This morning, I went on the 7 Hills of Kirkland ride. I had been planning on riding with a co-worker, but he got scared and decided to crash his bike on Thursday night so that he wouldn’t have to go. Okay, that’s not what he *claims*, but I’m pretty sure it’s the truth.

There are three options on this ride:

Those are hard rides. As a comparison, the Flying Wheels Summer Century has a similar elevation gain, but spreads it over 100 miles. I was there to ride the 40 mile version.

The day started poorly. I got up, drove to Kirkland, pulled the bike out, sat down to put on my… shoes… where are my shoes?

They’re sitting back in the kitchen.

Argh. So, once I picked up my shoes and got back, the other riders I had hoped to ride with had already left, so I did the ride solo.

What’s the ride like? Well, it’s hilly. Or, to be more correct, you spend lots of time going uphill, followed by short and fast descents, with little time going flat. The worst hills are the third one (seminary hill) and the sixth one (winery hill). As your turn onto the last pitch on Seminary hill, you can see (and hear) a lone bagpiper playing at the top of the climb. Pretty cool.

40 miles
2:32
15.8 MPH

7 Hills Elevation Profile (from Topo USA)