Run for the hills..

As I rubbed my eyes and rolled over in bed this morning, an incredible sense of apathy had taken hold of me. Uninspired and completely unmotivated, I layed there, contemplating the ride that I had planned for the day. I never really decided where to go, and I was still questioning whether to head for Mt. Rainier, or catch a ferry to the Olympic Peninsula; it was a completely indecisive conundrum. So I just continued to lay there for a while, finally deciding to get up and just automate the process and go through the steps that I knew were required in order to leave the house; if I strapped on my shin guards and put my riding pants on, I certainly wouldn't just sit around the house all day in them.
And with that, I headed for the hills.

And as soon as I layed on the throttle, felt the warm sun on my back and the cool breeze in my jacket, I remembered why I love this.

From home it takes about an hour before it starts to get remotely interesting, but then again, it's all so new to me that even riding the slab is relatively interesting.

I must have made the right choice in destinations because I ran into Johnny and Omar from Ride West BMW up there.. weird coincidence.. cool guys, and I think Johnny's unknowingly inspiring me to do more off roading- he was out on his new-to-him XR600 (i think) for the first time and already riding over logs n stuff!

I had planned to make one big loop around the mountain, traversing a couple of mountain passes, but once I got up there, realized that the pass I needed in order to head south around the Eastern side of the mountain was closed (it's still winter up there). But, shortly thereafter I understood the gravity of the situation..

At first the snow was just a bit deeper than my bike is tall.

Then it got a bit deeper. And cold.

And the reward for the days excursion was a few beautiful views of Rainier.

Man, that bike just looks good in crazy places like this!

It certainly turned into a very visually stimulating day, but one thing that I have begun to question about Washington is where are all the twisty roads? Sure it got a bit twisty once I got into the mountains today, but not only were they not as fun, there was snow-melt run-off all over the corners up there; making for a little bit more of a timid ride.
I'm sure the twisties exist here, I just need to find them!

Up next, though, will most definitely be a trip to the Olympics. Not only is the ferry ride worth the trip alone, but it's gorgeous over there. Also I think whale migration season is either happening right now, or is about to happen; they head up the Strait of Juan De Fuca around this time heading for Alaska for the summer.

As a little piece of inspiration, I went up to the city just to take this photo of the Olympic range from across the Sound..


Thanks for coming, till next time..