A last minute ride on a beautiful day

It was a typical Spring day.  There was a touch of frost this morning, but it would warm to the upper 60's by afternoon.

I had a lot of errands to keep me busy today.  I was just getting going on the list (waiting in line at my bank) when friend Carol texted me asking if I wanted to go for a ride.  I haven't biked with Carol in quite some time, so I accepted her invitation.  I asked her what time and where, she answered that she was on her way to Sellwood Riverfront Park.  Well, that put me in a rush!

I put my bike on the bike carrier and made haste to Sellwood.  I arrived to find Carol, as expected, waiting for me.

She wanted to ride about 40 miles, and ride over the Tilikum Crossing bridge.

We took off northward on the Springwater Corridor.  In 4.5 miles we arrived at the Tilikum Crossing.

It was a beautiful day, and the I-podded masses were out along the waterfront.  We rang bells and hollered, and clamped the brakes hard from time to time.  We made it to the Steel Bridge without hitting anyone.

We returned to Portland's 40 mile loop after crossing the Steel Bridge.  Our little detour would be enough to bring this 39 mile loop up to it's advertised 40 miles.

We had to make good time because Carol had to work later in the afternoon.  Our next photo stop would be on the bluff near University of Portland.

Looking back upstream over Swan Island

We rode across the peninsula separating the Willamette River from the Columbia River and turned up the Columbia.  I had expected a headwind here, the usual situation when the weather is clear, but was surprised to find a slight tailwind.

We continued our way upstream along the Columbia.

When we reached Interstate 205 we turned south and rode to the Springwater Corridor.
We turned west and kept right on pedaling. As we neared 82nd Ave, there was a Portland Police Officer talking to some of the homeless people camped in the area. We didn't stop to figure out what was going on.  As we passed Cartlandia Carol wanted to stop for tacos but I figured we were too tight on time to allow for a stop.
We kept on pedaling.

We made the mandatory jogs on neighborhood streets to stitch together the missing segment of the Springwater Corridor and were soon back in Sellwood Riverfront Park. (6 minutes before our deadline!)

It was a nice day on the bike!

When I got home I found that a video made by the Tualatin Valley Visitor's Association has been posted. A few of us spent a few hours several months ago being extras for this video. You can see the results of our hours of riding bikes around with drones flying overhead beginning at the 38 second mark. (you can see my bright yellow jersey and brightly colored fixed gear bike at 39 seconds. Another 0.5 seconds of my 15 minutes of fame logged!



.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ........40................0...................0.......................0...........40
Jan...............0................0...............,...0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......198................0..................0........................0..........198
YTD...... 322...............0...................0.......................0...........322