I am letting go of my summer grasp, and look… this tells me it is easy to do … and it IS easy during this month of September.
Such beautiful weather continues into late September and I take almost every drop of it from the seat of my bike. There is even a palm tree fluttering about.
Next to that is an interesting artfully trimmed tree/bush.
This guy stands guard over the fresh planted vegetable garden.
Look at all that sun and the blue blue sky. Cannot get a better start to autumn than this!
This little sign on another ride brought a chuckle.
I get to ride with Shelly, Kim and Meri on a day that bodes a weather change. I chose to begin at a farther distance from the actual ride start, where I would meet up with my friends. Along the Sammamish River I made a stop for the birds.
The sea gull seems a bit misplaced walking into the shallows.
As I approached our meet up place I had the opportunity to stop for a photo of this mural. All other times I ride this trail there are cyclists passing in either direction and I cannot get a good look. I like and enjoy the murals that some paint on walls near any trail.
Shelly had sent us each a message that she would be a little late due to a mechanical problem with her bike. She would be riding Lizette’s bike which is waaay too big for her! But she did make it work and we were glad for her effort since she would be our leader for today’s ride as we entered the unpaved, hard packed East Trail. There they are on the trail ahead as I stop for this fall picture.
We rode this trail which is always in development it seems, and connected with a newly paved and opened connector trail. We made a U turn after a short ride along the new trail as we had more to explore on this day. We would ride more of the Connector on another day.
Now it was lunch time, and we could tell by the grumbling of our stomachs. Shelly led us onto a short bridge from the trail that offered us some animal sculptures, and would take us to a park for our lunch stop. The interesting thing about these sculptures, in addition to being cute in themselves, is that they are actually in two pieces. The separate pieces aline when you are at the right spot for the view of the whole animal. Hard to describe, but very artsy and interesting.
Finally! We got to our lunch spot, a very cute and colorful park in Totem Lake. How happy we are!
You have likely noticed that this day was not nearly as sunny and bright as the earlier days of September have been. Near the end of our ride, near the dragon bridge, blue sky did make an attempt, but we had missed most of the sun. We had fun without the sun though.
Having each started our ride from different points, we said our goodbyes here.
The cloudy sky in these photos do tell the story of our immediate future. The weather she is a-changing. We will get rain which is badly needed by Mother nature, and will actually give me some rest days! It will not be all rain, but will be a change to adapt to as the real summer ends.
Still a few days to ride out the month!
The following day was another splendid day of cycling under the blue sky as Lizette, Shelly and I worked our way along 7 different trails, including the 520 bridge across Lake Washington.
There were not many opportunities for photo taking, but the ride was splendid. The weather was still cooperating for our riding, we started on the trail in Redmond to experience the new Light Rail Station and the connector trail leading to it. I will have to go back at some time for a photo or two ;’-).
By the time we reached our half way point at Metro Market, we were all quite ready for lunch! Entering the part of the Burke-Gilmon Trail that passes through UW, we had to snake through a maze of Lime Bikes and maneuver around those to our next trail entrance. Those bikes were triple parked on both sides of the trail, making a narrow way to get through, and we did not realize we were biking by the Husky Stadium while an important football game was being played! Students rode these Lime bikes to the game, so that’s why such a jumble of them were blocking much of the trail.
Crossing the 520 bridge then showed us the many boats that had arrived for the game as well! They either watch on their TV aboard, or attend the game. We feel so fortunate that we did not get tangled up in traffic of any kind. Timing was right 🙄
Our route…
The following day, after a long time in the saddle the day before, I needed a slower pace with little to no climbing. A rather short ride from home fit the bill just fine. As I started out in mid morning there were high light wisps of clouds painting their way across some blue in the sky. Delightful to ride in, but as I neared my finish the white of clouds was taking over all the blue, and the wind was picking up. This is a ride that I do quite often and there was nothing new or outstanding to take a photo of.
So happy that I got out on that day as — then came the rain they promised. Now there was only one day left in September and I really wanted to roll out of the month the way I rolled in — on my bike.
The penultimate day of September brought me a day of forced rest! A good day for reading my book with a nice mug of tea.
I MUST take in the last day of the month on the saddle if only for a short ride. 😉.
The sun was shining and pushing away some of the clouds.
As I moved along, the sun started to win the battle for a while. And blue became the predominate color in the sky.
More than half way through my ride I enjoyed some fountain watching.
About two miles from home I spotted Susan rounding the corner and she was on her bike!!! I made a U turn to join her and we finished the ride together, giving me a couple more miles than expected.
A great day, and a great month. Thank you September!
Adventures with Nancy 