A tale of two rides

It was a nice fall day, wisps of morning fog gave way to blue skies and warm weather.  I had a dinner meeting to attend in Gaston and thought it would be a perfect day to ride to the meeting.  I was right, it was great!

The first 15 miles were mostly on paths.  The look of fall was everywhere.

 Once I got to Beaverton I turned west and despite my mapping program wanting to send me out Tualatin Valley Hwy, I took parallel residential streets just a few blocks north to reduce the amount of traffic, and to minimize chances of right hooks.  It was a perfect day for a pedal.

I ran out of convenient alternate streets on the west end of Hillsboro, but by then traffic has dissipated  and right hook opportunities diminish.  I followed the Tualatin Valley Hwy to Forest Grove where I turned south on Hwy 47...... into a moderate headwind.  It was a two lane road with a 55 mph speed limit and wide shoulders.

I couldn't help but draw comparisons. I was recently crewing the Silver State 508.  On Highway 50, billed as the "Loneliest Highway in America" there were two lanes of traffic also, but they had a 70 mph speed limit and rumble strips.

It's not hard to guess where I'd rather be riding.

I got to my meeting about 90 minutes early.  Plenty of time to get cleaned up and change out of my superman outfit and into my Clark Kent duds.

The first ride of the day ended in sunshine and warm temperatures.

After the meeting I put the lights on the bike, 3 headlights and three tail lights, and donned my reflective vest. I pedaled toward Forest Grove with a brisk tail wind.  The ride went well, retracing my outbound route.

By the time I got to Tigard it started raining lightly.  I had rain gear along but the light rain did not warrant putting it on. By the time I got to Tualatin it was raining a bit heavier, but it still wasn't really worth stopping and putting on rain gear.  The rain tapered off a bit as I neared Wilsonville.  Even the small road side trees were sheltering the road enough that it was dry beneath them.

The second ride of the day was dark and a little damp toward the end.

I was still a nice ride.


..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total Today...........79...............0..............0...............0.............79 Jan............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........701.............0..............0...............0............701
April..........749.................0..............0...............0..........749
May...........613.................0..............0...............0...........613
June............309...............0..............0...............0...........309
July...............615...............0..............0...............0............615
August.........359................0..............0...............0.............359
Sept............292................0...............0...............0.............292
 Oct............299....................0..............0...............0............299  Total..........5134...............0..............0...............0..........5134