Elvi?

Elvis was one of a kind, but today I saw multiple Elvises......would that be Elvi?

My San Diego tour guide was on the water this morning, I was on the bike. Yesterday's project stretched much longer than anticipated and we did not get our afternoon ride in, it was nice to be back spinning pedals this morning.

The weather is still grey, but the roads were dry and I took off for Mission Gorge. Within blocks I found myself on the "Rock and Roll Marathon" route. At first it was interesting.

They certainly know how to put fun in their running events. There were even live bands scattered around.

Before long I began to see runners. Cool!

Then more runners.

End then the Elvi!

All of this running stuff was getting in the way of my cycling but I didn't know the area well enough to take an alternate route.
After several miles of "playing pedestrian" through the crowds of spectators I managed to break into the open. I rode up towards Mission Canyon. When I got to Mission Trails Regional Park I turned in and took a brief look around.

It was getting time to head back and I had thought I only needed 31 miles to reach that magic "900" miles for the month so I turned back and made my way through the straggler marathoners. I ended back with my 31 miles alright, but as I log on here I see that I really needed 38, so I'll get back out sometime today for at least another 7 miles. It was a good ride today, just a few light sprinkles from time to time.

Evening update:

I finished up today's project a little later than expected but did manage to have just enough time to get in a few bonus miles. My San Diego tour guide finished up a few details while I changed into bike clothes and pedaled off in search of 7 miles. I rode a very fast (for me) run out to the Fiesta Island entrance and back. Averaged right at 20 mph for 8 miles.

The best part?

My San Diego tour guide had a very nice dinner prepared when I returned!


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............39...............0.................39
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......901.....+.........0........=.......901
Year to date...3702.....+.........30.......=......3732
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It never rains in sunny Southern California

or so Albert Hammond sang many years ago.



Albert wasn't in San Diego this morning however.
After a week of grey mornings, and no sun at all the last two days, this morning began with the familiar sound to this Oregonian of light rain.

My plan was to ride about 40 miles this morning before getting back to my project here. However with the prevalence of unfriendly motorists and the rain slicked roads I decided to stay off the higher traffic routes. .........jokes are made of Portlander's lack of snow driving skills, I wonder if SoCal driver's wet road driving skills are any better????

I rode to Fiesta Island and rode a few laps. Fiesta Island is a 4 mile ride via the north shore of Mission Bay and a dedicated bike path and low traffic secondary streets.


Once on the island it's a single lane paved road with a 25 mph speed limit and is a popular loop for those with aerobars and disc wheels. It rained continually during my ride today. I luckily had my raingear and shoe covers along. The rain was not much concern to some folks today.


More riding planned for this afternoon this time with my San Diego tour guide.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............31...............0.................31
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......862.....+.........0........=.......862
Year to date...3662.....+.........30.......=......3702
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Friday morning ride

(California coast at Pacific Beach)

My San Diego tour guide went rowing this morning, I went for a bike ride. I pedaled from Pacific Beach to Solana Beach via a good climb of Torrey Pines. I also worked in a stop at McDonalds for a "deluxe breakfast"... ;-) 40 miles, now back to work.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............40...............0.................40
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......831.....+.........0........=.......831
Year to date...3631.....+.........30.......=......3671
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

never enough time

I went out for a quick ride this morning. I rode from the Crown Point neighborhood of San Diego up to Soledad Mtn then a little loop out Nautilus Rd to the beach before having to get back to the job at hand.

It was, what seems to be the normal for here, grey morning. Not cold, just grey. What should have been picture perfect views of San Diego will have to wait for better conditions. A good ride however. Just would have been nice to have more time to ride.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............18...............0.................18
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......791.....+.........0........=.......791
Year to date...3591.....+.........30.......=......3621
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

just enough time........

............for a ride out the San Diego River to the ocean then a turn south to Sunset Cliffs. Came back via a somewhat "lost" route giving me 25 miles at a 19 mph average.

Sunset Cliffs, San Diego




+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............25...............0.................25
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......773.....+.........0........=.......773
Year to date...3573.....+.........30.......=......3603
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rode a bit today

My tour guide and I were out a bit late last night and she had to work later today so she bagged the opportunity to ride this morning, but I ventured out. I was to join a guy in Carmel Valley, about 16 miles from here to ride out to Hodges Lake. Being an official Oregon Randonneur (and in training for Furnace Creek 508!) I felt pressure to add more miles by riding to the ride. I did so, taking a few hills in the process. After our 40 mile ride out and around Hodges Lake I was again solo and took a little jaunt up Hwy 101 along the coast to Carlsbad and back. I ended up with 108 miles with 9156 of climbing. A good ride, the best one here so far. As seems to be the case here, I am short on time and will post photos and maps at a later date.

Update:

Drat. I can't link the map easily because the site I upload my gps data to won't let you see my route and info until I make it "public" and I don't have time to load all the photos and features and place them on the map right now. Since that site is related to some work I do for a cycling magazine I don't want the rides "live" until I've got them polished up a bit. I tried to map them manually on mapmyride.com but it won't follow the bike path we rode for several miles in Carmel Valley. To top it off, I forgot my xD card for the camera so all the photos are stored in the camera's internal memory and I haven't figured out how to download them yet.

So, back to square one,.......check back later for all the bells and whistles.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today...........108...............0................108
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......748.....+.........0........=.......748
Year to date...3548.....+.........30.......=......3578
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Falling behind

Falling behind on my riding miles because I've been busy helping remodel a condo.
Falling behind on my blog update duties for the same reason. :-(

I did get out with my tour guide for a ride around the area this morning but now it's time to get back to work. I'll get back on here and load pictures and maps for both yesterday and today sometime soon, just keep checking back.

22 miles this morning.
I may get more this afternoon, we shall see.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............22...............0.................22
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......640.....+.........0........=.......640
Year to date...3440.....+.........30.......=......3470
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Starship Enterprise

"to boldly go where no man has gone before"

Well, at least where I haven't been before.

I went for an early morning ride while Debra rowed on Mission Bay. I ended up with 23 miles around Mission Bay and the Pacific Ocean in San Diego. I picked up a piece of glass so had the fun of changing a tube.

So far it seems that the drivers here are not as bike friendly as those in the Portland Metro area. My friend had a bad experience today on our ride back involving a driver with Arizona plates who used all kinds of foul language to berate female cyclists. The situation was not good and it really put a bit of fear in her. Karma almost came around as he pulled back into traffic right in front of another drive who honked and flipped him off.

23 miles,



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............23...............0.................23
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......618.....+.........0........=.......618
Year to date...3418.....+.........30.......=......3448
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

time keeps on slipin' slipin' slipin' into the future

I'm pretty sure Steve Miller wasn't thinking about bikes when he was singing that but I was. I kept one eye on the clock as I was working feverishly on a bike safety presentation with a hard deadline looming. I spent 11 hours re-imbedding video into my 90 minute bike safety powerpoint presentation. While I had a backup of the actual presentation I didn't have a copy of the underlying video so when the laptop was stolen the video was gone too. Over the weekend a few of us went out and re-shot the video on a new digital video camera. Unfortunately my new Vista 64 bit computer would not even recognize the MP4 files as video. I spent hours trying to find a program that would run on my computer (no easy task) that would convert the MP4 files to something usable for me.
I ended up getting Pinnacle Studio v12. A 32 bit application but it will run on my 64 bit OS. Once I found that key the rest of it fell into place. I am pretty sure I can get through the presentation tomorrow as scheduled. If you've got the time come on out to Hillsboro tomorrow and cheer me on. ;-)

Between now and then I have plenty of things going to keep me busy. I'll be making a little trip to help a friend with a remodeling project so I need to gather a whole bunch of tools as well as make a few arrangements for mail pickup, etc. I am bringing my bike with me so expect to see continued posting here as to my biking exploits. Right after the bike safety presentation I'm making the 1000 mile road trip. Good thing I like road trips!

a few hills, a few miles, and a few smiles

I rode to Multnomah Falls from Troutdale today. Most of those likely to ride with me were still at the beach following "Reach the Beach" so I rode solo today. Maybe the lack of company, maybe the lack of competition, maybe the 100 miles I rode yesterday... but for some reason I could never find my rhythm. I ended up being more of a person on a bike today, but I guess that it's okay sometimes to just to ride bike and take in the sights. I began at Glenn Otto park right on the edge of Troutdale and rode over the Historic Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway to Multnomah Falls. Along the way there were many great views.
(you can click on any photo to see it full sized)













After a brief stop at Multnomah Falls I retraced my route back to the Larch Mtn Rd intersection then turned UP. The sign said the road was closed 10 miles in because of snow. I just wanted to check if it really was! ;-) There was a bit of roadside snow just before the closed gate but who knows how the road was beyond the gate. The sign said "Road closed to wheeled vehicles" so I was not willing to risk a ticket just to satisfy my curiosity.

On the way back down Larch Mountain Rd I took a loop of Haines Rd/Bower Rd..... just that curiosity thing at work again.

After satisfying my wanderlust I finally rode back down to Troutdale.

I ended up with 64 miles at a rather leisurely pace... 14.2 mph, and according to the gps I struggled over 6062 ft of elevation gain.

Here's my route for today



+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............64...............0.................64
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......595.....+.........0........=.......595
Year to date...3395.....+.........30.......=......3425
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Reaching Amity.....and back

 Art, Dave, and I did indeed ride our own private "Reach Amity" and got our 100 miles in. Beautiful day, high in the upper 80's as we wrapped up with pizza and beer!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today...........100...............0................100
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......531.....+.........0........=.......531
Year to date...3331.....+.........30.......=......3361
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

just a few short miles

Worked on re-creating some bike safety video today. That amounted to staging several situations and recording the safe way to handle them. Of all things, I was sitting at a red light in the center lane of a road that had a right turn lane and a left turn lane, the center lane being the one for those intending to proceed straight ahead. An elderly driver came up in the left turn lane, stopped, and then proceeded to turn RIGHT, against a red light no less! Too bad the camera wasn't running then. I suppose as far as biking is concerned it was better that he proceeded on red, at least I was waiting for the green rather than proceeding forward on a green when this guy decided to turn right in front of me.

I got 6 miles. A beautiful day for a ride but I just have too many things going today, and tomorrow the plan is for a 100 mile ride with friends.


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today.............6...............0..................6
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......431.....+.........0........=.......431
Year to date...3231.....+.........30.......=......3261
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rain

Nothing like the prognosis of a rainy ride in the Gorge to put the damper on an early evening ride. The three of us decided to wait for a better day. The day started out dry and stayed that way until noon then just as predicted it began to rain. I should have gone for a solo ride this morning but didn't. Now I haven't been on the bike for 3 days!

I used my time to get a new helmet cam. Not sure I'm going to like this one. I haven't opened it yet and am doing some thinking. I also picked up a new computer for the new bike. The Cateye Astrale 8 on my Marin has served me well so I decided another on the new bike would be good bet...........and it was on sale besides. :-)

No miles today :-( But the weekend looks like it will be dry and warm!

only a bit bikey

No riding today, there is a plan for riding tomorrow in the Columbia Gorge though. In the meantime, today I made a dry run through my powerpoint on adult bike safety that I'm scheduled to present at the Hillsboro Library next Tuesday. Good thing I did. After the recent incident I was glad to be able to put my hands on a backup of the presentation that I had burned to DVD. Unfortunately, today I found that the imbedded video did not play. It seems that rather than save the actual video with the backup, I only saved links to the media.........that was located on the hard drive. Oh, and the small issue of both the cameras I used in making those video clips were taken along with the laptop. So now I'm shopping for a new digital camcorder sooner rather than later. Since the impetus to do this now is directly related to bike stuff I guess it qualifies for inclusion here. :-O

Tax refund? Obama's economic stimulus?

or just "want" a new bike?



Probably a bit of all those things. With the Furnace Creek 508 in October looming on my radar a bit more than the recent big ticket damage/loss, and then coupled with a couple of compounding discounts, I decided today was the day to get abetter bike. My Marin Argenta has served me well. I've put over 20,000 miles on it in the three years I've owned it. But with the long climbs of Furnace Creek I'm thinking a carbon framed bike would be a lot easier to pedal than my steel framed Marin.

The new bike has triple chainrings which is a plus IMHO for the type of riding I do. My Marin also had a triple crank which sported 56x42x30 rings after my little customization. (swapped out 53 for a 56). I will ride the new 52x39x30 a bit but suspect I'll be changing out the two larger rings. My Marin has an 11-27 nine speed, the new bike has a 12-25 10 spd. Easily modified as well. A couple of hundred miles will tell me if I miss the broad spectrum of my current setup.

Any way, no miles today, but a few smiles!

Just another sunny day on a bike

Today I joined my social bike group on a ride of Sauvie Island. We did the normal 12 mile loop and both beach out and backs bringing the island total to 37. I added to that with a ride up Newberry Rd to Skyline then over to Rocky Point Rd and back down to Hwy 30 then a quick 6 mile return to the island.

The ride of the island was slow for me......a type A thing. I was frustrated with the late start, the slow pace, the failure to just practice basic politeness as it pertains to motor vehicles. Once out on my own I settled down. ;-)









Evening update:

Dave, his wife (my sister) Bev, and I went for a short ride tonight to visit their son who works at Baskin Robbins. As I went to grab my bike I had a flat tire! A big ugly 1/2" cut in the sidewall. I grabbed my old Nashiki 10 spd, that now finds it's home with my nephew. It was almost fun to be back on the old bike......after I quit trying to shift via moving the brake levers to the side! LOL!

We had a fun 5 mile ride!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............71...............0.................71
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......425.....+.........0........=.......425
Year to date...3225.....+.........30.......=......3255
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Three Prairies Permanent

Three of us from my social bike group joined 4 from the Oregon Randonneurs and rode the "Three Prairies Permanent" today. The ride began in Newberg and was basically two out and backs, the first to Dallas, the second to Mt Angel. Each out a back had 1 loop to keep thing interesting.

Dave and Art

Dave and I


The Oregon Randonneurs leading the way under a sunny spring sky

Riding with Randonneurs is all about "real food" so we made sure to partake from time to time. ;-)

At Safeway in Dallas


At Dairy Queen in Newberg


and finally back at Burgerville in Newberg





I rode strongly today. I held up a bit from time to time to help keep the group together but had a 17.1 average at the hundred mile mark. It's not terribly hilly but with 3473 ft of climbing it's not perfectly flat either. The last 26 miles we slowed down a bit because a few were tiring and being challenged a bit by the small climbs we encountered. We still ended up with a 16.8 mph average, not bad at all. I did the majority of the "pulling" today and felt very strong on the hills. That's what I need to see if I am to have a chance in October.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today...........126...............0................126
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......354.....+.........0........=.......354
Year to date...3154.....+.........30.......=......3184
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

back on the bike

I've been a bit busy this week.......and it's been wet. That little bike pansy has been on my shoulder leaning into my ear and making it's voice heard.

Today the sun came out and I ignored the bike pansy. I am joining a few folks on a little hill workout early this evening but since the sun was out I decided to do a little pre-ride. A friend was going to join me but a sore throat caused those plans to cancel. I rode a modified Snoozeville Populaire route. One of the main modifications I made was to skip the out and back to Snooseville. When I got to Forest Grove I short cutted the rest of the route and made my way back to CPR ending up with 43 miles.

Late this afternoon I joined two others for a little hill workout. We rode our now familiar weeknight route. We ended up with 1942 feet on a 22 mile course. A nice evening for a ride.


Luis and Eileen in hot pursuit

Luis climbing Logie Trail


Eileen climbing Logie Trail


Luis at the top of the Mason Hill Rd descent


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............65...............0.................65
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......228.....+.........0........=.......228
Year to date...3028.....+.........30.......=......3058
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Cherry Ride re re ride

Brian, Kris, and I off to repeat yesterday's 106 mile ride in the Gorge. Details and photos when I get home.
(posted from cell phone)

Well, the plan was to repeat yesterday's re ride of the Cherry of a Ride. The weather was nicer than yesterday which was a bit wet for this dry side of the Cascades location.

6 folks were set to ride today, 3 showed up. Seems that this will go down as a 50% weekend.

Brian, Kris, and I pedaled off from Hood River in anticipation of a great day of riding. Our ride started out on a section of the Historic Hwy that is closed to motor vehicles.


We rode through the Mosier Twin Tunnels


We dropped back down to river level in the town of Mosier then began the climb to the highest elevation of the day, the 7 mile long climb to 1802 feet.



We all have good days, and days we don't feel much like cyclists at all. The arduous climb up 7 Mile Hill had done Kris in today. We put on the windbreakers and buzzed quickly down the backside to Chenowith Creek. At that point it was decided by our little group to vary from the course and turn directly into The Dalles. We had planned to save 10-15 miles by short cutting the Chenowith Crk/Cherry Heights loop. Little did we know at the time but that was only the first of our modifications.

We arrived in The Dalles and stocked up on water and snacks in anticipation of the climbing that was to come. Before we left though the plan had morphed again.
Kris was not feeling well and being the sometimes chivalrous guys we are, Brian and I decided we'd ride back to Hood River with her.

We did take one little side trip out to the east side of town to take in the view of The Dalles Dam.


We did have a climb of Rowena Crest to look forward to. We assured Kris it wasn't all that bad. Along the way to Rowena we cruised on a multi-use path along the banks of the Columbia.


Before long we were climbing the Rowena Loops.


There were plenty of opportunities for photos.


We began the descent to Mosier, only punctuated by a small climb from Rowena Dell.


We continued on our descent to Mosier.


Before long we arrived back in Hood River where we retired to a local establishment for our post ride debriefing.



The weather was blue and warm, with the promise of rain back in the Portland. It was good day to ride........it would have been nice to extend the weekend and ride a bit more. We did manage to log 57 miles with 4900 ft of climbing, respectable by almost every standard.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles
Today............57...............0.................57
Jan total.......501.....+.........30.......=.......531
Feb total.......614.....+.........0........=.......614
March total.....860.....+.........0........=.......860
April total.....790.....+.........0........=.......790
May total.......163.....+.........0........=.......163
Year to date...2963.....+.........30.......=......2993
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++