THE 7 HILLS OF KIRKLAND
aka
THE 14 HILLS OF KIRKLAND

Yesterday my friend Chris and I did a 100-mile bike ride in east King County. It was an organized event in support of a charitable organization called KITH, which provides low-income housing solutions for people in need. The ride itself is called the "7 Hills of Kirkland" and the classic route takes you on an approximately 40-mile course with about 3k feet of vertical. The event also includes a metric century option plus a standard century, the latter of which includes 14 hills and about 7k feet of vertical. Of course we chose this last option.

It was a gorgeous day and the scenery was spectacular; at all moments we were blessed with views of Mt. Rainier, Mt. Baker, pastoral farmland, or forested, twisty roads.

The final count, according to my (apparently faulty) GPS:

91.60 miles
6:59:08 total elapsed time
13.1 mph average speed
7,275 calories burned
148 average heart rate

I'm not sure how I lost about 8 miles worth of data; my guess is that I was riding so fast that the satellites couldn't find me quickly enough. Or something.


This is the elevation graph:







This is the satellite image of our route:





This is the map of our route:




And here's me after stuffing my face with strawberry shortcake at the finish in Marina Park:



Considering my longest previous bike ride ever was about 60 miles, and occurred several months ago, I'm fairly happy with how my body held up yesterday. I basically ate and drank non-stop during the ride, which is what you have to do during a 7-hour endurance event!