March 17, 2018
Tour de Lac Vert
Green Lake Seattle?
We are going to at least start heading east to soon begin our grand tour of France on Tuesday. We promise. But right now we seem to be back in Seattle. We actually came down to help prepare the ground for hoped for cycling with the kids in summer, once we are back from France. What it's about is getting their new touring bikes completely set up with racks and fenders, and getting the kids used to shifting gears - both front and rear. Simple as that sounds, we have so far not been terribly successful. We'll explain soon.
But what is this "Tour de Lac Vert"? Well that's just me trying to deceive myself about being somewhere exotic. Lac Vert means Green Lake, and Green Lake is the nearest cycling venue to the kids' house here near Seattle. It is a major landmark in this "Ballard" district , and it has a 5 km cycle track completely around it. It also has Greg's Greenlake Cycles, a more or less good bike shop, right by the lake.
We structured a training ride that would have Avi and Violet and Evelyn all on their new multi speed 24" bikes, Dodie on the bike she rode in Yucatan, and Dave on a goofy miscellaneous folder we have lying around.
That left me with no mount, but in Seattle two companies have set up innovative bike rental systems. These systems allow bikes to be left anywhere, while the locations can be tracked through an app and onboard GPS and 3G. You just scan a QR code to pay, the bike unlocks, and away you go. In the past several weeks one of the companies, Limebike, has introduced e-assist models. I was interested in this, so we fired one up. (Verdict - compared to the European pioneered "torque sensor" systems, the "cadence sensor" in bikes like these is crude and flirting with being a motorised bike rather than an e-assist. Not for us, thanks.)
Our six person training outing did not get very far. Not intact, anyway. First off, Violet balked at the whole idea. While fearless on swings, monkey bars, and the like, she is struggling with bikes. She had me read the "textbook" "Danger is Everywhere" a humorous kids' handbook for "avoiding danger". Here is a sample:
Here is the actual Violet, with her brand new, shiny, touring bike:
On the other hand, here is Avi. Even twins can go through different phases differently.
Evelyn was ready to go, too:
But it came unravelled for her, too, as the bike found a way to fall on her as she walked around it, and Dave had to take her home to recover.
The summary, within 10 meters our team of six was slashed to three survivors. The Grampies will need a better performance than that to go 4,500,000 meters around France!
Our ragtag band did straggle down to the lake, and spun around it twice, logging 15 km in total. For Avi it was good experience in dodging dogs and pedestrians. Seattle people are not well attuned to having separate walking and cycling lanes, so dozens of people were blocking our way. Amsterdam, for instance, such people would long ago have been bulldozed off the path by fast moving cyclists. But here - Dodie had to repeatedly call out "Cyclists coming in the cycle lane!". Oh well.
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Our visit to Gregg's was not totally satisfying either. The notion of racks and fenders on a kid's bike had not been part of their game, and now, six weeks after our initial order, they had still failed to land any fenders. They promised to try harder - gratifying, since we had already paid for them!
Back home, we drowned our sorrows in hot chocolate. Tomorrow will be another day - maybe.
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