Mock's Crest for sunset

With the recent run of awesome weather, a last minute call was put out to ride a few miles to Mock's Crest to watch the sunset.  Surprisingly, I've never been to Mock's Crest before so I jumped at the chance to ride there tonight.

Many of the same folks who ride the Thursday Night Ride were in attendance.  The starting point for tonight's ride was the usual finishing location for the TNR, under the Hawthorne Bridge.  I rode to the ride from Sellwood Riverfront Park.  It is closer and easier for me to drive there than downtown Portland, parking is more secure, and I like the 5 mile warmup bonus miles.

Tonight's group numbered 40-50 folks, not bad for a short notice jaunt.

We rolled a little faster than the Thursday Night Ride pace, but still not fast.  I had the ultimate embarassing moment.  We came up to a red light taking the left two lanes of a 3 lane one way street. (we were preparing to turn left)  As we came to a stop, I was in the front and to the right side.  I am not the best at trackstands, and lost my balance leaning right.  My attempt to get out of my toe clips on the fixie bike failed, and as quick as a flash, I was on the pavement with a thud.  Everyone around me asked if I was okay.  Except for feeling stupid I was fine.  The bike had a battle scar.

Our entourage arrived at the park to find it already quite well populated with others also waiting for the sunset. There were easily 200 people there.

We staked out our section of turf and waited for the sun to set.

Before long the show began.

After about an hour it was time for me to begin my pedal back.  When I got along Interstate Ave I had to stop to get this photo.

By the time I got back to Sellwood, it was dark.  I had good lights, so it was not an issue.  It was a perfect evening for a ride.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ........20................0...................0.......................0...........20
Jan...............0................0...............,...0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......423................0..................0........................0..........423
YTD...... 824...............0...................0.......................0...........824