Thursday Night Ride + a little

Tonight is the weekly Thursday Night Ride.  I took off from home at 1PM to do a little preride.  It was 86 degrees!

I drove to Sellwood Riverfront Park then started riding eastward on the Springwater Corridor.  The farther east I pedaled, the stronger the east wind was in my face.  The warm dry air did make for some clear skies however.

I got as far as Gresham before I figured it was time to turn around.  Once that 18 mph wind was at my back I moved much more quickly, even on the fixed gear bike!  I made such good time that I stopped at Cartlandia and had two street tacos.

I still arrived at Salmon Street Springs, the starting location of the Thursday Night Ride over an hour early.

With the nice weather, there was going to be a good turnout.

It seems that TNR is getting famous.  I talked to several folks who had traveled some distance just to attend tonight's ride. (Seattle and Eugene)

We rolled out in usual fashion, large and in charge.

note the old guy in high viz yellow! (Gal Nic photo)

Portland is pretty bike friendly.  We took the entire road with no complaints from any drivers.  It might have been that we outnumbered them!

(thanks  Benji Bảo Vương for the video)

One of the out of towners remarked that he was amazed that the drivers let us do that.  I reminded him that WE ARE TRAFFIC too, and of course our numbers helped drive that point home.

We made a stop at Fred Meyer for those that needed to get supplies.  One of the staff made the rounds reminding us that having open containers of alcohol on the property is illegal.

note the guy riding his bike seated backward

As usual, there was a wide assortment of bikes.  Tall bikes, fatties, stretch bikes,  a lot of fixed gear bikes, beach cruisers, commuters, trials bikes, even unicycles and skateboards.  We were all there to have fun.
We rode a few more miles, then stopped again, this time at Jackson's, a favorite stop for stocking up on picnic supplies.

We rode the remaining few miles to "our beach".

BenjiVuong photo

 I didn't stay long at the after party, this old guy needs his beauty sleep!

I pedaled back to Sellwood Riverfront Park.  Along the way I stopped for a photo of Portland's newest bridge. (the new Sellwood Bridge is not officially open yet)

The Thursday Night Ride looked like this:

A short 10 mile ride

With my preride, and pedal back to my pickup, I got 44 miles today, good enough for a 224 mile week.  Not bad for this year.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ........44................0...................0.......................0...........44
Jan...............0................0...............,...0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......224................0..................0........................0..........224
YTD...... 625...............0...................0.......................0...........625