Day 29 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

Today was the 29th day of the #ridingeverydayinNovember challenge.  It was going to be a great day!  I planned to ride Portland's 40 mile loop before joining others at Portland International Raceway's bike night.  However, I couldn't find a group that matched my needs, they were either riding too slow and short,  I wasn't welcome on their ride (too many people already, not our kind of people, blah, blah, blah)  or they weren't offering a ride option for the group.  Having seen the lights many times now, I decided that if I couldn't partake in the social aspect, I wasn't going to go solo.

Instead I rode a few bonus miles. ;-)

I started off from Sellwood Riverfront Park late in the afternoon.  The morning had been nearly cloudless, but by mid to late afternoon some dark clouds were rolling in.

By the time I got to downtown Portland, I was beginning to rethink my decision to not bring raingear.

I still rode a loop of Portland's waterfront though, before continuing on the 40 Mile Loop route.
I pedaled reasonably hard, both because I feared a change in the weather, and because of my late start, and early impending darkness.  While I had not brought raingear, I did bring a light, thinking that I might yet decide to join others for the holiday lights at PIR. By the time I got along the I-205 Bike Path, the sun had set in the west.

But Mt Hood was doing it's best to stay visible.

I continued along to the Springwater Corridor and rode about a half mile before stopping to put on my headlight.  It was not yet dark, but added visibility to other riders on the trail was advisable.
I had just got moving again when a commuter pedaled up to me and complimented me on my bike, and more importantly, on my way more than adequate headlight!  We chatted a bit, then got into  friendly testosterone poisoning.  He was on a geared bike, I was on my fixed gear bike.  We held a solid 18-20 all the way back to the end of the trail. (just beyond the crossing over Hwy 99E).  I was just about at my limit, but didn't want him to know that!

I got back to Sellwood just before it became dark dark.

It was a good ride.  I was especially pleased that I could keep up with the commuter on the way back west!


.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today .........43................0..................0.......................0..........43
Jan...............0................0...................0.......................0............0
Feb..........124...............0...................0.......................0...........124
March......277................0..................0........................0..........277
April......559................0..................0........................0..........559
May.........414...............0..................0.......................0...........414
June........337...............0..................0.......................0...........337
July........310...............0..................0.......................0...........310
August.......40.............0....................0......................0............40
Sept..........100..............0...................83......................0...........100
Oct.............29...............0....................0......................0............29
Nov............552..............0......................0......................0...........552
YTD...... 2719.............0...................83.......................0..........2852