An open letter

To the Marion County Sheriff's Office, Officer Helbling, Ray Thomas, Bob Mionske, and others who told me after the last event that the best thing to do when a motor vehicle driver does you wrong is to not escalate the situation, but to take the license number, a description, and call the police.

Yesterday while riding in Marion County a white full size Ford pickup intentionally nearly right hooked me. How do I know it was intentional? He honked his horn and then accelerated hard to cut me off. If I hadn't braked hard and taken evasive action I would have been road kill. Because I was busy trying to keep from getting killed I didn't get a license plate number. I didn't motion for the idiot driver to come back to discuss his actions. I may be old but I can still learn a thing or two, and I was in Marion County where drivers can intentionally hit a cyclist, flee the scene, and not be prosecuted.

Today six of us were riding in Clackamas County. A small white import sedan honked as it came up on us, the passenger yelled something unintelligible and likely unintelligent, then tossed a large volume of trash out at us as they passed.

I did exactly as instructed, I noted the license number and a description of the vehicle, and called 911. The operator took my report.

Will anything happen? Will the registered owner be contacted? Will it by my word against their's? Will they deny even being in Oregon today????

There were a few other minor issues with drivers in the area (something in the water?) but other than that it was a good day.

5 of us from my social bike group joined our ride leader Art for a planned 46 mile ride in the Clackamas River area. 3 of us felt like adding a few miles on such a nice day and commuted to the starting point in Carver. I started out from Willamette (near West Linn) and rode 11 miles to the start.

It was a pretty good ride in, and followed the south side of the Clackamas River for much of the route.


Here's the gang regrouping at the top of the first long climb.


We had some pretty nice views from time to time.


We took an extended stop at a quaint country store.


While there we rehydrated, ate a few snacks, and rested up a bit!
(looks like kindergarten...chocolate milk, donuts, and nap time!)


The daylight hours may be rapidly getting shorter reminding us that fall is just around the corner, but right now the roadside berries are at their peak!




Here was my route. When we got to the Redland Road/Fischers Mill Rd intersection I bid my farewells to the rest of the group who turned on Fischers Mill Rd to return to Carver. We started quite late in the day and I didn't want to be on the roads during rush hour if I could help it. By continuing on Redland Road I'd shorten my ride by about 4-5 miles. I did get a bit of a bonus mileage by chasing down one of our group who took a wrong turn today. I ended up with 64 miles.

A good ride, strong riders!


+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............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.......901.....+.........0........=.......901
June total......543.....+.........0........=.......543
July total.....1322.....+.........0........=......1322
August total...1603.....+.........0........=......1603
Sept total......218.....+.........0........=.......218
Year to date...7401.....+.........30.......=......7431
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