The idea for this route came from my friend who, in our scheming to make some retro-reflective stickers for our helmets, came up with the idea to shape them like bodies of water in our state. The first two he made were Lake Crescent and Lake Washington. I realised that the only way to properly add the stickers to my helmet was if I first fully circumnavigated each of the lakes before applying them. I was Seattle bound that weekend anyway, so I had the idea to combine this lake loop with completing a 100 mile ride, a milestone I had been working up to.
The starting location was chosen to be the Four Corners park and ride near Port Townsend. An easy bus ride away and precisely positioned to get the required distance in. I set off from home to the transit station at 6:30am to catch the 7:00 bus and arrived to Four Corners at 7:40. The first 15 minutes of the adventure was spend torching my brake pads in the parking lot to hopefully fix a squeaky front brake, fortunately it did work else I would have been making a prompt detour to a bike shop. The ride down the east side of the Olympic Peninsula and across Kitsap was beautiful. Perfect low traffic roads and undulating hills. The idea of crossing the Hood Canal bridge had seemed daunting but felt very safe and seeing the glassy surface on one side and choppy water on the other made for a very enjoyable crossing and I was boarding the Kingston ferry before I knew it.
The ride from Edmonds to Kenmore was tolerable, a few inattentive drivers and very steep hills, but once I started heading south on the Burke-Gilman trail that was all forgotten. Much of the ride down from here was forgettable, with the only excitement coming from interactions with other cyclists. The route was very easy to navigate with a sign every half mile or so saying “Lake Washington Loop”. My first short rest was at the southernmost point of the ride, on Airport way in Renton. A brief lie down under a shady tree looking across at Boeing jets being assembled. The ride up the east side of the lake was not as nice as the west side, with lots of shoulder riding and breathing in of car emissions. Eventually the Burke was reached again in Kenmore and the loop was technically complete. I had just a small bit of riding back to U-district in order to eat a large amount of pizza and spend the night. My friend met me just north of Magnuson park with a glorious Mexican Fanta which was the highlight of the day.
The next afternoon my friend and I went on a short recovery ride, across the 520 floating bridge and then back east on the I-90 bridge. This ride was celebrated with Bitburgers and chicken tenders to make up for the calorie deficit from yesterday. I feel good about the 100 mile ride, it was tough but not crippling and it makes me optimistic about a 160 mile ride I am planning towards the end of this month.
I can only recommend this ride to someone if they are doing it for the fact of circumnavigating the lake, as the riding was not particularly enjoyable.
4/10