Lost...... sort of

Well, not really lost, but turned around a time or two.

Today is Thursday and time for the Thursday Night Ride.
It was raining and cold all day.  It only broke 50 degrees for 90 minutes, and that wasn't until 1:30 PM.  Last week's 200 people had shrunk to 90-100, just because it looked like we were going to get wet and cold.  As ride time neared, a look at the 4 hour forecast showed that by 7 PM, the chance of rain would drop to 48%, and by 9 PM, there would be a 4% chance of rain.

I loaded the rain bike, brought full raingear, and prepared for the worse.

I ran windshield wipers all the way to Portland.

I started in Sellwood again as per usual. I thought I was lucky and started between showers.

I arrived at our starting point just in time to catch a rainbow.

We started just a little after 7:30PM. The weather was looking pretty good!

Eric I. photo

 Not a drop of rain would fall on us all evening.  We pedaled around on both sides of the Willamette River, finally ending up in NW Portland, in an area filled with warehouses.  One of them had been converted into a music/dance venue.  The ride leader put on the techno tunes and we took in the pounding beat.

It amazes me how many of this decidedly younger crowd smoke.

The smokers were staying outside

Finally near midnight, Joe and I decided it was time to pedal back to Sellwood.  

We were both turned around a bit.  Joe said he could get us back.  I followed.  It took me a bit to get my bearings, but once I did I realized we were riding the wrong direction!  We got turned around (more than once!) and eventually got to the Steel Bridge, crossed back over to the east side of the river, and rode the Eastbank Esplanade and Springwater Corridor back to Sellwood.

It was 42 degrees when we finished pedaling, about 10 degrees cooler than our lows have been lately, but I was plenty warm enough with the faster pedaling Joe and I had been doing.

It was a beautiful night for a bike ride though!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ........32................0...................0.......................0...........32
Jan...............0................0...............,...0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......318................0..................0........................0..........318
YTD...... 719...............0...................0.......................0...........719