2013-02-16 Training for Sizzler's

On a cloudy day that was supposed to turn into rain, Team Mang ventured into the kind of ride that is their favorite - the kind that ends up at a restaurant. Harry's kids even trained with us for a good 10 miles. The ride was a first for a while for a few of us - like Edgar recovering from his broken collarbone. 
The ride was great - everyone kept up the pace and made it up those rolling hills..which weren't supposed to be there.  We were even blessed with sunbreaks as we were rolling into Kent-Kangley road. We had to cut the ride short and take a right at Witte Road in order to make it back to Renton in time for our appointment at Sizzler's. Let's see...give up 5 miles to gain a few more calories?  No problem...  Soon after, it was just a mad dash back to Renton on the same Cedar River Trail to drive to Sizzler's.

At our meeting, we reaffirmed our commitment to Team Mang and our goal of training for the 1-day STP and have fun doing RSVP this year.  Many of us are weekend cycling warriors and just being able to do the STP in one day will be a major accomplishment.  Those of us who have already done it aim to do it in better time.

2013-02-02 Take us to the Alki Beach!

At Alki Beach after a hilly morning

Some of our Team Mangs are reaching for the sky, training for the Death Ride in California on the same weekend as the STP in July.  So they're training harder, earlier and taking the rest of us along for the ride...when we can keep up.  On the first weekend of February, we rode from Renton through the Lakeridge neighborhood going west through Skyway, down to the Tukwila industrial area, up through White Center and down to West Seattle's Alki Beach.  It was a lot of climbing, led by Trangko veteran Mang Ferdie. Arriving at Alki Beach in 2.5 hours was quite a feat, considering that some who had joined us had not ridden a hard ride yet since the holidays. To add to the excitement, we had 3 tandems riding with the group. The effort was well worth it.

Something new at
Team Mang rides - tandems!

On the way home, some felt challenged to go towards downtown Seattle and through Pioneer Square, climb up Yesler Way and make their way towards Lake Washington Boulevard through Madrona from there.  Those of us who were feeling a bit winded by the first half took the flat route through Marginal Way, South Park and the Interurban trail all the way back to Renton.

The Yesler Way conquerors

We all managed to get back to the Stadium within 30 minutes of each other and finished off the day with lunch at Pho Hoa. A total of at least 3,000 feet of climbing (even more for those who took the Yesler Route) and around 37 miles of riding.

Good job, guys!