Month: May 2006

Rides so far

Just for completeness, I thought I’d put down some of the rides we’ve done so far:

4/1 – A trip from near University Village to the Brewery in Woodinville via the Burke Gilman trail.

4/8 and 4/9 – University village to Alki. The Saturday crowd, including Lauren, got dumped on.

4/15 and 4/16 – Toe Clips through the Tulips. Here are some pictures from the Sunday ride with Kate, Lauren and Ruben.

4/22 – U District street scramble for a few of us (with the results here)

4/23 – Daffodil classic put on by the Tacoma Wheelmen’s Bicycle Club

4/29 and 4/30: Ride from U Village to Fauntleroy, around Vashon Island and back. A post about this one will follow.

5/6 and 5/7: Ride around Lake Washington, going to the south first.

5/13: Ride almost 60 miles on Whidbey Island.

History of the Pastry Powered Turing Machines

Fact #1: The Turing Machine is a simple model of a computer – a concept by Alan Turing.

Fact #2: There is a mural painted of a Steam Powered Turing Machine in Sieg hall, the old home to the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. Click on the link for a history of the mural.

Fact #3: When we did the Seattle To Portland bike ride 11 years ago, we were mostly a group from UW’s Computer Science department (well 9 out of our group of 13 – one of the other 4 was the soon to be wife of a CS person and another of the non-CS 4 was a UW math PhD who worked with the CS Graphics group, so he was virtual CS).

Fact #4: A lot of our rides came from the book “Bakeries by bicycle: A guide to Puget Sound’s best bakeries.” (Now out of print)

So we called ourselves the  PPTM name  (also seen as the Pastry Powered T(o)uring Machines) with the byline “we live to eat, we bike to eat more.” We even had shirts made. The front said the group name and Lauren sketched the artwork (that is on the back of the shirts).

Here’s a picture of all of us (including Erik Selberg, in the picture but not in the caption) from 1995.

This year, 2006, Pastry Powered Turing Machines ride again, with about half of the last group joining back in (including Rich and Joanna who now live in New York) and a whole group of new people we’ve met along the way.

Our proposed schedule is/was largely stolen from Rich’s schedule from 1995, modified slightly:

Sat 4/1 (4/2): Gasworks Park->Bothell via Burke Gillman trail (approx 35-40 mi)
Sat 4/8: Greenlake->Alki (36mi). Alki Bakery & Café at halfway point
Sat 4/15 (4/16): Toe Clips through The Tulips (40 mi)
Sun 4/23: Daffodil Classic (50)
Sat 4/29 (4/30): Gasworks to Ferries and around Vashon Island (50mi)
Sat 5/6: Whidbey to Deception Pass (56)
Sat 5/13 (5/14): Around Lake WA (60) (south first)
Sat 5/20: UW to Issaquah (north over lake, to Issaquah, back via I-90)
Sat 5/27 (5/28): U village to Carnation/Duvall (71)
Sat 6/3: Snohomish(70)
Sat 6/10 (6/11): UW -> Puyallup (via STP route) (78?)
Sat 6/17: Tacoma Wheelmen’s Flying Wheels Summer Century (70)
Sat 6/24: Tour De Blast (67 or 82)
Sat 7/1: SAN JUANS – Orcas(80?)
Sun 7/2: SAN JUANS – Lopez(50)
Sat 7/8: Alki(50)
Sat 7/15: *** STP *** (101)
Sun 7/16: *** STP *** (101)

About

In 1995, Rich Segal, a grad student in the Computer Science & Engineering (CSE) department at the University of Washington (UW), roped in a number of fellow grad students to ride STP, the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. While training, using routes from Bakeries by Bicycle, someone coined the term “Pastry Powered Turing Machines” — a pun based on the unofficial CSE icon, the Steam Powered Turing Machine. Our motto is: We live to eat… we bike to eat more!
12 riders: Paul, Rich, Joanna, Don, Ruben, Keith, Lauren, Eric, Erik, Marc, Jennifer, and Kevin completed STP that summer.

Flash forward 11 years… Lauren, Ruben, and Erik, still in the Seattle area, decide to do it again. So we call the gang… Paul, Keith, Marc, Rich, and Joanna are in, with Keith, Rich, and Joanna all pledging to fly out. We meet some new people – including Megan, Julie, Scott, Kate, and Katie. And we do STP again!

Now, the Pastry Powered T(o)uring Machines are back, and are an informal cycling, triathlon, and social club based in the Seattle area. We’re interested in group training and do mostly cycling rides, either lead by members or part of other groups (such as Cascade Bicycle Club or Tacoma Wheelmen).