Team Teriyaki Donut in the Crossroads Street Scramble 2007

Introduction

Teriyaki Donut is normally me, Greg Barnes, and Omar, our 6-year old on a Trail-A-Bike. But the Wednesday before, Omar broke his arm in two places, so he's out for a few weeks. Instead, I pulled our 3-year old, Emmett, in a Burley trailer. We stayed out for 3 hours.

I don't have much experience in the Crossroads area, but the two previous Crossroads Scrambles gave me enough knowledge about the area (as well as the rough outlines of a route).

Teriyaki Donut visited 31 checkpoints and got 970 points, which was good enough for second place overall, and was the most points (by 10) that Emmett or I have ever scored in a Street Scramble. We rode a little more than 26 miles.

Our route:

24 [Common Folk], 34 [sticker on post], 11 [No Rollerblades], 45 [Interlake HS], 53 [Ardmore Park], 44 [water detention sites], 37 [rocks at road end], 56 [school swingset], 48 [Hyak JHS], 43 [Stevenson School], 26 [utility box], 54 [lampost number], 12 [bus shelter number], 52 [library bench], 13 [wetlands sign], 31 [Sammamish HS], 21 [trail mileage], 14 [bus shelter thanks], 36 [Sunset Hills], 47 [Norwood Neighborhood Park], 51 [BCC], 25 [Robinswood], 42 [Phantom Lake], 55 [Weowna Beach Park], 32 [basketball hoops], 46 [cat statue], 41 [lion statues], 22 [trees in traffic circle], 33 [building behind fire station], 23 [parking lot sign], 15 [Farmers Market]

Our route, courtesy of Gmaps pedometer.

Notes:

• Because the streets north and west of Crossroads get scarier as the day goes on, we always take roughly the same route on the Crossroads Street Scramble: north first, then counterclockwise. This year I modified this a little, grabbing the checkpoints northeast of the shopping center at the beginning; in the previous two Crossroads Street Scrambles, we left these for last, and regretted it, since they have so far been lucrative.

  This time I plotted out a course that excluded the far SW checkpoint (47) and nothing else. 47 is isolated, and required a long descent and a long ascent, and the trailer is a real liability on hills. I also left 35 [Tam O'Shanter] to the end, as it was also down an isolated hill, and I wanted the option to drop it if time was tight. As it turned out, this is exactly what we did, although I'm sure we could have gotten 35 if I hadn't decided on the fly to get 47.

  Had we planned on sweeping the course from the beginning, we might have succeeded. The key observation is that 48 [Hyak Jr High] is already mostly down the hill to 47, so if you follow 48 with 47 [Norwood Neighborhood Park], you save a hill climb (and likely some mileage as well). After 47, pick up the checkpoints on the west side of the Lake Hills Greenbelt starting at BCC (51, 25, 36, 14, 21, 43, 31), then drop down into the Greenbelt (31, 52, 42), and thereafter follow the end of our original route. This also means you should pick up the three checkpoints south of Crossroads (26, 54, 12) at the start, which would be a good idea anyway, since it saves most of a climb (say, NE 8th St from 148th up to 26). If you're particularly hill-averse, you could also group 54 in with the checkpoints in the Lake Hills Greenbelt, but in any event, this is something we will try to keep in mind for next year.

  Getting back to actual planning, I did not plan to sweep the course originally for a couple of reasons: I didn't know if we would be slower with Emmett in the trailer (particularly if he needed to, say, use the bathroom). Also, I had tweaked my knee on a ride last week, and didn't want to push it too hard (and checkpoint 47 was definitely pushing it). A rough calculation just before we left indicated our original route was around 25 miles, so it seemed like a reasonable, conservative route.

• I was a little worried that Emmett would distract me too much during the planning process, but just as we got the maps, he announced that he needed to use the bathroom. This solved two problems: first he didn't have to use the bathroom during the race itself, and second, it was pretty easy to study the map while he was using the bathroom. By the time he was done, I had a route pretty much planned out. I gave him his map and a few highlighters to 'mark out a route' while I finalized ours.

  Meanwhile, a women's foot team (probably "Tre la ragazza's") was planning their route on the same table. They'd never done a Street Scramble before, and were looking for suggestions, so I suggested the trail between Larsen Lake and Phantom Lake, which I always thought was pleasant and interesting.

• When the start was announced, Emmett and I walked to our bikes, which we had locked up outside the west mall entrance (I didn't want the hassle of maneuvering the trailer through a crowd of people). What with the lock, and buckling Emmett in, it was at least 3 minutes after the start when we got rolling. But as I'd already indicated, I was trying to take it easy and thought we'd likely have enough time to follow most of the route.
• After our first checkpoint, we saw The Cardinals heading the opposite way in the mall parking lot. At our second checkpoint (34 [sticker on lamppost]), we saw Tre la ragazza again). We passed by Whidbey Island Nerds just before 45 [Interlake HS], at which point we started shadowing a lone male biker (Peter Golde? Or Robin Smith?). We could pass him when he was navigating, and we both got to our next checkpoint (53 [Ardmore Park]) at the same time, but on the long traverse of Bel-Red road, he easily outpaced us. There were a number of foot teams at 44 [water detention sites], and we saw a different male biker near 37 [rocks at road end], but then he must have gone some other direction. We spotted the original biker again near 56 [school swing set], and then again at 48 [Hyak JHS], but couldn't see him as we got onto 128th Ave leaving 48. I thought he might have decided to go for 47 [Norwood Neighborhood Park]. As I said, I had decided not to bother, so we headed back north to NE 8th St. We had tried another route out of the same area last year, through Kelsey Creek Park, and that turned out to be a big mistake involving a large staircase (curse you King County Bike Map!).
• Checkpoint 45 [Interlake HS] seemed to be one of the more difficult checkpoints I've ever encountered. There are a number of buildings whose 'entry doors' the clue could apply to, and it's hard to tell which one is meant (recall the map is old, and could be missing some buildings). It took a process of elimination to determine there was only one possible building/sign/set of entry doors that could apply. I had a similar problem at 47 [Norwood Neighborhood Park], where there were 3 trees that could fit the clue, and I had to visit them all. When I finally found the only one with carved hearts, there were numerous carved hearts on the tree that the clue might mean (and I had left the clue sheet back at the bike while I ran around looking at trees), so I had to choose one heart that looked like the most likely candidate.
• At 53 [Ardmore Park], Emmett made the first of his many requests to 'get out and play' at the playground. I promised him we could do that when the race was done.
• Even with the late start, we hit 150 points at 53 [Ardmore Park], well before the half hour mark, and over 300 at 48 [Hyak JHS], well before an hour had elapsed. This meant we were well ahead of schedule before the first real bout of hill climbing. As we were leaving Hyak and passing by Kelsey Creek Park, we came across a large group of walkers following the Lake Hills Trail. We saw a similar group at the first Crossroads Street Scramble; I don't know if this is a charitable event, or just a group of people who like walking the Trail on weekends.
• After Hyak JHS, there was the expected long grind out of the Kelsey Creek watershed. First we had to climb Wilburton Hill, then descend down to NE 8th (the last block of which was actually a root-filled sidewalk ending in some bollards spaced just about as wide as the Burley). Heading east on 8th, I started to get very hot, but I did notice the Emmett was now asleep. My knee also started acting up, and after crossing 132nd, I stopped to take off my jacket and take an anti-inflammatory. My knee did not bother me after that.
• Checkpoint 26 [utility box] apparently caused a few people some trouble, probably because there are a few candidates for the street the box could be on, but only one marked on the map. Climbing up from 140th, we saw a pair of joggers looking at a box on NE 8th itself, but since the clue said 'E side of road', I knew it had to be on the north-south street. We found it pretty easily, and as we were turning back onto 8th, we saw one of the joggers backtracking, and motioned that he should look up the street we were on.
• Checkpoint 54 [lamppost number] was on a very familiar street for me, as this was one of the streets we had explored when I got confused at last year's Crossroads Street Scramble (we were looking for a park 8 blocks too far west) We found 54 just as a four-person foot family team was visiting it. From 54, we headed east up to 156th, and saw a number of foot teams heading back toward Crossroads, as it was getting close to the 90-minute deadline. But there was still plenty of time before that, and once we got back on 156th, the going was flat and pretty fast. By the halfway mark, we probably reached 31 [Sammamish High] and 520 points, and I was starting to think about adding on 47 and trying for the sweep. It also helped that my knee was no longer bothering me at all.
• At the library (52), a woman asked me what we were looking for, before determining that we and at least one other team were on 'something like a scavenger hunt'. I decided to follow the library driveway behind the building, where I was pleasantly surprised to find an entrance to the Lake Hills Trail. Between 13 [wetlands sign] and 31 [Sammamish HS], there is a steep gravel section of the trail where I had to walk the bike and trailer, and where a number of people were busy planting trees. Shortly thereafter, we had to dodge around a truck in the trail, and then a large group of young adults, performing what we later found out (from a sign a little farther on) was "Casey's Eagle Scout Project".
• At the next checkpoint, 21 [trail mileage marker], we found Jake Reeder, who complained about the wind (which I agree always seemed to be in our face, except perhaps when heading north).
• Normally at Crossroads, we use the Bellevue bike map to help in route planning and navigation, because it has bike routes (of course), but also because it is more up-to-date than the Street Scramble map. But to reach 36 [Sunset Hills], we had to go by the Street Scramble map, as the cemetery roads are not on the Bellevue Bike Map. We passed a solo male rider heading north on the easternmost cemetery avenue as we were heading south to the checkpoint. At the checkpoint, we found one foot team. At this point, I had pretty well decided to go for checkpoint 47, since I was just about halfway done timewise, but well over 500 points, so I spent a minute planning out a route to 47 and then to the next checkpoint, 51 [BCC]. As we were leaving 36, I saw the Whidbey Island Nerds again, approaching the checkpoint up the wide grassy cemetery entrance.

• There was only one rational route from 36 to 47: SW down Kamber Rd to SE 26th St and up the hill to 47. The Bellevue bike map implied that to get from 47 to 51, we'd only have to climb about halfway up the Kamber Rd. hill (and the easier half at that) before we got a respite heading south on the level 139th SE, followed by a short steep climb into BCC. It also implied that the hill up to 47 (west of 132nd SE) was easier than the Kamber Rd. hill. These were all lies.

  As we were zooming pleasantly down Kamber Rd., I thought the supposed bad hill seemed pretty easy given how many tightly packed arrows were on the bike map. Yes, it was a hill, but fairly gentle (like, say, climbing up Dexter Ave) not steep (like, say, climbing up Queen Anne Ave). Once we hit 139th, where the hill was supposed to get less steep, it instead got more steep. Strike one for the Bellevue bike map. Now I knew we'd be in for a workout on the way back.

  Then we got west of 132nd, and another supposedly easier hill seemed like the worst of them all. Still, I'm nothing if not persistent, and managed to grit my way up to 128th SE, the arterial near the top of the hill. I didn't know exactly how to get into the park (the Street Scramble map showed red arrows on the north and west, and we were on the SE, but I decided to go another block west, then head north looking for a way into the park. After some more climbing, we saw a play structure to the west on 23rd Pl SE, and headed into the park.

  By this point, Emmett has awakened, and again requested to play in the park. It was now roughly noon, so I told him we'd be done in less than an hour. This also meant that we had visited only one checkpoint (47) in nearly half an hour, with little prospect of visiting another any time soon. We pressed on toward BCC.

  The hill back down to 132nd had to be the steepest we ascended or descended, since I was braking heavily on the way down and still didn't know if we had enough stopping power. There's a stoplight at 132nd, which miraculously turned green and gave me some momentum to climb back up to 139th, but not hardly enough. What's worse, the supposed relatively flat route up to checkpoint 51 was actually pretty steep. I was hoping to be back up to 750 points by 12:30, which would have meant we were at least to Weowna Beach Park (55), but we got to 51 at around 12:20, and then had to wait at an interminable stoplight to turn left on 148th. Thankfully, after climbing to 51, our hillclimbing was largely over, and the rest of the route was downhill or basically flat.

• Once we reached the NE side of Phantom Lake, I decided to stop and read the clue for 55, which led me to believe that jumping onto the trail was the best way to find the checkpoint. It also seemed like it might be flatter, since the road looked like it was about to start going downhill. We found the checkpoint sign at around 12:35, then headed north along 156th, picking up checkpoints quickly. We had about 10 minutes left when we reached 41 [lion statues], and decided that we would have to skip 35 [Tam O'Shanter], but should have time for the rest. I was a little unclear on how much time we had left exactly, as I had once again failed to start my watch timer at the right time. Luckily, we were familiar with the park near 22 [trees in traffic circle] from a previous Crossroads Street Scramble, as well as having a rough idea of the area east of the mall where the last few checkpoints were. I decided to pass by all the checkpoints without writing down any answers, then record them at the finish.

  The answer to checkpoint 22 was obvious, and we headed west on NE 16th to 156th, then down toward the final 3 with about 7 minutes left. I thought 33 was at a fire station, but on rereading the clue, it was clear which building was the checkpoint and what the answer was. I figured 15 would be easy, so that only left 23. Luckily, the path we followed from 33 led right to the sign in question. After determining which of the three nearby blue-green park signs was the one with the answer, we headed back to the finish. As I suspected, the answer to 15 was obvious (in fact, it was posted on a banner above the Market Stage, as I noticed when we were eating lunch). We pulled up to the finish line, marked off the last four answers, and, since we had a few minutes, checked our answer sheet to make sure we hadn't forgotten to record any answers (this is much easier to do when you've visited all but one checkpoint). We ended up having 3-4 minutes to spare, which would not have been enough to get the last checkpoint and climb up the hill. Elizabeth and I had done something similar during the first Crossroads Street Scramble, but we had more time, and were not pulling a trailer. And even then we just barely made it.

• With 970 points, I figured we'd win the family class. I didn't know how we'd do overall, but I figured Jake Reeder probably got all the checkpoints since it only seemed you needed to travel 27-28 miles to do so. And he had, with around 10 minutes to spare. As I wrote after the University District Scramble, the only way I think we can win pulling a trailer or trail-a-bike is if the course is hard enough that no one can sweep it (or if everyone screws up, and we run a perfect race, which isn't likely).
• Still, we did come in second overall. I let Emmett ride the Crossroads Carousel while we were waiting for our results, and in addition to the ribbons and the candy bars, he picked out a deck of robot-shaped playing cards for his prize. After loading the bikes back into our borrowed van, we headed back home to meet Omar and Elizabeth at a party in a park with a playground, where Emmett played for quite some time.
• The most interesting checkpoint was, in my opinion, the pineapples at 48 [Hyak JHS] - isn't Hyak an Alaskan word? Also, the carved heart on the tree at 47 and the number on the lamppost at 54, while not inherently interesting, I thought showed a keen eye by the course setter.

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