Thursday!

I had a full day of meetings but arrived home just in time to take in TNR! (Thursday Night Ride).  I grabbed the mountain bike and drove to Sellwood to save some miles driving and add to the usually short miles of TNR.

I was thinking that TNR started at 7PM and it looked like I was going to be late. I was hoping that it would start less than punctually.  It was a nice night for a preride.

As I neared the Salmon Street Springs fountain, I noted that the crowd was still there!  I was ten minutes late by my estimation and was hoping that I might be able to see them crossing a bridge over the Willamette and be able to catch them.  As it was, the ride was supposed to start at 7:30, so I was 20 minutes early!  Perfect!  I wandered around and visited with those I knew, it had been many months since I had attended.

Mariana was there, but on crutches, but we still had a nice talk. She speaks Spanish and English fluently and works at a law office and is familiar with immigration issues.  We had a good conversation!

It is the Thursday NIGHT Ride, but since the daylight changes, and the ride time does not, this time of year the sun is still up for a couple of hours after we start.  In the winter the sun is already down for a couple of hours before we start!

We started off about 10 minutes "late". Nothing like summer weather to bring everyone out.  We had nearly 200 riders.

Our first stop was at Safeway, where we spent about 45 minutes as folks stocked up on supplies, and the security guard cut us some slack citing the influx of business we brought.

After making the purchases, we rode a short distance to a park where frisbees were tossed and drinks were consumed. We had only pedaled about 6 miles at this point and I was wondering if we were ever going to do the "ride" part of the Thursday Night Ride.

Finally the cats were all herded together and we pedaled out. I couldn't safely get any photos as we were moving.  With this many people on bikes we were in tight quarters, and like many groups, there are varying bike skills and varying experience of riding in tight formation. More than once the night air was filled with the smell of burning brakes and skidding tires. :-O

We stopped at another store to replenish supplies (this ride is nothing if not social!)

The group was led to another park to socialize.

This time the neighbors joined in the celebration by launching some fireworks.  The slow "shutter" of the phone and the even slower action of the photographer, coupled with not knowing when one would be launched made me feel lucky to even get this much of some pretty decent fireworks.

We shoved off again and this time covered a bit of distance to get back toward the usual area.
We stopped at the traditional final stop, at a convenience store.  It was getting late, and I'm a little bit outside the demographic of this group, so I pedaled on this time rather than wait around another half hour or more.

The Tilicum Crossing changes color depending on the temperature of the river and air.  This time of year the yellows predominate.

I had two bright back lights on, but the front light was a safety blinky.  Not the best for navigating the dark Springwater Corridor.  For those keeping score, even traveling 10-12 mph, I had to take quick evasive maneuvers to avoid hitting 8 different walkes/standers.  All wearing dark colors with no lights.  I also had a buck deer jump over the 4 ft fence just 10 feet in front of me.  Later I heard something hitting the chain link fence and as I neared the sound, I could see that a small fawn was trying to get over the fence but could not clear it.  It ended up running down the paved path for perhaps 75 ft, before changing direction and going back toward the river.  I made it back to my pickup without any collisions.

It surprised me to find that the route had just over 800 ft of climbing.

It was midnight!  Time for this old guy to go home.

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

Today ......0.................0................28.....................0............28

Jan.........0.................. 0..................0.....................0..............0

Feb.........0..................0..................0.....................0...............0

March.......0.................0................0.....................0...............0

April.......0.................0..................0......................0...............0

May.........0..................0................80....................0..............80

June........63..................0................59....................0..............122

July........86...................0................78....................0..............206

YTD.........175...............0................218.....................0.............393

Another ride through the forest

A friend called today and wanted to go for a bike ride.  We decided on the Banks-Vernonia State Trail......no cars!

I had to be somewhere that I could take a phone call at 3PM, and I really wanted to be somewhere that I could take notes as well.

We shoved off at 11:30 from the Banks Trailhead. We pedaled along at a reasonable pace, but I had to stop several times to take important phone calls. We arrived at Vernonia in just under 2 hours.  Even with the stops for phone calls that was over an hour faster than the ride two days ago. My friend wanted to use a restroom and grab a bite to eat. I didn't have time for such luxuries. I took a photo of the Nehalem River and bid my friend good bye.

I knew that I had to keep my speed up to make it back in time to take the call. I rode along pretty quickly, only stopping once briefly to get a photo of a fairy circle.

My maximum speed was only 27.6, but I had a more consistent speed today. I ended up timing it just right.  The phone call arrived 4 minutes early, just as I rolled up to my pickup. I ended up having to drive about 4 miles to sign some documents, then returned back to the Banks Trailhead just as my friend rode in.  We both retired to a local watering hole to have shrimp and chips, and a beer.

A perfect way to end the day!


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

Today ......42.................0.................0.....................0............42

Jan.........0.................. 0..................0.....................0..............0

Feb.........0..................0..................0.....................0...............0

March.......0.................0................0.....................0...............0

April.......0.................0..................0......................0...............0

May.........0..................0................80....................0..............80

June........63..................0................59....................0..............122

July........86...................0................50....................0..............178

YTD.........175...............0................190.....................0.............365

A last minute fall back plan

I messed up today and drove to St Paul to join 15 people on a ride around French Prairie when the ride really was next Saturday.  :-(

Rather than ride solo on roads, I drove north to Banks and rode the Banks-Vernonia State Trail. It was the first time I've been on my carbon bike in nearly two years!

It was a beautiful day to ride a bike!

I did take one detour out along Williams Creek. The sign seed "stream view, 1/2 mile" it started out as a dirt road, but as it neared the creek, it turned into a small boulder strewn path. Being on 23mm tires, I was definitely at a disadvantage. When I got to the creek I stopped and took this little video of Williams Creek.

I made my way back to the paved path and continued on toward Vernonia.

I hadn't had a decent breakfast and with this longer ride and slightly uphill slog, I was feeling a bonk coming on. I was looking forward to replenishing calories when I got to Vernonia.

The Banks-Vernonia State Trail was Oregon's first rails to trails conversion in 1991, and is beginning to show it's age.  Especially in the 7-8 miles on the Vernonia end there are many off these:

The final stretch into Vernonia was more exposed and there was a noticeable headwind hampering my progress.  With less than a mile to go I crossed the Nehalem River.

I arrived in Vernonia and made my way to a gas station/convenience store.  I took in a balanced diet of protein, carbohydrates calories, and hydration. ;-)

Having replenished my energy level I pedaled back toward Banks.  The wind in the opening miles was now a tailwind though it was slightly uphill.  I felt comfortable pedaling at 17-18 mph. After a few miles I caught up with a fat tired electric bike.  The operator was complaining about the hill hampering his speed.  You know what happens when there are two bikes together, a race!  I pedaled on with new vigor. I arrived at the 11% grades used to bypass the horseshoe trestle. I quickly maneuvered the sharp switchbacks down to the Hwy 47 crossing, then mindful of my electric assisted nemesis behind me hammered up the 11% grades back up the other side. I kept thinking of the Furnace Creek 508 that had 11% grades on Towne Pass (after 200+ miles of racing) where I never dropped below 5 mph.  Today I couldn't match that performance, but close, 4.8 mph. As I topped out and faced downhill riding to the finish of today's ride I stopped to take a drink and check social media while look over the scenery.  I heard the singing of knobby tires at speed.  Sure enough, my electric assisted friend had arrived.  He zoomed by me while saying, "finally some downhill". I put my stuff back in my pack, and hopped back on the bike. I couldn't remember what the maximum speed of an electric bike was, but I figured I would better that with my big gears and gently downhill grade (even if the legs lacked their former glory)  I kept the bike at 25-35 the whole way down. After a few miles I caught electric bike guy and reveled in being able to call out "on your left" as I went around him! There is nothing worse than passing someone only to have them pass you back again, so I kept pedaling.  I arrived back at the Banks Trainhead, 41 miles, 1 hour and 11 minutes after leaving Vernonia. Not too bad for an old out of shape guy.  Electric bike guy arrived a few minutes later. We chatted a bit as I helped him lift his bike into the back of his big pickup. He said the top speed of his bike was 20 mph which he maintained all the way back from Tophill.

I rewarded myself on a job well done at Hop Cycle Brewing.

being left handed I went for the offering on the left.

43.7 miles, 1551 feet elecation gain  11.2% maximum grade, 34.1 maximum speed.


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

Today ......44.................0.................0.....................0............44

Jan.........0.................. 0..................0.....................0..............0

Feb.........0..................0..................0.....................0...............0

March.......0.................0................0.....................0...............0

April.......0.................0..................0......................0...............0

May.........0..................0................80....................0..............80

June........63..................0................59....................0..............122

July........44...................0................50....................0...............50

YTD.........133...............0................190.....................0.............323

Kelly Point

I started off the day returning a loaner car and picking up my pickup from a mechanic doing warranty work on it.  I had a few miles between those two locations so brought my mtn bike.  I got 5 miles in.

The reason I brought the bike was that after a day of meetings, I would finish up the day with a group of a dozen folks on a ride out to Kelly Point Park.

As I drove in stop and go traffic through Portland I took this photo of the Willamette River in Portland.

Tonight's ride would go to where the Willamette River met up with the Columbia River.

We started off from the Lucky Lab Tap Room in North Portland.  We rode residential streets for the first few miles, then mostly bike paths for the remainder. The pace for tonight's ride was listed as 13-15 mph.  I figured I could keep up on the mountain bike.  My GPS recorded my top speed as 21!  When we got on a long stretch of path with no turns the leader freed us up to ride our own pace.  Since I didn't know the exact route they'd be taking, I decided I'd better keep up! The knobby tires were singing loudly!

We got to the Columbia River and regrouped.

We pedaled back retracing our route.  Even though I was nearly the lanterne rouge, I stopped at the Bluff near the University of Portland to take a photo of downtown Portland in the distance.

We finished up the ride then regrouped at the Lucky Lab for food and drink.  It was a nice night for a ride!

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

Today ......0.................0.................29.....................0............29

Jan.........0.................. 0..................0.....................0..............0

Feb.........0..................0..................0.....................0...............0

March.......0.................0................0.....................0...............0

April.......0.................0..................0......................0...............0

May.........0..................0................80....................0..............80

June........63..................0................59....................0..............122

July........0...................0................50....................0...............50

YTD..........89...............0................190.....................0.............279

Through the woods

I had a noon time meeting in Forest Grove, but took my mtn bike with me in hopes of riding the Banks-Vernonia rail trail. I arrived at the Banks Trailhead just after 2 PM.  The parking lot was full and as I pedaled out there was a pretty steady stream of people on bikes coming back.  I was obviously late to this party!

A full ride from Banks to Vernonia would total 42 miles.  I was thinking that about half of that would be about right. I set my sights on getting to Tophill, about 12 miles in, and not surprisingly, at the summit.

 I pedaled out on what was a beautiful day.

 I stopped from time to time to take a photo.

  I stopped to get a photo of the wild peas in bloom, but a squirrel decide to photo bomb.

As I neared Tophill I noted a sign that said there was a viewpoint 1 mile away to the right.  The road as not paved, but I had the mountain bike, so I turned and went up. The maximum grade reached 18.3%.

I never did get a good view, it seems that the trees grew up since the sign was erected. I could see out across the hills and valleys, but branches precluded getting a decent photo. I continued on until the road I was on turned to dirt, then morphed into game trails. About the time I decided that I should probably turn around I reached a clear cut and could see a road on the far side.

I made my way across the clear cut and arrived at a spur road, that soon intersected with Bacona Rd. I pulled out my phone and brought up Maps.me and determined that I should go to the right.
It was a gravel road and was definitely going down. The gravel was deep and loose enough that I kept both hands on the bars and kept my speed down below 15 mph.  I tried to pick a path to stay on firmer surfaces.  Before too long I was back down to the Buxton Trailhead. From there on I let the bike roll.

I stopped a a logging operation to get this photo

Then continued back down the trail toward Banks.

As I got back to the Banks Trailhead, I noted a guy putting notes on vehicle windshields. He noticed me riding up and handed a little note to me and invited me to visit his local brew pub sometime.  I took him up on the invitation and had baby back ribs and a locally brewed IPA.  Not a bad day at all!

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

Today ......0.................0.................21.....................0............21

Jan.........0.................. 0..................0.....................0..............0

Feb.........0..................0..................0.....................0...............0

March.......0.................0................0.....................0...............0

April.......0.................0..................0......................0...............0

May.........0..................0................80....................0..............80

June........63..................0................59....................0..............122

July........0...................0................21....................0...............21

YTD..........89...............0................160.....................0.............249