1st ride of the season

Just got it under my belt. Awesome day for a ride. Took off from 124th in Redmond during lunch and headed for the Sammammish River Trail. Was a bit nervous because:

1) 1st ride, so had to shake off the cobwebs
2) Forgot my helmet - considered not riding, but I was already in riding mode - so just decided to be ultra-careful
3) Road construction blocked part of the bike lane on 124th...and that's pretty much a freeway, so...scary. The pebbles from the new asphalt don't help either

Lots of happy folks out there! And lots to see. Beautiful heron just hanging out in the sun.

This trail is REALLY nice. Thank you to whomever championed the building and maintenance of it. Decided to take it fairly easy on the first day out, and turned around at the 6.5 mile marker. (I'm guessing 124th is at about the 4 mile mark, so this was a pretty short ride).

Back to 124th. The path is very rural. For a moment, it felt like riding a back road in the Midwest. Bugs and everything. Oh...and what is going on with the pollen this year? I don't recall the constant snow storm of cottonwood blooms from years past. Is this something new/weird?

Anyway, here's the view from 124th at the trail:

There's a bit of an uphill to end the ride back at the office, tough for the early going, but do-able.