Day 30 of #ridingeverydayinNovember--COMPLETED!

Today was day 30 of #ridingeverydayinNovember, the challenge is complete!

It was a nice day in Hillsboro, Oregon.  The temperature was 29 degrees with east winds gusting to 3 mph as I pedaled out. Yes, 3 mph.  No worries, before the day ended, the winds would be blowing at a sustained 20 mph.  In Troutdale, at the mouth of the Columbia Gorge, it was blowing 50 mph sustained.

With east wind blowing in Winter it usually means that dry cold air from east of the Cascade Mtns is pouring into the Portland Metro area.  Humidity drops as much as the temperatures with both often being in the teens.

Enough of a climate discussion though.  Today I biked out to my Mom's to hook up a new CD changer, and install the last of the outdoor holiday lighting.

My ride was along the Urban Growth Boundary.  For those not from the area, Oregon has zoning to limit urban sprawl and save farmland.  Rather than urban sprawl that many other areas have, Oregon (well, at least the Tri-County Portand Metro Area) has dense urban growth right up to the UGB, leaving one side of a road in farmland, while the other side is dense housing and urban growth.

The sun was shining as I pedaled west.

Being a country boy, the open farmland drew my interest more than the Silicon Forest infrastructure on the other side of the road.

 I had to make one dash to a one-stop-shopping center to get more electrical cords and timers for Mom's lighting project.  By this time the wind had picked up and was very noticeable.  The best thing about wind though, on an out and back trip, one half is with a killer tailwind! :-)

With all the honey-dos, and a long drive today, all I got was 18 miles.  Some of my #ridingeverydayinNovember family had much worse conditions to ride in.  Lisa reported riding in 10 degrees! Joe had 30 degrees with 30 mph winds. Deb rode 6 hours in 20 degree temps. Several of them logged 1000 mile months.

I had it easy.

I wish I would have got time to ride along the Portland East Bank Esplanade, along the West Hills, or out through the Gorge.  It would have been nice to share some of those scenic vistas with my new friends, But alas, there was just not enough free time this month.

Oh well, it was a good day to ride.

 Thanks to all for making the month so much fun!

...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today............18...............0..............0...............0..............18 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.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............650...............0..............0...............0............650 Total..........6186...............0..............0...............0...........6185

Day 29 of #ridingeverydayinNovember-Back on home turf

Yesterday I left Seattle just in time. The temperature was in the mid 50's when I rode in the morning, but had dropped 15 degrees by early afternoon in advance of predicted snow.  Sure enough, most of the Seattle area had about 2" of snow this morning.

I am in Hillsboro to join my mother and sisters on the annual "Sugar Storm", a Christmas Cookie making extravaganza.  The morning started off at 40 degrees, about 10 degrees colder here than it was yesterday, but the sky is clearing (and dry east wind building through the Columbia Gorge)

I did not have much time to ride, but since my #ridingeverydayinNovember family expects us to hang together, I hopped on the bike at 8:30AM. The sky was beginning to clear after a night of rain. The few remaining bits of precipitation were falling as wet snow.

The area I was riding in was farmland not too many years ago.  It is still very near the Urban Growth Boundary.

 Farm fields were not very far away.

 By 9AM it was beginning to look like it would be a pretty nice day, but it was time for  me to wrap it up.

The temperature continued to drop. By 10:30 AM there was snow falling, though not staying around long. The east winds are predicted to be blowing 50 mph by midnight.  Tomorrow morning's ride, the last of the #ridingeverydayinNovember series, may be very interesting.


...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today............8...............0..............0...............0..............8 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.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............632...............0..............0...............0............632 Total..........6168...............0..............0...............0...........6168

Day 28 of #ridingeverydayinNovember--RAIN!

When I committed to #ridingeverydayinNovember I expected most days to be raining.  After very few days of rain, today finally fulfilled the expectations.  I had just a short time to ride and didn't have the time available to wait for dryer weather.  The forecast for the Seattle area for the next few days says to expect freezing temperatures and even a chance of snow.  Tomorrow's high is expected to be 33 degrees. I'm going back to Portland!
If it weren't letting down my #ridingeverydayinNovember family I would have stayed inside today.

For the last bike ride in Seattle this month I took a short tour of Queen Anne.

The scene as I started out

I found a new to me overlook, Bhe Kracke Park.  Today's view was mostly of rain falling.

 

I continued around the top of Queen Anne, being not particularly fond of bouncing down typically rough pavement made slick by rain.  I stopped at the next overlook, Kerry Park

With a little more riding, and a lot more rain, I made my way to Marshall Park

I only had to cross the street to take a quick tour of Parson's Garden Park.

 

Just a short distance more along historic Queen Anne Blvd and I was at another viewpoint, this one unnamed.

The two lanes of 8th Ave W are not separated by a white center line, but rather by about 25 vertical feet!
The "cross walk" involves stairs.

Hey, there's a bike up there at street level!

I continued around Queen Anne, making one more stop to look over the east side.

Looking over Gasworks Park in the middle distance

As is almost always the case, once out in it, it really wasn't bad at all.

...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today............5...............0..............0...............0..............5 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.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............624...............0..............0...............0............624 Total..........6160...............0..............0...............0...........6160

Day 27 of #ridingeverydayinNovember---Thanksgiving

 Happy Thanksgiving to all my blog readers, and especially to my #ridingeverydayinNovember family.  I am thankful that I am healthy enough to think that a 35 mile bike ride in the rain on Thanksgiving morning is fun!

I started off just before 8AM in a driving rain.  I rolled down Queen Anne via the direct route, 3rd Ave W, a straight shot down the hill.  I arrived at the Fremont Bridge, our designated meeting point, where three of us start our ride from today.

Arsen had put this ride together and said yesterday that we'd have about 6 riders. The rain must have scared a few of them.  By the time we shoved off from there the rain had stopped.

Erik, Arsen, and I pedaled along the Ship Canal Trail, then to the Elliot Bay Trail, and finally on the Alki Trail.  The wind was noticable.  At times we were working pretty hard to maintain 12 mph. The route winds around a bit so at times we had a cross wind, or even a tailwind, but for the most part we had headwind on the way out.

We arrived at Tully's, the traditional turn around point on this ride. We were all doing good yet on food and water so we only stopped long enough to take a photo.

We turned around and enjoyed the mostly tailwind return.

Discussion while cruising along revolved around safe cycling technique.

When we arrived back at the Fremont Bridge we stopped and wished each other a happy Thanksgiving. We talked about my impending climb back up Queen Anne.  There was some questions on what the grade up 3rd Ave W might be.  Rather than my usual Kralik Way ascent, I offered to ride up 3rd Ave to verify the grade.  I can report now that it is a solid 8-9% climb.  There were a couple of short stretches where it bumped up to 10% but those were very limited.

The rain during the "pre-ride" never returned. 

I knew there were going to be days during this #ridingeverydayinNovember thing that would be difficult, rain, possible ice, family birthdays, and federal holidays, could all make riding difficult.  Well, here we are on day 27 and so far, so good!  I think I'll get this!

Happy Thanksgiving!

...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today...........35...............0..............0...............0.............35 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.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............619...............0..............0...............0............619 Total..........6155...............0..............0...............0...........6155

Day 26 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

I had some errands to attend to, and what better way to do them than by bike?  Especially since it was warm and dry in Seattle and I'm still #ridingeverydayinNovember.  It was 62 degrees as I started off.  The sky  was grey, so I packed rain gear just in case, and rolled off the south side of Queen Anne heading toward the Space Needle.

 

I pedaled through the site of the 1962 World's Fair. 52 years after the fair closed, it's a bit more quiet here now

I smiled as I rolled at the speed of traffic down the center of the right lane of the three laned 2nd Ave.  The new 2 way protected bike lane of death runs down the left side of this one way street. Why any organization or political entity would be proud of such a thing is beyond me.

I turned west and joined the waterfront near where the new tunnel is being built..........oh so slowly.
In addition to the tunnel construction, there is also work being done on the seawall.  It all makes for a cluttered and chaotic scene.  Once I got north of all that craziness I could slow down a bit.

 

 

 I rode by Terminal 86, Seattle's grain loading facility.  There was a Chinese ship berthed taking on wheat. In Portland wheat shipping is big business, owing to it's location on the Columbia River which provides easy access via barge and sea level rail from Eastern Oregon and Washington wheat country, as well as Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana. In Seattle they are more geared for container shipping. The grain facility is state of the art though.  There was no wheat dust at all as they loaded the ship.

Terminal 86 (Port of Seattle photo)

I continued on a bit more and noted that the clouds were low enough that they obscured most of Mt Rainier.

You can just make out the snow covered base of Mt Rainier near each edge of the photo. The summit would be above the two red cranes.

I continued along the Elliot Bay Trail

Looking back at Seattle

I crossed the Ballard Bridge, again in the center of the right lane, and not on the narrow sidewalk trying to dodge pedestrians. I was able to pedal 25+ mph all the way across even though the surface was metal grating.   With a 30 mph speed limit, and another lane to use, I wasn't a problem for the cars and none of the drivers gave any complaint.

I made my way through Ballard and Fremont, crossed the Fremont Bridge, and then rode The Kralik way back up Queen Anne.

No rain, light breeze, another great day to be #ridingeverydayinNovember


...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today...........15...............0..............0...............0.............15 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.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............584...............0..............0...............0............584 Total..........6120...............0..............0...............0...........6120

Day 25 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

 The Seattle weather forecast this morning showed rain early, changing to less than 50% chance of rain from 10am-noon, then more rain, and returning to less than 50% again from 2pm to 4pm. I took off about 15 minutes after the rain stopped, just before 10am, to do some pre-holiday fact finding. On the way out I saw about 10 very small pre-schoolers attached by their hands to a rope anchored on each end by adults.  It was obviously a class outing. The kids, in raincoats and boots,  were splashing and giggling exuberantly in a giant puddle with the adults looking on from the ends of the rope. I needed a photo of that smile inducing event!  I turned around and as I was pulling my camera out I said hello to the adults and said I just needed to get a photo of those cute kids.  The told be it was illegal to take a photo of the kids.  I found what they said to be questionable at best but respected their wishes.

I continued on with my planned errand to scope out some possible gift ideas.  After doing that I rode back.  I made it back up Queen Anne before the rain returned, and had logged 9 miles. I did a little research on rights to photography in public places and found that I was correct.  I had planned to go for another ride in the opposite direction later in the day during the next weather window. It never arrived, and I wimped out and never rode. My errands are not time sensitive and I can wait the rain out............. as long as I keep ‪#‎ridingeverydayinNovember

...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today............9...............0..............0...............0..............9 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.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............569...............0..............0...............0............569 Total..........6105...............0..............0...............0...........6105

Day 24 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

Yesterday started out wet but I consulted the weather forecast before riding and was rewarded with a glorious day to ride.  Today the day started dry but after consulting the forecast decided that riding sooner was going to be far better than riding later.  The forecast said it would be very wet and windy by early afternoon.

I rode off the top of Queen Ann and pointed the bike downhill. For a brief moment I feared I had waited too long.  There were a few large drops of rain falling as I went down 3rd Ave at 35 mph.

 
The Fremont Bridge is the most active drawbridge in the U.S. so it was not surprising to find it in the raised position when I arrived there to cross it. The rain has stopped by now, before it really ever got started.

 

While waiting for the bridge it did give me a front row seat of water traffic.

 After the bridge went back down I crossed over and followed the Ship Canal downstream.

I rode for a few miles then was sucked in by the availability of fast food.  The craving was satisfied by a Jumbo Jack Cheeseburger combo meal.  It's a good thing that it was a 5 mile ride to get there.  It might help balance out some of the detrimental effects of such a meal.

I managed to ride there and back without getting wet.  The ride back up the ~450 ft Queen Anne hill  went easily today.  It must have been the cheese burger!

...........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 ..........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.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............560...............0..............0...............0............560 Total..........6096...............0..............0...............0...........6096

Day 23 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

 As the day dawned it was raining and windy.  I pulled up the weather app on my phone and noted that the chance of rain dropped to 20% between the hours of 10AM and 4PM.  I decided that I was going for a ride.  My Seattle friends were wringing their hands in angst while looking at the rain falling trying to decide if they would ride. I knew they would continue to waffle until there was no longer time to ride.

As I rolled out there were still a few drops falling, and would continue to do so while I rode the first 7-10 blocks.  Then it quit, and would not return for the rest of my ride.

My plan today was to take a self guided tour of some of my favorite water views. I rolled straight down Queen Anne to the Ship Canal and followed it toward salt water.

 I arrived at the Hiram Chittenden Locks, the dividing line between the freshwater lakes and the saltwater of Puget Sound.

I followed the shoreline closely and was soon looking across Shilshole Bay.

Looking upstream, back up at the locks.

The Kitsap Peninsula in the distance

 I continued through the Lawtonwood neighborhood where I got a good view of sailboats on the Sound.

I arrived at Discovery Park and set about exploring.

I  rode to the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center. I did not stop in today but will make a point to do so soon.  Today I would be content to ride the car free roads.

I rode out to the West Point Lighthouse.

It seems that no matter which body of water I ride by in the Seattle area, I see these signs.

It is sad the progress comes at such a cost.

On my way out of Discovery Park I detoured a bit to pass through historic Ft Lawton.

Surprisingly, the fort closed just 3 years ago.

I exited the park and followed Magnolia Blvd.

Soon I was able to look south across Elliot Bay and see Alki Point.

I made my way off Magnolia and rode along Seattle's waterfront.

Elliot Bay with Bainbridge Island in the distance

I 

Looking across Elliot Bay toward the Duwamish Waterway

 I rode across the West Seattle Low Bridge and stopped to take a photo as I crossed over the Duwamish Waterway, the highly modified Duwamish River.

I stopped at Jack Block Park, a former Superfund Site.
In addition to being yet another location with signs warning that it is not safe to eat seafood from the waters, it also has some nice views of Seattle across Elliot Bay.

 

I rode out to Tully's a traditional turn around point and refueling stop.  I did not stop, just turned around and started back.  The day had continued to clear as it progressed.  I ran across friend Eric as I exited the the West Seattle Bridge. He had just completed an interview with some cyclists for his new blog project.

With the skies now clear enough to see the Olympic Mountains across Puget Sound I couldn't help but stop to take another photo.

With time running short I tucked the camera away and pedaled. It had taken me most of the day to ride about 50 miles and take some photos, but it was now time to get going.

 I took the Elliot Bay Trail to the Ship Canal Trail back to Fremont, then The Kralik Way back up Queen Ann.

It was a surprisingly good day, far better weather than expected.

Day 23 of #ridingeverydayinNovember can get checked off the list!

...........road bike..........rollers.........mtb..........lifecycle.......total Today...........52...............0..............0...............0.............52 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.............708...............0..............0...............0............708
Nov.............550...............0..............0...............0............550 Total..........6086...............0..............0...............0...........6086