A commute, a trail, and a commute

 I saw that the Whino's  were riding the Banks-Vernonia trail today, beginning at 10AM.  Hmmmm, with that late start I could ride to the ride!  So I did. There was low overcast, almost a high fog, as I started out this morning.  I was 30 miles into my ride before I saw my shadow, but from then on it improved rapidly.

I am continually amazed at the Ridewithgps site. Today I told it to map me from Wilsonville to Banks via a bike friendly route.  It of course did that.  I found bike paths along my route today that I did not know existed. I often found myself going into a cul-de-sac expecting a mapping error only to find a small path heading out the back side.  At one point as the path along Fanno Creek emptied onto a street I saw that there was no curb cut. I was preparing to stop and step off the curb and turn right when I noted that my gps was directing me to turn left for 20 feet.  Sure enough, 20 feet to my left was a curb cut.  How can that website possibly know all those details?

I did arrive in Banks with about 25 minutes to spare. Our ride leader today was Esther, a friend who I led to her first century last year. We pedaled at a leisurely pace along the trail. A few of the folks were struggling a bit. It was a nice day to be biking.

We all made it to Vernonia, 22 miles away.  We spent about 20 minutes in the park regrouping, then pedaled back to Banks.

Once at Banks we regrouped at a pizza place and replaced some carbs.  The rest of the gang drove back to the McMinnville area, I pedaled back to Wilsonville.

My only issue today was during my solo commute back.  A woman in a Subaru came up along side me, then without signaling turned right in front of me across the bike lane to enter a apartment complex.  I had just put new brake pads on my bike the night before and was glad I did.  I took advantage that the weather was nice and she had her windows open.  I hollered loud enough to get her attention, then rode up to the driver and had a civil discussion with her. Okay, so I told her a few things like if she didn't start paying attention she was going to kill someone, maybe a neighbor kid. Hopefully she remembers the scolding she got.

Other than that, it was a great day on the bike!


.........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......126..............0.............0..........0...........126
 Jan.........105.............34.............0..........0..........139
 Feb.........428............108.............0.........24..........536 March.......809..............0.............0.........22..........831
 April.........1010..............0.............0..........0.........1010
 May............242..............0..............0..........0...........242
 YTD........2595............142.............0.........46.........2758