Here is a map of the overall route for the day.  Directly below the map is a link to a GPX route file of the same ride.

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R-IDES of March VIII Charity Run 3-13-2010.gpx

R-IDES of MARCH VIII is the eighth annual Riders for Health charity run sponsored by Ride West BMW.  The run was scheduled to start Saturday at 10:00 AM.  I decided to get there when the shop opened in case there was something hiding in the store that I couldn’t live without.

The weather was cool and the all the roofs in my neighborhood had frost on them.  The forecast was for a high temperature in the upper fifties but with a small chance of scattered showers throughout the day.  So I put on the ‘lectric gear to keep comfortable, hopped on Brutus and rode the 20 miles to Ride West BMW.  This is one of the first rides on Brutus since I installed a new set of Micatech Pilot side cases.  The previous set had an untimely demise in a minor parking lot accident.  I decided to dump the pirate inspired reflective skull motif for a more conservative and socially acceptable, at least in BMW circles, approach to conspicuity.   

I was the first rider to arrive and consequently the first person to register.  The basic plan for the ride was a torturous route to try and find less travelled roads from Ride West to the final destination, the Omega Pizza & Pasta in Granite Falls.  

There were several locations along the way that we needed to stop at so we could answer questions on a list that was part of the ride packet.  The purpose of the questions was to qualify for the prizes at the end of the run.  So I grabbed a cup of coffee and headed out towards Brutus. 

When I got outside I noticed that Brutus had been surrounded by two other yellow motorcycles.  It was total chance that I managed to end up in the “yellow bikes only” part of the parking lot.   One was a BMW R1100S and the other a Yamaha FZ6.  So after looking them over I put my coffee down on the curb and turned on my GPS.  The reason I had gone outside was to start entering all the ride instructions into my GPS.  There were two full pages of them. 

Three of the questions on the list were the starting and ending odometer readings and the total mileage.  This seemed to mean that we were expected the ride the routes as listed and not just go to the question locations by any route you could manage.   This required routing every twist and turn listed on the ride instruction.  This was going to be painful but trying to ride the instructions one at a time would be worse.  The other option was to just add up all the mileage in the instructions and fudge the numbers but what would be the fun in that?

So I just about get the first leg completed when the rider of the R1100S comes out and we make introductions.  His name is Tad and he is the one with the red cap on in the picture.  He asked me if I was actually entering the instruction in by hand?  As it turns out he got the GPS route file by e-mail from the ride organizer.   We discussed the various options that were available and we decided that I would play follow to his leader.  My daddy didn’t raise any idiot children.  About that time the rider on the FZ6 walked out and we started the same discussion over with him.  The third rider was Tom Mehren, of  Sound Rider fame.   So then we were three riders with yellow helmets riding three yellow bikes, oh my! 

Other riders were still trickling into Ride West.  This was a ride your own pace kind of thing so we collectively decided to head on out.   Tad was in the lead, Tom was at the back and I was in the rocking chair.  But before we could leave I needed to drink my now cold cup of coffee and throw away the cup. 

The first leg of the route ran us from Lakewood through Lake City, Briercrest, Sheridan Beach, Lake Forest Park, Mountlake Terrace, Lynnwood and finally into Mill Creek.  The destination was McCollum County Park.  The question we were supposed to answer on the question list was “Is the pool empty or full”.   Most would likely say the pool was empty, however I am a very analytical person. Some might even say anal retentive.    So I noted  on the sheet that the pool was mostly empty but there was some water at the deep end of the pool.

Here is Tad dutifully entering his answer on the list.  

Then it was back to follow the leader.  The next leg was rather short and we started out heading East on 128th St SE.  This turned into 132nd St SE and we stayed on that until turning North on Seattle Hill Road.  We turned Northwest on Lowell Larimer and then East on Lenora St..  This immediately becomes Lowell Snohomish River Road and we then turned into the Rotary Park. 

The question was something like “What is the street number on the cabin near the boat launch?”.   So we all start looking for a cabin and the only structure anywhere within sight is the “Oot hoos”.  So Tad was the adventurous one who decided to walk around it. He found the number on the back side.  Those run organizers were turning out to be real tricky. Of course we had just ridden past the back side of it on our way to the boat launch but that doesn’t count.    I took a few pictures of the Snohomish River from the boat launch and then we were ready to move on.

So far the ride had been mostly suburban.  Lots of stop lights and stop signs.  The next leg was starting to get into the more rural area of Snohomish County.  I was hoping the roads would start getting a little more ridable.  We left the park and turned East towards Snohomish on the Lowell Snohomish River Road.  We crossed Hwy 9 and turned North on Avenue D into Snohomish.  Then it was East on 2nd Street and South on Lincoln.  At the Snohomish city limit, Lincoln Avenue becomes the Old Snohomish Monroe Road.

We turned West onto Treosti Road then South onto Old School Road.  Eventually Old School road presented us with  a dead end sign so the next question location couldn’t be much farther.  The road narrowed and the asphalt ended at a open gate with a no trespassing sign on it. 

The question was something like “What lies beyond the other side of the gate?”.  It looked like another opportunity for a trick question.  There were all kinds of things beyond the gate like a dirt road, grassy fields, trees, buildings in the distance and a real estate sign on the right side of the road.  We concluded that was the likely answer so I entered “A sign with Madison House Ltd. on it.” on my question list.

We snaked our way back to Old Snohomish Monroe Road by a different route and headed East.   At Monroe we turned North on Fryeland Blvd and skirted along the West side of town.  After crossing Hwy 2 we turned West on Roosevelt Road and then East on Trombley Road.  This was the best riding leg of the route as far as I was concerned.  A nice rural road with enough character to keep things interesting.  We turned East on Meadow Lake Road then North on Mero Road, following it past  Storm Lake and eventually turning NE on Storm Lake Road.  Our destination for the next question was the Storm Lake Grocery.

We figured we were well ahead of schedule so we decided to stop for a little refreshment and a pit stop while solving the last question of the journey.  The question was “Who owns the Storm Lake Grocery?”.  The sign on the grocery boldly proclaimed it was Fitzgeralds.  While this looked to be the likely answer, the Yellow Bike Crew was not to be fooled by such obvious trickery.  The ever intrepid Tad asked the store cashier  who the owner was.  It turns out that Howard owns it.  Now this was a slight error in our quest for interrogative problem solving perfection because  Howard was  just the owners first name.

We were to find out later that some of the other riders , who were even bigger doubting Thomas’s, had tortured the owner’s full name from the camera shy cashier at the store.   It was Howard Song.  While this would turn out to be irrelevant it seemed to put a black mark on the Yellow Bike Crew’s sleuthing credentials. 

So I bought a Diet Pepsi and went back outside where the mass quantities of ride gear would be less likely to break me out in a sweat.  About that time a couple of Goldwing riders pulled in.  It turns out that they were scouting a route for a GWRRA event of some kind.  We told them were were on a charity ride and what it was about.  They eventually commended us on nicely displaying all the various shades of yellow that were possible.

We eventually mounted up for the last leg of the run and continued on Mero Road.  We turned East on Dubuque Road, North on Creswell Road, NE on Carpenter Road and finally North on Robe Menzel Road.   I don’t remember the exact time but it was around 1:00 PM when we pulled up to the Omega Pizza & Pasta.  We wrote down our ending odometer reading and calculated the total mileage which were the last two questions on the list.  Our grand total turned out to be 69 miles.

I hadn’t been to the Omega before and it turned out to be a good RTE location.  The food and atmosphere are great.  The pool room in the back had been reserved for the group.  The rally organizers were already there and had all the give away prizes arranged on the pool table.  It wasn’t long before other riders started to arrive.

I must have been slow because by the time I took a couple pictures, got my jacket off and sat down at a table, Tom was already eating a salad.  I got an ice tea ordered and by then people really started arriving.  I looked over the menu and decided on a Canadian bacon and pepperoni grinder.  By the time the sandwich came the tables had mostly filled up.

By about 1:30 PM it looked like the bulk of the riders had arrived.  We were told there were 28 registrations though a small number didn’t actually ride the event.   Even so over $800 was raised for Riders for Health. 

I don’t think anyone didn’t qualify for the prize drawings as there probably weren’t any real wrong answers to the questions.  They did a random number drawing based on the order that people registered.  It turned out I was actually number 2.  Apparently someone registered early online. 

I am not very lucky at these kind of things but it’s not about the prizes one way or the other.   I was called near the end as usual but I still got a nice Ride West BMW logoed shop cloth.  I think Tad was the second named called.  He actually got the prize he was hoping he would have the opportunity to get, which was a certificate from Sound Rider.  Now what were the odds of that?

So it was about 2:15 PM and Tad and I were both kind of milling about.  We ended up talking about routes back home.  His home is in Redmond and mine is in Renton.  By the time we were done I again decided to follow his leader.  We had a nice ride to Monroe riding past Lake Roesiger, Lake Cochran and Woods Creek.  We picked up Hwy-203 in Monroe.   Tad took one little side trip around Duvall riding the Cherry Valley Road and Kelly Road loop.  Tad turn off at Carnation to head towards Redmond.  I continued on Hwy-203 eventually picking up I-90 and Hwy-900 for my trip back to Renton.  Total mileage for the day was 160 miles.

There really wasn’t much precipitation during the days riding.  It was a little cool in Granite Falls because of the overcast.  As luck would have it I hit a localized downpour about two miles from home.  Of course if rain stopped a PNW rider from getting out they might as well sell their motorcycle.

All the pictures from the days events can be found in THIS gallery.