Peet's Coffee Ride

Thursday after work I did a short city ride starting at Peet's coffee shop by the Llyod Center Mall. A woman (Joanna) from a tri club I get emails from was looking for someone to ride with, so I said I would. We met at Peet's coffee shop and when I went to get my shoes on and get on the bike I realized I'd forgotten my helmet. I've never ridden without my helmet, but decided to try it. I keep my gloves and sunglasses and Lance bracelet in my helmet, so I had to ride without all of that. Joanna turned out to be a really pretty young woman who works on maps and has a graduate degree in Geology. She said she mostly does duathlons because she doesn't like the swimming. Since she knew the area and route, I let her lead and when the road allowed, she was able to keep a good smooth pace. Being a city ride there were lots of lights, so the overall average was only 13.8 for 18.1 miles. But we went over the Broadway and St John's bridges and had a good view of downtown. At one point we rode down a quiet street through a tunnel of trees and there were 4 other bikers on the street besides us, so I went back in the Jeep afterwards and took a picture of that street. We got back to Peet's and she rode home. She said her and her husband don't use their car for weeks at a time by riding whenever possible. Since I parked in an hour slot right by a Thai restaurant, I figured I should get dinner there.