Seattle!

Hey Everyone!

First of all, a big thanks to Whitney for keeping the summer updates going and I hope everyone is having a nice summer!

I've been in Seattle for the past 5 weeks interning at the Infectious Disease Research Institute. Lizzy is also in Seattle for an internship and a summer class and it has been awesome having her here to ride with! Besides spending time in the lab and in class, Lizzy and I are quickly becoming Seattle locals (at least we like to think we are). We're basically pros at getting around Seattle by bus and I feel like I’m even starting to act like a normal commuter - I don’t look out the windows anymore and make sure to keep my eyes glued to a book (or now my phone since I can watch the Tour de France!). I can also swipe my bus card without having the error light beep at me. Between riding the bus and working, Lizzy and I have found time for cycling though!

We have had many an adventurous ride so far - exploring a park with a wooden boardwalk, getting lost in Bothell after riding said wooden boardwalk, taking dinner to the Ballard Locks (who knew that Ballard is a neighborhood, not a town?!), and getting lost riding around Lake Washington in Bellevue - or maybe it was Kirkland... 

Lizzy and I raced a crit in Burien, WA on the 4th of July - it felt awesome to race again! There was even a parade afterwards that Lizzy and I were going to stick around for until we realized that we had to wait another 30 minutes for it to start. So instead we grabbed the tickets we were given for free food and went in search of the cafe advertised on the card. Instead we found staging for the parade which is just as entertaining, if not more so, than the parade itself. Among the parade crowd were little girls in fancy dresses, a truck shaped like a foot, and a number of BURIEN DANCE GANGS! The groups looked like they were getting ready for battle and as Lizzy and I were driving out of the staging area we heard sirens and figured the police had been called in to break up a fight.

We have also started TRACK RACING! Right now we are racing during the beginner night (which you are required to attend along with a track class) before you are allowed to race in the regular, categorized races. Track racing is so much different than road - the races are short and fast and besides getting my legs used to all of the sprinting, they have to get used to riding a fixed gear bike! There are a number of officials and veteran racers out every Thursday to help us learn the sport and it is a relaxed atmosphere with great people! Our new friends include a Whitman alum, two mothers who race cyclocross, and a boy about 10 years old that is beginning his “comeback” year of racing after taking a year off. Stanley (Lizzy’s bike) and Little Tommy (my bike) haven’t been too happy with us about this new type of racing. They either end up fighting in the back of the car when we are trying to drive to the track or complain when we steal their pedals every week for our rental bikes. Little Tommy usually forgives me after we go on a nice long ride though. He’s also been in a good mood ever since his namesake, Thomas Voeckler, won TWO stages of the Tour de France.

Lizzy and I will definitely keep you updated on our adventures in Seattle, but we want to hear from YOU as well! Racers, alumni, team supporters, parents - send in your summer bike adventure stories and pictures to either Whitney (griggsws@whitman.edu) or me (blustme@whitman.edu) and we will upload them to our blog!

I’ll leave you guys with a couple of pictures I’ve taken the last few days...

Love,

Molly

Little Tommy enjoying a merry-go-round. 

Little Tommy and Unnamed Bike (Stanley is currently at the hospital) chillin' at a beach. The beach looks like it's in the middle of nowhere, but guess what!? If you turn around you can see the Space Needle and the Olympic Sculpture Park! We are almost downtown in this photo!

SO MANY TRACKS! Luckily we don't have to ride over these... 

MORE TRACKS!

SO MANY TRACKS!!!

P.S. I've never actually posted a blog before... so if the pictures come out weird or something, I apologize!