Author / Adron

Unknown's avatar

Posts by Adron

See: http://compositecode.blog/about
by Adron

Bike Life. Riding into Seattle via the 520 Trail to pick up some secondary batteries for my R&M.

VLOG is included at the end of the post.

I used to live in Ballard, and the bike trip into Seattle was about 26-27 minutes to the Pioneer Square area, and maybe similar or a few minutes more to anywhere in the central business are including South Lake Union. I have however moved out to Redmond which makes for a vastly longer and more significant trip.

For a ride into the city on Spacey or Pop Rocket it takes about 90-135 minutes to get into the city core or on to King Street Station and Pioneer Square area. Not so much because of distance but because of the half dozen plus hill climbs coming into Seattle from Redmond. However if I circumvent most of the trip and load the bike on the 545 I can get into most points in a reasonable 45-65 minutes. On my Reload bike it’s a whole different story, as the hill climbs are largely nullified and the downhills, I routinely exceed 30 mph easily, which brings the trip in at a consistent 75 minutes to almost anywhere in the city center or Pioneer Square.

The following VLOG is about that ride, and for this specific ride I branch off and head to north Seattle, back to G & O Cyclery to pick up a 2nd pair of batteries for Reload.

Transit Nerd Points Along the Route

The intersection of 40th street in the midst of the Microsoft Campus has always been an utter calamity during commuting hours. Even today as people do start to return to the campus for work, the rush hour time frame can become a mess. As you can see in the picture above though, there’s now a tunnel for the 520 trail that goes under the intersection – entirely bypassing what was sometimes a 2 minute delay for a single intersection. For drivers, it’s still an utter mess, and the on ramps on both sides routinely are backed up down onto the 520 highway for a mile or more. The cross street (i.e. 40th) is also a bit of a mess, with cars backed up in odd ways off onto side streets and 148th nearby.

The simple fact, automobiles are the worst way to transport any volume of people through the area, which makes it obvious when you see the stats why most people arrive at this intersection via transit. The Overlake stop on the opposite side of this intersection to this 520 trail tunnel is often packed with arrivals just from the 545 alone, however many other buses arrive there (542, etc) for a significant number of persons in and out of the area. The 520 path also provides access to much of the Microsoft Campus which delivers a ton of folks.

Eventually this stop will be a significant stop on the Link Route from Bellevue to Redmond. You can see the massive pedestrian overpass that Microsoft has built too, which connects the existing central campus hub (I forget the name of this, Softies what’s the name of this area?) to the new urbanized area on the eastern side of 520. This overpass for pedestrians has all those tent coverings, albeit permanent tent coverings, to cover the pedestrian path, which makes for a rather interesting site as you come along underneath it. The offshoot of this path, which you can see in the picture on the left hand side, is what will provide a way to and from the Overlake Transit & Link Station.

Overall, this intersection and a few others are the primary arrival points for people to Microsoft Campus, which their pre-pandemic metrics showed only 60% – at a suburban campus – arrived by automobile. The other 40% arrived by alternate modes such as transit, bike, or even just walking to campus. For a suburban campus like Microsoft’s this is significant and impressive. Albeit, for an urban campus it’s absolute garbage to have 60% arriving by car, but I’ll give Microsoft a win in this particular situation. As the return to office accelerates at Microsoft, that ratio seems to be holding, if not increasing for alternate modes.

24th to Lake Washington Blvd

At 2:26 I roll into the segment of the “520 Trail” that is largely bike lanes in the road – albeit I discuss the alternative of just using the largely unused sidewalks that are clearly separated from the roadway. In the map image below I tagged the ingress and egress points for the part of the trail with 1 and 2 respectively.

This part of the trail isn’t all that bad really, albeit being a car sewer amongst pleasant interlined streets is a bummer to be forced to deviate onto, one at least gets to entirely bypass any conflict with 520 or Interstate 405. The connection to the Cross Kirkland Corridor however leaves much to be desired, as you’ve got to back track all the way down 120th to loop back around onto the trail. Depending on which way you want to go this can be rather bothersome or work out to your favor, but in either case one has to make sure to note the points to turn onto Northrup Way and then onto 120th. I’ve found it to be somewhat confusing the many times I’ve been by and only recently – after dozens of trips – have I gotten it into my head where and which road to turn onto.

520 Bridge Trail

The 520 Bridge Trail is a superb piece of bike infrastructure, the only thing I’d say it needs to make it even better is a sound barrier like the Woodrow Wilson Bridge has in the Washington DC metro crossing the Potomac. It almost entirely cuts out the incessant, bothersome, and droning of the cars going by on the bridge itself. They’re loud, and as always, being near a major highway like this can be extremely annoying. The fact there are points along the bridge that are scenic overlooks cracks me up as it’s almost headache inducing to stop at them – in spite of them being nice. However, in the end, it’s a barrier divided piece of infrastructure which provides a very safe and seamless way to get from the east side into Seattle proper!

Green Lake Loop

Around 11 minutes into the video I get to have a first ride along the newest and final segment of the loop around Green Lake.

For the inbound trip, that about wraps it up. For more commentary and the ole’ “moving picture” give the VLOG a watch.

Episode 36 – Bike Life. Riding into Seattle via the 520 Trail to pick up some secondary batteries for my R&M.

For more details on Reload, the bike I’m riding, check out my Riese & Muller Load 75 write up here and here.

by Adron

Mission: Record Recon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

While in Pittsburgh I made good on a promise to myself. With my somewhat recent foray into collecting vinyl and building up a music collection, I deemed Pittsburgh would be my first in person record recon!

What’s a “record recon”? Well, borrowing a little shorthand military speak, recon is reconnaissance, which is a word that means:

  1. An inspection or exploration of an area, especially one made to gather military information.
  2. The act or operation of reconnoitering; preliminary examination or survey.
  3. An examination or survey of a region in reference to its general geological character.

That seemed like the perfect vibe for me in exploring new record stores. Since I was heading to Pittsburgh recently the decision seemed an obvious one to make. New territory to explore, new collections to add items to, Pittsburgh it would be!

With any reconnoitering of an area one has to do some research. What area would it be, how would the reconnoiter be done, what tactics and what strategy would be used? With all those questions, the first up was what areas would it cover.

Pittsburgh Record Stores

  1. Get Hip Records
  2. The Government Center
  3. Amazing Books & Records
  4. The Exchange (1 of several in the city)
  5. The Attic Store
  6. The_412_Vinyl
  7. Pleasant Dream Records
  8. Upstreet Records
  9. Amazing Books & Records
  10. The Exchange
  11. Jerry’s Records

My initial search gave me these results. With a little more research I took Upstreet Records off the list since I realized it’s a recording studio, not a record shop. The Amazing Books & Records and The Exchange stores seemed to be a chain – possibly local – but deprioritized just a little because of that. In addition The Amazing Books & Records didn’t seem focused enough that it would have a substantial collection, which push it down on the order of visit list that I’d be unlikely to get into one of the stores.

Another thing I did was read the reviews and try to figure out which ones would have a selection that would most likely lead me to picking up new albums. The two that seemed the most promising were The Attic Store, with second place coming in between Jerry’s Records and The Government Center.

With that, the ordered list of “must visit” to “if I can get there” came out like this.

  1. The Attic Store
  2. The Government Center (higher only because of proximity to where I was staying while in Pittsburgh)
  3. Jerry’s Records
  4. The Exchange (another proximity reason, one was in south end just down the street from my hotel.)
  5. Get Hip Records
  6. Pleasant Dream Records
  7. The_412_Vinyl
  8. The Exchange (the one further out by Jerry’s)
  9. Amazing Books & Records

Out of that I created the following missions based on where I intended to ride, various trails and routes existed, and where the stops would coincide with other things I wanted to do. As always, I aim for that insane level of efficiency per trip that is thought mythical in ole’ America!

☑︎ Mission 1: South Side Flats & Schenley Park Area Record Recon

  • Jerry’s Records
  • The Exchange (near Jerry’s)
  • The Exchange (near Traveler’s Rest where I’m staying)

☑︎ Mission 2: Millvale & Government Center Record Recon

  • The Attic Store
  • The Government Center

☑︎ Mission 3: Chateu & Lower Lawrenceville Record Recon

  • Get Hip Records
  • The_412_Vinyl

So in the coming few weeks I’ll have mission recon reports along with the overall trip reports of the Pittsburgh trip. So stay tuned, and I’ll refer back to this post to see if I succeed on my record reconnaissance missions! Wish me luck! 🤘🏻

by Adron

Train Life, Bike Life! Portland & Richland trip is done, back to Seattle!

After that last few days I visited some family and friends it was time to head back north to Seattle. On this trip back to the train station I take a slight different route and show that route. All good, all valid, all generally the same trip times.

I get into the station and get the bike tagged, and this time per the baggage attendant’s suggestion I check my Burley. More on that momentarily.

I then went and relaxed in the first class sleeping car lounge to wait for the boarding call. In short order the call was made and out the door to board. As always, with roll on bicycle service I headed to the baggage car, lo and behold I knew all the handlers today! I was greeted warmly, handed off the bike and we chatted for a minute or three. After wrapping up a good conversation with some interesting details – as always with the crews – I headed for my roomette.

When arriving at the sleeping car some other passengers and I waited outside for the car attendant to make up some beds and straighten up real quick. This is a common practice at Portland since so many people detrain and so many board for Seattle. You’d be surprised how many opt for roomettes and such just like I do for the Portland to Seattle trip. While out I snagged a video pic of the station…

and ended up giving a knowledge drop on the station to some fellow passengers that found the plight of Portland’s station rather interesting.

From there I enter my room, and oh yeah, I didn’t get a roomette I got a bedroom! Even MORE space, so that being the case I decide to provide a short tour of the bedroom accommodations.

For the final short segment of the video, enjoy a ride through the dark streets of Seattle as I head back to Redmond, with a quick – as I do often – one take session of some thrash metal for ya. 🤘🏻

  • 0:21 – Back to Union Station in Portland, but with another arrival trip, just like the previous one discussed in this episode    • Bike + Train Life…   (time marked so you go right to it).
  • 2:20 – No bike box for this trip, just rolling on. But I do check my Burley trailer.
  • 5:02 – A tour of Amtrak’s Superliner Bedroom accommodation.
  • 8:00 – Getting comfortable and a few words.
  • 9:23 – Arrival in Seattle, detraining, and into the streets accompanied by a little thrash from yours truly! 🤘🏻
Episode 35 of the VLOG.
by Adron

Train + Bike Life! Leaving Richland via Pasco for Portland, Oregon on The Empire Builder!

As I departed Pasco on the Amtrak Empire Builder, the sun rising in the east came in through my roomette window, and let me tell you it was stunning! Check the VLOG for footage of that site, but always know, VLOGs and photos and all that are fun but they compare in no way to being there in person! The tranquility of a roomette, as we roll along on steel rail, with the rising sun is absolutely stunning every single time I get to experience it!

When we arrived into Portland I detrained and went to baggage pickup. Within just a minute or two the bike arrived in the ole’ bike box. I slid it out and with the two tools I brought, I had the bike up and going in just another 90 seconds or so. Slung my backpack back on and out the doors of the station I went.

With a ride, almost parallel to my original departure from Portland the day before yesterday I alternated to the Williams St corridors for the majority of the trip back. In doing so I got to race the Trimet #44 bus! What fun, what excitement, what a slow and relaxing race! The real question though, who will win!

After the race I arrive back to Office PDX and make a cup of coffee with the MiiR pour over and it is excellent! I also use some techniques that you might not always use, but it’s worth a watch just so you can give it a try if you ever need to give it a try! It kicks off at 9:42 in the video.

  • 0:21 – Leaving Richland via Pasco on the Empire Builder. Catching a stunning sun rise!
  • 1:48 – Arriving in Portland.
  • 2:38 – Reclaiming PDX Orange from baggage, getting her back in riding condition. Tips + tricks on boxing your bike and unboxing it.
  • 3:30 – Departing the station and a tip for egress from Union Station via the Broadway Bridge.
  • 4:19 – Watching the Empire Builder cross the Steel Bridge, buy why, learn about it here!
  • 4:48 – Bus🚌 Leap Frog🐸 with the #44! Some thoughts on the buses, their speed, and the fact that I basically pace the bus for the whole… well, listen to the segment and you’ll see. Along with the oddities and other things along the way.
  • 6:50 – Riding through Peninsula Park. With odd unexpected elements! 😬
  • 9:00 – The final stretch, do I defeat the #44 or do I get beaten by the bus!!! It’s soooo close!
  • 9:42 – Caffeine Induction System from Miir, the Pourigami, via Bicycle Coffee from Oakland (link below). In this segment I show you a wicked cool pour over travel setup, using minimal kitchen tools.
Episode 35 of the VLOG.
by Adron

Bike Life. Gravel + Sand + Muck + Tarmac + More in Richland.

Into the haze of desolate cold lands of Richland. Coursing through the relief of the single track, with sparsely laced water elements to misdirect your route. Thickets sprung over the top of what seems like walls between you and your destination. The routes are interesting in this stretch of these woods.

In this episode I’ve made it to Richland and off my brother and I went to explore the surrounding single track, food options, and other sundry of things.

The route overall that we ended up taking was about half tarmac (i.e. paved surface) and a whole lot of gravel, dirt, rutted dirt, horse shoe trodden dirt, and a dose of sand thrown in that made it impossible to traverse.

Surfaces

Tarmac is of course the easiest surface to roll on. No need to even discuss that.

Gravel, in general, when mixed well for trails is a fairly easy surface material to roll on with the added friction. It is a lot of fun when mixed right with a bit of rock dust and dirt and whatever else to create an almost tarmac like surface. This route had a significant dose of both, very loose gravel and well packed gravel.

Dirt can have vast differentiation. Dirt can end up being mud and the issue of sinking comes into play or dirt can be as solid as tarmac too! On this route, the dirt was rarely just merely dirt, but often rutted from motorcycles of some sort or off road vehicles, and then on other parts it was stamped into horse shoes. I’d never thought about it much, but rutted with horse shoes can be some very difficult dirt to get through. When dried and hard, it creates an incessant bumpiness that can just rattle the bones while if muddy it creates an almost suction like pull as you attempt to roll through each shoe imprint.

Sand can be described in one word. Suck. Sand just puts an unquestionable halt to rolling through. If it isn’t mixed with something to solidify it a bit it’s impossible to ride through. In the image above I’ve hit some sand and just opted to hike through it and carry the bike. It was the easier choice.

As we rolled along through the first 2/5ths of the ride we worked up some hunger. We checked the ole’ “Google Maps” and fumbled our way over to Baby J’s BBQ & Burgers. A good stop indeed – even had a chance to eat and just shoot the breeze while we did. Check that out in the video at 8:31.

Mystified? Not particularly, but fed we were now ready for the other miles.

On the way back, we’d looped around and came back along the river, which gave us the treat of a glorious sunset while we road along riverside tarmac trail – unfettered by any traffic. A most excellent ride wrapped up this way would have been great.

But there was one more layer of icing on this cake, we went rolling through a golf course for that final leg back home! It was a somewhat hilarious thing, since we had no intent of rolling through a golf course. However once in the midst of the thing, we realized we were indeed in the middle of a golf course.

Great trip, great train ride, always great company being able to hang out with my brother, great food, and just a whole giant good ole’ time!

  • 0:21 – Quick intro to the ride.
  • 1:30 – Initial map trace and ride start.
  • 8:31 – Baby J’s BBQ & Burgers along with the BBQ Conversations and some ride recap.
  • 13:34 – Final stretch of the ride.
Episode 34 of the VLOG.