Day 1 of #ridingverydayinNovember

Well, after last year's abbreviated challenge, and a year of bike race duties, I got back on a bike today.

I haven't been on a bike since August 21st, when a rode a whopping 6 miles.  It wasn't going to be pretty, but I've got to start somewhere.

I still can't get my head around riding on roads.  Most of my 266 miles this year were in Panama, where the traffic is much different than here.  I decided to go ride the Springwater trail in Portland, which opened today after a long closure to provide a fish passageway.

It was a nice day, the high reached 68F, with only a few drips of rain from time to time.

The fall colors are beginning to fade, but were still worth a stop from time to time to get a photo.

I was on my fixed gear bike, because I carry less weight on my arms on it than I do on my road bikes.  My arm continues to be subject to pain when I use it for anything more than the lightest of duties.  I thought that I'd be more comfortable riding the fixie.  What I didn't expect was knee pain, in the knee that was banged up in the incident last November.  Anytime I had to exert on the pedals, there was quite a twinge of pain.  Luckily, this was a pretty flat route.

I got to where the work had been done.  There was some signage installed to explain what had been done.

It was a pretty nice day to ride, especially for November!

The upstream side of Ross Island in the background

I continued on my way.  When I got to the waterfront in Portland, I noted some new informational signs. Since I old and slow, I stopped to take a few photos. :-)
You can click on any photo to see it full sized, to better make out the text.

The Glacial Erratic noted in the previous photo

Having reviewed Peregrine Falcons and the Missoula Floods, I continued on my way. I continued on down to the Steel Bridge where I crossed the Willamette River.

 

In Tom McCall Waterfront Park I found the last vestiges of fall color.

  I rode back upstream on the west bank.  I crossed back over the Willamette River again, this time on the Tillicum Crossing, Bridge of the People.  There was a nice view of the neighboring Ross Island Bridge.

The downstream end of Ross Island

Tillicum Crossing

It wasn't a long ride, but today it was long enough.  Baby steps.

........Road Bike........Rollers.......MTB..........Lifecycle......Total

Today .....6.................0..................0....................0...........6

Jan.........26................ 0................0.....................0..............26

Feb.........7..................0................0.....................0...............7

March.......5.................0................0.....................0...............5

April.......0.................0...............66.....................0...............66

May.........0..................0..............79......................0...............79

June........2..................0...............0......................0...............2

July........64.................0...............0......................0...............64

August......11..................0...............0.....................0...............11

September 0..................0................0.....................0................0

October 0..................0...............0......................0................0

November 11................0................0......................0................11

YTD........126...............0...............154.....................0.............277