Sunday, March 30, 2014

Miles to Marymoor

 I noted that I had to ride 63 miles between today and  tomorrow to roll over 700 miles for the month.  Today was supposed to rain in Seattle, but not as wet and stormy as yesterday.  After some negotiations that fell through with a potential riding partner I rolled out at 10 AM.  I headed toward Marymoor Park, knowing that would get me near 60 miles round trip.

It was an easy ride, starting down Queen Ann hill then rolling with a good tailwind along the Burke-Gilman Trail.  I stopped at Mathews Beach.


 Ths sky was mostly cloudy, with some clouds so dark that I thought for sure I'd put my goretex to use.

I continued on to the Samammish River trail and followed it as it curved around into the wind.


I got out near Marymoor and stopped for a bit and watched dads and their kids launch model rockets.  I continued up Bear Creek trail for a bit but gave up when the trail was detoured because of high water.  I turned back around when I had just over 30 miles.

I retraced my outbound route on the Samammish River Trail until I reached the very end, then took the alternate way to connect back to the Burke-Gilman Trail.






As I neared the Fremont Bridge it looked like I was going to be a little short on miles to reach 700 for the month, so I continued on the B-G to Ballard.  I finally turned around when I saw 60 miles on the odometer.

As I turned around I approached a 4 way stop.  I slowed to a stop, a "person on a bike" blew past me, and through the stop sign much to the chagrin of a motor vehicle driver who had to brake for the fool. Thanks guy for doing so much to soothe tensions between cyclists and motor vehicles.

I made my way back up Queen Ann and rolled the bike into the garage with 64 miles for the day, and 701 for the month.  Whatever I ride tomorrow will be gravy!  Not a drop of rain today.




............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........64................0..............0...............0............64 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........701.............0..............0...............0............701 Total..........1989...............0..............0...............0.........1989

Thursday, March 27, 2014

Arsen's Tour

One thing I was sure of as I rolled out to a ride beginning at 6 PM in Seattle tonight, it was going to get dark before we finished.  I was also fairly certain it would rain.  Friend Arsen had posted a ride for tonight as he does every Tuesday and Thursday evening.  I rode to the Gas Works Park starting location. I had the route on my gps, but failed to start the recording function before pedaling.  We sometimes were off a block or two on parallel streets, but we pretty much followed this route.


Arsen was cognizant of my need to "maintain my blog" and kept pointing out photo ops and bits of local lore.
As we rode by Lake View Cemetery he note that Bruce Lee was buried there.  We were going to get a picture of his headstone, but alas, with a 6 PM start, and visiting hours ending at 6 PM, we didn't make it.

Tom, Bob, and Arsen
We chatted a bit about how a ride should be planned to visit famous people's final resting place. Jimi Hendrix is buried in Renton, and Kurt Cobain's ashes were scattered near Olympia.  For tonight this was as close as we'd get to visiting any dead people.  So we pedaled on and shifted our focus toward the living.

We neared the Seattle Asian Art Museum and stopped for a photo of the Black Hole Sun.  This is rumored to be the art behind Soundgarden's song.


We continued on our way past the old Museum of Science and Industry site.  I recognized that since I've kayaked from there many times.  We crossed over the Montlake Bridge and on up through University of Washington and Ravenna Park.  It was about this time that we turned on lights.

We cruised past Green Lake and continued west to overlook Shilshole Bay. We rolled on through the Ballard neighborhood then back into Fremont.  Before long we were back in Gasworks, and through the entire ride not a drop of rain fell.  I've heard that others in the area weren't so lucky.

It sounded like the others were going out for a bit of post ride snackage, but I decided I'd best get back up Queen Ann hill.

Good ride, good folks!



............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........33................0..............0...............0............33 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........637.............0..............0...............0............637 Total..........1925...............0..............0...............0.........1925

Monday, March 24, 2014

A busy day, just not much biking

I had an appointment with the tax man today, had bike supplies to purchase, a conference call to attend, and other details to attend to.  I did manage to get a new tire on the fixie.  It is a 700-28c as opposed to the 700-38c installed as original equipment.  The original tires were cheap (well, the whole bike was cheap!) and I was having more flats than I could put up with.  I was hoping to just get higher quality 35-38 cm tires, but could not find what I wanted.  I ended up with a 28 cm.  It lays out pretty flat on the wide rims and I wanted to ride a few miles to see if there were any issues. The new tire says 100 psi minimum, the existing tires had 60 psi MAXIMUM.  So less tire, lower sidewalls, more pressure.   The bike rides rougher, but everything else seems fine.  I don't know if sidewall damage will be more likely.  I guess more miles will tell.

But for tonight, the first ten miles around the neighborhood were good.

............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........10................0..............0...............0............10 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........604.............0..............0...............0............604 Total..........1892...............0..............0...............0.........1892

Sunday, March 23, 2014

Passing the Torch?

I rode my first hundred mile day since last July 25th.  It felt like it too.  Not too long ago centuries were a twice weekly occurrence and oh so easy. I earned this one!

Thursday I was driving back through the Columbia River Gorge following a bike ride in the Goldendale area and was noticing the hiker/biker trail improvements along I-84 on the Oregon side of the river. With the favorable weather I thought it might just be a good day to ride through the Gorge and check it out.

I posted an invitation on Facebook:
Does anyone care to join me on Sunday for a Portland to Hood River and back ride? The weather should be great, and I'd really like to check out the new section of bikeway.
Like · ·
 Looking at the company, I knew this was going to be no easy spin through the countryside. These boys can ride!

We took off from Glen Otto Park in Troutdale. Ken had biked to the ride.  I thought that with his 9 mile warm-up I might be able to keep up.  He led us out at 20 mph with Paul and I just hanging on. The road follows the Sandy River upstream a ways, then begins climbing to Chanticleer Point. Ken slowed a bit as the road tilted upward, but not much!  My legs were burning.  In one steeper stretch I shifted toward my inner chain ring, only to have the chain drop between the rings and lodge tightly.

 
 I rolled to a stop as I watched Ken and Paul power up the hill.  This has happened often enough, that I now carry a small open end wrench and Torx bit to loosen the chain rings and untangle the mess.  It took about 10 minutes, but I was back on the road.  When I got to the top the guys were waiting for me. We rolled down to the Vista House and took a photo.

Paul V photo
We took the fast trip down the hill to Multnomah Falls, but did not stop for a photo.  The falls were in deep shadows and would not have photographed well, and we've all been here many times before and had better pictures than we'd get today.

We continued on through the Oneonta Tunnel


 The area has the highest concentration of waterfalls in the United States.  We rode past many falls, but the morning angle of the sun was just not conducive to good photos.


Before long we accessed the newly opened sections of trail.  The trail follows the original alignment of the Historic Columbia River Gorge Highway.  When the freeway was built it orphaned many segments of old road.  There is a plan underway to reopen those segments with new connections allowing continuous non-motorized travel from Troutdale to The Dalles.  They've certainly done a nice job so far.



I got a close look at the Washington side of the Columbia River on Thursday.  It is an arid view of dry yellow grass, scrub oaks in river canyons, and basalt outcroppings. Here on the Oregon side, literally just across the river, the view is of moss covered rocks, plummeting waterfalls, moist fissure canyons, and today also a surprising amount of snow.

Ken riding past one of the many late season snow drifts.
 We crossed over Tanner Creek.
You can always click on any photo to view it full size


 We got to Tooth Rock, where Interstate 84 goes through a tunnel, and bikes go over a hill, and down a concrete staircase. With my slow pace, and photo stops, I was the last one to the stairs, so I did not pause for a photo of them.


 Just east of the stairs the path is littered with debris, in short order it was completely blocked!

Just west of the fish hatchery Paul practices cyclocross skills.
The path crosses under I-84 (really a nice job on the trail here) and continues on into Cascade Locks on the north side of the freeway.


Normally we get on the freeway shoulder just east of Cascade Locks to ride the last 17 miles to Hood River. My mapping program has always suggested a ride up Herman Creek Rd.  Today we took it. It was a 500 ft climb in 1 mile, only to drop back down to Columbia River level. It was very scenic ride , and eliminated a few miles of freeway riding.



After the Herman Creek exploratory ride we'd run out of options.  We merged onto the freeway and pedaled.  We put the tailwind to use and kept up 20 mph the last 11 miles to Hood River.


In Hood River we took a rest stop and talked about our time issues.  It had taken 5 hours to get 53 miles. They had done a lot of waiting for me (though they didn't specifically call me out).  Our devices showed they had spent nearly an hour stopped on the trip out.  Some of that hour they waited while I took a photo, some times it was when I dealt with mechanicals, and sometimes it was just to wait at the top of hills because I was slow!  We set our goal to ride back without so many stops.  It was just after 2PM, and if I took 5 hours to get back I was going to need a light, a light that I was not carrying.  The wind would be in my face.  It was going to take effort.  Ken and Paul both had time constraints.  I told them that it was okay if they needed to ride on, I knew the way.

We discussed the route a bit just as we got to the west end of Hood River. The fastest way back would be freeway shoulder, though none of us were thrilled with that option. As we pedaled off, there was no decision on the route.   As we dropped onto the freeway the other two pedaled off with intensity that I just could not match.  I watched them pedal away and resigned myself to just keep pedaling.

The freeway shoulder is still quite littered with winter debris.


  After 8 miles I picked up a radial tire wire and flatted the back tire.  I lifted the bike over the jersey barrier and set about changing it.

I was just about finished with the task when Paul rode up.  I was surprised to see him, thinking he would be miles ahead. He explained that he'd stopped to take a phone call and saw me ride by.  After asking if I needed anything he rode on.

The wind was a bit pesky. I didn't know what the others were going to do, but I planned to take the trail as much as possible, as it was less exposed than the freeway.  I was lazy however and not wanting to climb more elevation then necessary.  I bypassed the Herman Creek Rd climb, but got on the trial east of Cascade Locks.

I stopped for two ice cream sandwiches at a market in Cascade Locks then continued on the trail.

Climbing Tooth Rock on the historic trail

Bonneville Dam and locks, from above the Tooth Rock Tunnel
When I got to Multnomah Falls I decided to bypass the Chanticleer Point climb.  The wind was not as strong here as it was at Cascade Locks and I figured I could make better time without the climb.
Bypassing the climb was going to put me in a left lane freeway entry however.


I put on my bright yellow windbreaker and turned on both rear blinkies for better visibility, and pedaled off.  As I neared the 70 mph travel lanes I kept an eye trained to my mirror, when I saw an opening I pedaled hard and merged into the stream. I signaled my intention to move right.  The vehicles gave me room, and I took it, moving to the right shoulder, now doing close to 30 mph. After that maneuver I slowed down a bit and tried to enjoy the view.

Crown Point from the freeway shoulder


The wind was almost a non issue by the time I got west of Multnomah Falls. I was making good time and despite what seemed when I was eating ice cream at Cascade Locks,  I'd have no problem getting back to Troutdale before dark.

I pulled into Glen Otto Park after 4 hours elapsed , and as expected, Paul and Ken were long gone.  Ken called as I was loading the bike up and told me that he had cramped up badly and walked for about 15 minutes in Cascade Locks.  He had also suffered a flat tubular tire.  Luckily he carries a spare tire. By the time he got to Glen Otto Park Paul had already left.  So it seems that the guy who pre ride said he was going to get his butt kicked, kicked butt today!

I was tired, but glad to get my hundred miles in.  What used to be so easy, and a twice a week occurrence, now turned into an effort.  I've ridden many miles with both Ken and Paul. They are not slouches, but I used to be able to not only keep up with them, but usually led them, especially on longer rides.  Today I was the lanterne rouge.  They probably put more than a half hour on me in the Hood River to Troutdale section.

Maybe I'm just out of shape, but both these guys are younger than I.  I did my best riding in 2009 at 54 yrs old.  Paul just turned 50 a few days ago and would like to ride PBP next year.    Maybe it's time to pass the torch.



............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........102................0..............0...............0............102 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........594.............0..............0...............0............594 Total..........1882...............0..............0...............0.........1882


Saturday, March 22, 2014

Over the River, Through the Woods.............

To (grand)mother's house I went.  Mom had a list of things she needed help with.  The sun was shining. I hopped on the fixed gear bike and rode to Hillsboro.  Along the way (with headwind!) I crossed the Tualatin River.



Riding in nice weather has it's benefits, but also some negative aspects.  I was riding a path through Cook Park and the iPodded Masses were out in force.


As I was riding along Hall Blvd I saw a deer standing in the middle of the road.  By the time I could get the camera out a car came along and spooked the deer.  She scampered across a lawn then onto a side street.


She looked just a little befuddled.  
Shortly after the deer episode, I had a flat.  I've got an entire tube of Slime in each tire (because cheap bikes come with cheap tires!) but a piece of glass embedded itself and leaked out air with each revolution as the glass shard wiggled about.  I put in a new tube, fought with the pump a bit, and got back on the road.

I made it to my mom's, cleared out the "to do" list, then headed  back.   I retraced my route for the most part.   I had another flat on the west end of Beaverton.  Now without Slime, a small sharp rock had worked it's way through the high quality pencil eraser tires. Through Beaverton I took the alternate "one way" streets.  I zipped through Tigard, again dodging walkers, strollers, kids on bikes, and dogs on leashes. Everybody was out enjoying the 69 degree day. I picked up another piece of glass and got my third flat of the day. When I got closer to Wilsonville I stayed on Boones Ferry Rd.  They've done some work there and widened it substantially.  There was always a narrow twisty section that I tried to avoid, but that's been eliminated now.  They are still working on it, but it looks like it will be striped for a bike lane.  Stripes or not, it was a good ride through there.

I rolled back into home with 53 miles.  Fun, fun, FUN!

............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........53................0..............0...............0.............53 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........492.............0..............0...............0............492 Total..........1780...............0..............0...............0.........1780

Friday, March 21, 2014

An Unplanned Frozen Yogurt Run

 It was an absolutely gorgeous day.  I couldn't resist, I took the fixed gear bike and went for a ride.  I started at the McDonalds near Oregon City and rode north to the Clackamas River. I followed that until I could access the I-205 Bike Path and then followed that toward the Columbia River.
As I'd cross over I-205 I noted how nice it was to be on a bike, and just how frustrating it would be to be in a motor vehicle.


 Once I got to the Columbia River I goofed around. I toured a path that followed the Columbia Slough.



 I watched three fighter jets swoop in for a landing.  I could not get my camera out in time to get a photo, but did see the pilots' faces as they dropped from the sky.  The commercial jet that lumbered in was easier to frame. The fighter jets were MUCH closer!


I rode into Cascade Station and was hijacked by the opportunity to score some frozen yogurt.


On the return trip I rode through the City of Maywood Park, unique for several things, one being that the city is completely surrounded by Portland.


As I waited at one of the road crossings for my signal I had a little altercation.  The bike path's signal indicated it was my turn to go.  The motor vehicles had a red light. I started into the cross walk, when a SUV decided that they were in too much of a hurry to get on the clogged up freeway and failed to stop as required,  and swerved closely around me to get on the on-ramp.  I gave the rear quarter panel a good hard slap is it passed. The driver looked surprised.  Duh.

I had a favorable breeze assisting me on my return  It was a nice day despite the crazy driver, nearly 60 degrees, and the little push just made it all the better.  What a great day on the bike!


............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........45................0..............0...............0.............45 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........439.............0..............0...............0............439 Total..........1727...............0..............0...............0.........1727

Thursday, March 20, 2014

A great day for a bike ride!

I was invited to join a few folks on a 65ish mile ride on the dry side of Washington State.  For my readers who are not in the Oregon/Washington area, the Cascade Mountains run north-south down the states, leaving about 1/3 of the states in the moist maritime zone, and 2/3rd in the much more arid interior.  Especially in Oregon, this zone is noted for cold winters, hot summers, and lots of sage brush and basalt.  What that means to a cyclist, is that except for ice in the winter, and oppressive heat in the summer, Spring and Fall are great times to ride "on the dry side".

I loaded my carbon bike for only the second time since the Southern California trip last November and drove through the Columbia River Gorge to the town of Lyle, WA.


6 of us were riding today, 4 lads and 2 lasses.  We started from a trailhead at the intersection of SR 14 and Hwy 142.  The trailhead was for a gravel rails to trails path the runs up the Klickitat River. We didn't take the gravel path, but instead started right off with a 8.5 mile sustained climb from 200 ft to nearly 1900 ft, with another 1.5 miles of rolling climbing to our high point of the day at about 2000 ft elevation.






When we got to the top we transitioned from tree covered hills to wide open grasslands.
There was a noticeable tail wind.  Right on schedule, as they predicted 15-20 mph West winds.







There were a few sights to see as we pedaled along.  3 does were as interested in us as we were in them.


A long abandoned house led us to wonder what stories it could tell.


We were pedaling along easily at +/- 25 mph, aided by the tailwind.  We knew to enjoy it now, for we'd have to pay for it when we turned back the other direction at Goldendale.  Jan, our leader had a slightly different route than I normally ride.  We turned north before reaching Hwy 97.  It didn't cost or save any miles, but did keep us on less traveled roads.



 We would have had a great view of Mt Adams, but there were a few clouds that direction making it impossible to see.


We arrived in Goldendale at about our halfway point. It was a perfect excuse to gather in the lee of a building and eat some of our snacks while sitting in the warm sun.  The temperature was only in the upper 40's so we were mindful of not cooling down.

After a short stop, we continued on.  We knew there would be a brisk headwind.  There was some joking around that the gang was going to just tuck in behind me and draft.  I was the last one out of our rest stop, having to finish my snack and toss the packaging in a trash can.

As I rolled out I made a couple of turns to get on the route.  As I turned onto Hwy 142 I saw the gang stretched out in front of me out to about 1/2 mile.  I got on my aerobars and started the chase.
I caught them and passed them one by one.  I expected them to latch on, but alas, nobody took the bait.
I continued to pedal along.  I wasn't at race pace, but I was putting distance on the rest of the peloton. I knew the wind would likely continue to build, so I wasn't too interested in spending any more time getting back than necessary.  I continued a steady pressure on the pedals.  The wind was brisk, at time slowing me to 11 mph for short stretches.  I just kept in my mind that this was still nearly 3 times faster than I was able to ride in Death Valley in 2009.  I also knew that as I dropped into the Klickitat Canyon that I'd likely get shelter from the canyon walls and trees.  The sooner I got there the happier I'd be.  I kept pedaling.

Except when I stopped to take a photo!


Or two!

being a whitewater enthusiast in a former life I was fascinated
I was surprised by the amount of wind in the canyon. Luckily the road twists around enough that the wind would come and go in pain in the butt factor.  I counted down the miles as I neared the Columbia River and the end of today's ride.

I pulled in, loaded my bike, changed out of bike clothes, and waited with camera in hand for the others to finish.  Finish they did, anywhere from 28 minutes behind me, to 56 minutes. I was amazed that I'd put nearly a minute each mile into them.  They all were happy to be finished.

 28 minutes behind me




 finishing 56 minutes after me.

We all remarked on how nice the ride was, despite the challenges the wind presented.  I tossed out the option of finishing up with pizza and brew, but got no takers.  We turned vehicles westward and headed toward home.  I was running windshield wipers by the time I got to Cascade Locks.


Better map detail HERE

It was a good day to be on the dry side!


............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........66................0..............0...............0.............66 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........394.............0..............0...............0............394 Total..........1682...............0..............0...............0.........1682