Gary Strauss
Gary was a much loved and appreciated ride leader who lead many rides for COGS and Cascade. Gary passed away in the Summer of 2011, but he will be long remembered for his contribution to cycling in the Northwest. Many of us looked forward to spending Saturdays in his company. Gary loved cycling, and loved to introduce people to his favorite sport and places to ride. He sincerely cared about his riders, taking time to make sure everyone enjoyed their ride and got safely home.
Gary's rides
Gary's rides were always interesting. Over the years he introduced hundreds of Northwest cyclists to some of the world's best cycling roads. Week after week, Summer and Winter, he would take us all over the Puget Sound region. He had an vast knowledge of local roads, always managing to find fun and challenging new routes. My ride log lists 21 "Gary rides" that I participated on, but there were many more that I wasn't able to join.
In every pre-ride briefing Gary emphasized "this is a stay together ride", and he meant it! Those who disappeared off the front were scolded, those who left the ride without telling him were always checked up on. Back roads, views and hills were always featured. He lead rides for a couple of years with bad knees, we often waited at hill tops (marked prominently as Regroup! on the cue sheet) for him to rejoin. There was one March ride, only about two months after surgery for his two new knees, when he cruised up a 10% hill from Renton leaving most of us gasping in his wake.
For several years, COGS acted as his support team, providing the web site, and helping recruit co-leaders and sweeps. Gary also posted rides with Cascade and he maintained his own email list with many, many names. As the COGS webmaster, I got used to receiving late Tuesday night requests from him to post rides - and if they weren't posted in 24 hours he let me know about it!
Gary devoted hours each week preparing, organizing and recruiting help for his next rides, several of which became annual institutions. His Spring Tulip Ride involved three or more groups, each with co-leaders and sweeps and took over every available seat at multiple Mt Vernon bakeries for its lunch stop. He took on the Ride of Silence as a personal project; in the 2006 ride there were over 300 riders. He and Dan Wakefield organized the First Annual PROS Ride which ran for the 7th time in 2011.
The Gary's Ride Sheet Project
In the fall of 2011 COGS members Bob Nyberg and Louise Kornreich gathered copies of cue sheets from Gary's rides they had stashed away. I added some of my own, and took on the task of scanning them and posting to the COGS web site. Gary's cue sheets are recalled for being dense and challenging to read - especially while riding a bike! Typically he provided them on two-sided multi-page copies that he laboriously cut up and stapled together. I scanned in the files, front and back, and assembled them in order. The scanned images are sometimes wrinkled and smudged from being stuffed in a jersey pocket, but they are clear enough that you should be able to print and re-use them in original form. For most I was able to use OCR to copy them into an Excel spreadsheet; in case you want to print them out in our own format.
Please use his routes for your own pleasure, but be forewarned! - Gary's cue sheets were known to have the occasional error or omission. This was no big deal when following on one of his "stay together rides" but if you are out on your own and miss a key left turn you could get quickly lost! Also roads may have changed if the route is a few years old. Before following a route sheet for an area you don't know, it would be wise to print it and follow each turn on Google maps to verify your route.
Links to the cue sheets, with notes are below. For the moment they are listed alphabetically, but if we can put dates on them it would be cool to list them by date. Please send me any comments or additional info for the rides, and I will update the web page. Also, if you happen to have any cue sheets that are not on the list, contact me and we will get them posted.
Jim Stewart - February, 2012.
Email: js5257694@gmail.com
Ride 1 - Bellevue - Cougar Mountain - Issaquah - Carnation - Plateau - Newport
Date: ???
Distance: 54 Miles
Notes: Gary was always a bit challenged coming up with original names for his rides, this cue sheet has one of the longer ones!
If you were on this ride, send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 2 - Eastside Challenge 1.
Date: March 4th, 2006
Distance: 56 miles
Notes: Gary lead several Eastside Challenge rides. These were early season training rides design to build base mileage, packing in a ton of climbing. On this cue sheet, Mile 12.2 had a classic "Gary prompt" as follows:
Turn LEFT (East) onto (W) Sunset Way Road name changes to Highiands Dr [E Sunset Way] - Get onto Bike Trail on eastside of I 90 - at . junction - turn left - go under Highland and begin climbing up bike trail to Issaquah-Fall City RD. Instead of trying to read all that most of us just made sure to keep him in sight!
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 3 - Edmonds - Everett
Date: ???
Distance: 44 miles
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 4 - Gasworks - Alki - Admiral
Date: ???
Distance: 23 Miles
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 5 - Gasworks - Alki - Admiral
Logboom Park - Snohomish
Date: ???
Distance: 44 Miles
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 6 - Marymoore Park to Snoqualmie Valley
Date: ???
Distance: 58 miles
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 7 - Marysville - Granite Falls - Arlington
Date: ???
Distance: 71 Miles
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 8 - Mercer Island - Tiger Mountain - Issaquah
Date: ???
Distance: 47 miles.
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 9 - Renton - May Valley
Date: ???
Distance: 38 miles.
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 10 - Snohomish - Arlington - Monroe
Date: ???
Distance: 38 miles.
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (tif format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 11 - Marymoor - Echo Lake - Ames Lake
Date: ???
Distance: 58 miles.
Thanks to: Lynn McArthur for providing this sheet.
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (jpeg format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 12 - Marymoor - Novelty - Redmond Ridge - Carnation
Date: ???
Distance: 46 miles.
Thanks to: Lynn McArthur for providing this sheet.
Notes: Be careful at Mile 40.1...40.5, the instruction is repeated.
Cue Sheet Image (jpeg format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 13 - Mercer Island - Bellevue - Kirkland - Redmond - Issaquah Loop
Date: ???
Distance: 42 miles.
Thanks to: Lynn McArthur for providing this sheet.
Notes: A really long name for a nice ride.
Cue Sheet Image (jpeg format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 14 - Issaquah - Green River Gorge (Via Tiger Mtn)
Date: ???
Distance: 64 miles.
Thanks to: Lynn McArthur for providing this sheet.
Notes: Visit to the beautiful Gorge, up Tiger on the way out and a return stop at the Black Diamond Bakery
Cue Sheet Image (jpeg format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 15 - Tukwila - Black Diamond
Date: ???
Distance: 47.1 miles.
Thanks to: Lynn McArthur for providing this sheet.
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (jpeg format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 16 - Renton - Tiger Mountain
Date: ???
Distance: 43.3 miles.
Thanks to: Lynn McArthur for providing this sheet.
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (jpeg format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 17 - Issaquah - Green River Gorge
Date: ???
Distance: 64 miles.
Thanks to: Lynn McArthur for providing this sheet.
Notes: Another run to the Gorge, but without the 'bonus' hill of Tiger Mountain
Cue Sheet Image (jpeg format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 18 - Vashon - Maury Islands
Date: ???
Distance: 64 miles.
Thanks to: Lynn McArthur for providing this sheet.
Notes: If you were on this ride, please send me your notes or recollections - Jim.
Cue Sheet Image (jpeg format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xlsx format)
Ride 19 - The Tulip Ride
Date: ???
Distance: 64 miles.
Thanks to: Pamela David for providing this sheet.
Notes: A classic and a favorite. Lots of people turned out for Gary's annual spring event
For the 2012 ride the Excel sheet has been modified to follow the Centennial Trail between Arlington and Bryant.
Cue Sheet Image (pdf format)
Spreadsheet (MS Excel xls format)