Team Teriyaki Donut in the University District Street Scramble 2005

Introduction

Team Teriyaki Donut is Elizabeth Walkup and I, Greg Barnes. We have lived in Seattle continuously since 1998, and off and on for about 10 years before that. We attended the University of Washington as graduate students and both currently work there.

We entered the bike division (riding separate bikes for the first time since last year's North Aurora scramble) of the University District Street Scramble and stayed out for 3 hours.

We visited 31 checkpoints and got 870 points. We skipped only 3 checkpoints, the two in Magnuson Park, and the one at Eckstein Middle School. Our route took us east to 21st Ave NE, heading north over the 20th Ave NE bridge and taking the somewhat obvious loop to Green Lake, down to Gas Works, across the University Bridge to pick up all the checkpoints south of the ship canal, then through the lower University out to Laurelhurst and the Burke-Gilman playground. We then headed back up University Ridge via the Padelford (Pend Oreille) hill, and weaved around the event center picking up the remaining checkpoints.

Our raw route:

12 [Lutheran Church], 22 [52nd St staircase], 51 [20th Ave Bridge], 25 [building near Roosevelt HS], 43 [Froula], 35 [Green Lake church], 32 [road bend lightpole], 53 [Aqua Theater], 42 [Wide World], 33 [40 St church], 46 [Gasworks], 26 [substation], 16 [Watertown], 54 [Roanoke Park], 37 [Montlake bus shelter], 55 [Arboretum], 27 [CSO], 52 [Rollback bench], 41 [T-Wing bridge], 34 [wetland pond], 45 [Belvoir Place], 36 [Burke-Gilman playground], 17 [U Village], 24 [Art Building pillar], 21 [alley mural], 31 [University Playground], 23 [LDS church], 14 [Roosevelt benches], 15 [R&E], 13 [corner staircase], 11 [YMCA]

We placed first in our division. Although another team was listed in our division, it wasn't clear to me whether they belonged in the mixed or the family division.

I believe we rode a little under 22 miles in a little under 3 hours (we were stopped twice by drawbridges). This comes out to about 7.5 mph.

Notes:

• As I said above, we were twice stopped by drawbridges. The first time, at the University Bridge, we turned around and picked up checkpoint 16 while the bridge was closed. The second time, crossing back north at the Montlake Bridge, there wasn't anything we could do and had to wait. A better strategy might be to have a checkpoint in reserve in case the bridge was up (in this case, #27).
• I completely forgot about the crew races on the Montlake cut, which probably explained all the traffic on Lake Washington Boulevard.
• We had a lot of time left over at the end to pick up the 10-point checkpoints near the events center, so a better plan would probably have picked us up at least one of the 3 checkpoints we missed. However, that would seem to require us to plan from the outset to visit all the checkpoints, which was more nerve than we were able to muster. I'll keep that in mind next time, though. I had been designing routes with extra, optional side-trips in case we had more time. A better strategy if you have a chance to get everything might be to design a route that picks up everything, then allow yourself to drop checkpoints near the end. That would also mean putting the higher-value checkpoints at the beginning.
• For the first time, we couldn't answer a checkpoint question: the question for #36 at Burke-Gilman Playground asked for the year on a logo in the middle of an outdoor basketball court. The last two digits of the year had been obliterated. If we had known which year the Sonics were established, we could have answered it anyway, but we didn't, so we had to circle two answers and explain the problem to the judges.
• I had my newish bike tuned up a couple of days before, so of course it had a few problems. One of the pedals broke such that I couldn't use the toeclip. And while approaching the Aqua Theater, I noticed the front fender was falling off. I eventually just stuck the fender in my pannier, as it was not at all necessary given the weather.
• For the first time, the organizers decided to give out only one answer sheet per team. This is needlessly stingy, and very annoying, as only one person can read the questions and answers. There are copies of the question on the back of the maps, but we have to fold the maps to use them conveniently, as I'm sure most people do, which makes it difficult to read the questions. There should be an answer sheet available for all participants, so that everyone can get involved at the checkpoints.
• One of the checkpoints we didn't visit, #47, is on Promontory Point in Magnuson Park, a place where our family took a hike in 2004. Despite the official Scramble Map, I believe there is an access point from the street, where Windermere Drive turns to the water (very near where 4 trails join at the park's border). If we had tried for #47 during the Scramble, I'd have aimed for that access, as it is basically at the same height as the checkpoint and it maximizes the amount of street riding.

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