
what the story is on that one. The new bathrooms at Log Boom / Kenmore finally
opened 4 weeks ago. Like the old bathrooms, they usually lock up around 9PM
(or never, not predictable). The bathrooms at 64 Acre Park in Redmond finally
re-opened 3 weeks ago. The bathrooms at Woodinville stay open all year round,
but have a floating close schedule that is usually around sunset.

There is a new short extension from the south end of the Sammamish River Trail
connecting to the E. Lake Sammamish Trail. The connector is only 3/4mi but
quite a show with baseball, soccer, lacrosse, cricket, and the R/C model
airplane airport. I usually do a quick RT on this one before heading north on
the Samm Trail to Golden Gardens.

The Alligator Pit of root break asphalt behind the Redmond Civic / Seniors
Center has been repaired. At last! No more fighting for room on the west-most
2" of the Trail.

The Rapids of root break in Fremont in front of Canal Coffee has also been
repaired. No more bouncing off the rocks on my night time returns.

For those of you who take the upper route (Riverside Dr) at the top of the Samm
Trail (bypassing the lookie-loos, ducks, chickens, Bothell Landing, etc.), some
of the major potholes have been filled in. It's still some pretty crappy
roadway, especially at night. I've popped a few tubes there coming home late,
although they did fill in the holes that gave me the flats. Thanks!

The Bone Rattler of root break between Metropolitan Market and the wood bridge
on the Burke Gillman (between NE 50th & NE 48th, I think) is still … well … The
Rattler. It's also in the downhill south bound. Darn. Would make a nice
downhill to U Village if it weren't for that.

Happy Trails

Bill

PS: I ride an old model yellow / black Bachetta Corsa with a large yellow tail
box and double yellow / black panniers. My rig is pretty dirty since I ride all
winter long. If you see me coming and feel like it, wave or flag me down and
say howdy.