Balmy!

A few months ago as I was riding with some friends on our first 55 degree day and commenting on the "cold" I said that in a few months we'd think 55 was balmy. Well today wasn't 55 but it did feel balmy! After 10 days of subfreezing weather the temperature rose to 39 today. Our little group of 4 was dressed for COLD so 39 felt warm indeed. (as usual, click on any photo to view full sized) (L-R, Jim, me, Richard, Art)

It was foggy as we started out with just a few patches of ice as we traversed the East Bank Esplanade.

Here the Ross Island Bridge stands in stark contrast to the gray day.

As we pedaled along toward Oaks Park a steam locomotive hissed it's way along just has the sternwheeler "Columbia Gorge" paddled it's way upstream.

They traded friendly steam whistle toots back and forth a bit as they passed.

After making 11 mile circuit of the downtown waterfront we took off on the Midnight Ride route, more or less! When we got to the Columbia Slough we noted that it was nearly frozen over.

Though I'm normally not fond of bike paths it was a good trip today. We probably spent 80% of our 28 mile trip on paths but were rewarded with nice views of the Willamette River and Columbia Slough. As we neared the end of our planned route we stopped at a local pizza place for a bite to eat and a chance to visit a bit.
Our discussion went something along the lines of this:
(...and no I did not ride my carbon fiber bike with Zipp 404's today. Today I rode the steel Marin with Bontragger Race Select wheels!)

As we parted ways at the end of our ride I looked around at the relatively warm and dry weather and decided that I really should use the opportunity to extend the ride.
I rejoined the Sprinwater Trail and rode an out and back to Foster Rd to bring my total mileage for the day to a nice round 50 miles.

A nice day to be on a bike indeed!





+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
...............Road Bike.....LifeCycle.....Total Miles Today
.................50...............0.................50
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.....1403.....+.........0........=......1403
October.........503.....+.........0........=.......503
November........664.....+.........0........=.......664
December........347.....+.........0........=.......347
Year to date..10,123.....+........30.......=.....10,153 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++