Day 27 of #ridingeverydayinNovember

I woke up early to the sound of rain pounding on the roof.  The forecast called for showers this morning changing to steady rain by afternoon.  I loaded up the rain bike and headed for Sellwood Riverside Park planning to ride at least 35 miles.

I'm still very reticent to bike near traffic.  Something about being hit twice by cars, neither time was I at fault, will do that.

As I got to Sellwood and was putting on bike shoes and helmet, the rain stopped.  I took advantage of the situation and pedaled off.

Within 0.8 miles I came across a coyote standing right at the path's edge.  By the time I could get stopped and get the phone out to take his photo, this is all I got.

See the coyote?  Me neither!

I waited around a bit hoping to get a photo of the coyote but eventually continued on. I arrived at the floating walkway (at 1200 ft, the longest in the U.S)

There was quite a bit of blue sky around, but what clouds were there looked like they might be cooking up something.

I exited the Esplanade and rode on up to Williams Ave.  It is one of Portlands Neighborhood Greenways.  It used to be a two lane one day street, but now is a one way one lane street with the other lane relegated to bicycle use.

Whenever a left turn for motor vehicles is allowed, a turn lane appears to share the lane with bikes.  It worked well, and cars would wait for me to pass before entering the turning lane.  All that is except for the lady who didn't quite have that figured out.  I saw a car slow and come to a stop about 100 ft in front of me at a location that allowed a left turn.  Cars began to line up behind it.  As I approached I raised a hand to thank the driver for being so considerate, but just as I got to the rear fender, she started turning across the bike lane.  Since I already had my arm extended, it was pretty easy to slap the rear fender and give a good shout.   She immediately stopped, at right angles to the bike lane, and directly on top of it.  I rolled up to the passenger side. She rolled down the window and started apologizing profusely.  I told her I just wanted her to pay better attention before crossing a bike lane. I told her that I had been hit twice by cars in very similar situations and was a little touchy about having drivers not be paying attention.  She was obviously very shaken up.  A loud pounding unexpectedly to the fender might do that! Hopefully she is more careful in the future.

We both continued on our way.  When I got to the Columbia River I turned upstream.  When i got near the airport it was raining all around me,  I could hear thunder rumbling from time to time, but I had blue sky above me.

Two sets of 4 military jets took off with a loud roar.  They were so fast and following each other so closely as they took off that I didn't get any photos.

I turned south on the I-205 path.   Portland, like many cities, has a homeless population. As I approached I wasn't sure if I was seeing a forced eviction or perhaps a medical emergency.  As I got closer it became obvious that today City crews were cleaning up the mess.  The residents had their valuables in piles across the street watching the progress. It was pretty obvious that as soon as the crews were finished and moved on, that the homeless would reestablish their camps.

Shortly after taking the above photo I got a flat front tire. I set about repairing that, then pedaled on.
I was pedaling against a slight wind, but was making reasonable time.

I made the turn west on the Springwater Corridor trail and enjoyed a bit of a quartering headwind here too.

I took a loop through Cartlandia feeling just a bit hungry, but didn't find anything that struck my fancy.  I guess I really wasn't hungry after all!

I arrived back at Sellwood  with 33 miles.  I was aware that I had 365 miles before my ride today, and could do the math.  I needed 35 to roll over 400 miles for the month.  That is a good goal for today.  I rode down to the wildlife area overlook and back, then added one lap around the parking lot to get the 35 miles. ;-)

The was 1018 ft of climbing.

I felt lucky to never get even a drop of rain while on the bike today, and with the temperature 60F, I was definitely dressed too warm.  But it was a good ride.


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

Today .....35.................0..................0....................0............35

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 400................0................0......................0...............400

YTD........506...............0...............154.....................0.............660