Riding a bike!

Well, I finally got most of the supplies from Race Across Oregon put back away. (only to be taking it all back out in a month for the Hoodoo 500!)  It was time to ride a bike!

Bev and I took a spin to happy hour.  It was my first ride in 7 days, and Bev's first ride in months!  We are lucky we remembered how to stay upright. I took my fixed gear bike and Bev took her "comfort bike".

It was a comfortable pedal along sidewalks and parking lots for the most part.

I have some chores to take care of tomorrow, but hopefully will get out for a couple of miles.  It might be the last chance for a ride this month, as early Friday I take off for Lake Louise to support the BC Randonneurs' Rocky Mountain 1200k.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ..........3................0..................0.......................0.............3
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........198...............0..................0.......................0...........198
YTD...... 1906.............0...................0.......................0..........1906

Race Across Oregon

I am in The Dalles in advance of tomorrow's Race Across Oregon.  I designed the course and created the route book.  I'm taking a bit of glee in the fact that this is the toughest RAAM qualifier, with 522 miles, and more importantly, 41,717 feet of elevation gain. At least the weather will cooperate, it may be a bit windy, but is predicted to be about 25-30 degrees cooler than normal.  There shouldn't be any long climbs in 100 degree temperatures this year.

I am on the support crew for Lisa Bliss, rider number 505.

Me, Csilla, Lisa, and Tim, ready for action!

You can view satellite tracking of her and the other competitors HERE.

Frozen Yogurt break

After a good first week of biking in July, I spent this week preparing for this weekend's Race Across Oregon.  I'll be on Lisa Bliss' crew, after my crew chief job fell through when Barry Dickson withdrew.  Rumor has it that satellite tracking will be available at the RAO website.

As any rate, I took a break from preparations and took the fixed gear bike into town for a bowl of frozen yogurt. .....the only time I was on a bike all week. :-(


.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ..........3................0..................0.......................0.............3
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........195...............0..................0.......................0...........195
YTD...... 1903.............0...................0.......................0..........1903

God loves TNR

After several weeks of warm and dry weather, today changed a bit.  Clouds built in the morning and by middle of the afternoon it was raining lightly.  None of that matters to the Thursday Night Ride, we were going to ride regardless!  I put on rain gear, loaded my bike and drove to Sellwood in search of bonus miles.  I unloaded and started pedaling.  It wasn't raining hard and was near 70 degrees.  I got to Boring and turned around and started pedaling back.

I arrived at Salmon Street Springs to find about 150 people waiting to join the fun.  While down a bit from recent TNRs, it was still a respectable number of people on bikes given the weather....  except the weather broke just before we pedaled out.  There wasn't a drop of rain for the entire ride!  Our ride leader said God must love us.  No doubt, and God must love TNR! Nathan changed the route up a bit tonight, it was nice to have a change!

I didn't bring my camera (or phone) because of the anticipated rain, but Joe got one of me. I'm the guy on a fendered rain bike wearing rain gear and a helmet. I'm not the guy on a tall bike!  ;-)

Joe "Wheels"  photo

As the ride wrapped up, the group was going to build a fire and party a bit. I rode on.    Wouldn't you know it, it started raining again!  It rained on me the entire way back to my vehicle at Sellwood, and continued to rain as I drove the nearly half hour back to Wilsonville.

At least it was warm, and fun!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today .........53................0..................0.......................0............53
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........192...............0..................0.......................0...........192
YTD...... 1900.............0...................0.......................0..........1900

Errands

I was working on Race Across Oregon preparations today.  In doing so I noted that I needed some hardware to get things ready to go.  I took the fixed gear bike to the hardware store, then had lunch, before riding back home.  I would have biked to my board meeting tonight in Forest Grove, but had to bring a pickup load of race supplies back from storage while I was out that way.  I didn't get much biking done today, but got a lot of bikey things done!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today ..........3................0..................0.......................0.............3
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........139...............0..................0.......................0...........139
YTD...... 1847.............0...................0.......................0..........1847

4th Down, and Long Yardage.............

What to do?  Well, punt of course!

I had some "honey do's" for my mom.  I decided to drive there rather than bike, because we had planned to continue out to Forest Grove to take in fireworks.  I got the jobs done, then mom decided that she really didn't feel up to fireworks.  Drat, if I had known that I would have at least got a 50 mile ride in.

So, I scrambled like a quarterback dodging a blitz, and came up with an alternate plan.  I drove back home, loaded my fixie, and drove back into Sellwood.  My plan was to get a few miles pedaling before settling in to watch the fireworks launched from near Tom McCall Waterfront Park, where it was the last day of the Blues Festival.

I pedaled in, tootled around the Blues Festival a bit, and finally settled in on the Hawthorne Bridge, with front row seats for fireworks.  They'd be launching them from a barge not more than 300 ft away.

The morning's cloudy skies had cleared up nicely. While not as warm as it had been, it was a comfortable 72 degrees as I started out.

Plenty of musical entertainment to keep me occupied

It wasn't a long ride, but watching those in automobiles trying to get home, it was the best choice tonight!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today .........17................0..................0.......................0............17
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........136...............0..................0.......................0...........136
YTD...... 1844.............0...................0.......................0..........1844

Fun!

It was going to be another gorgeous day.  Remembering the grey, wet, blustery days of Winter, I decided I should be on my bike today!

I decided to start from Willamette (to avoid the hill between home and there!) and ride the 40 Mile Loop. I took the fixed gear bike, for the fun factor!

I parked in Willamette Park and began pedaling toward historic Oregon City. After passing through Oregon City I accessed the Clackamas River Trail.

The path wound it's way along the Clackamas River.  The shade was welcome on this warm day.

The river is mostly blocked from view, but I did manage to get a look at it.

In short order I reached the end of the trail at an abandoned highway bridge, now repurposed  as a pedestrian and bicycle crossing. I was early enough in the day that the rocks were unoccupied.

I had been here 4 years ago, that time with a pretty lass. Today I was alone again, naturally.

I pedaled along a few streets until I could get on the southern terminus of the I-205 bike path.

I had forgotten how segmented the section of the I-205 path is south of the Springwater Corridor.  There are many orphaned segments, with riding on roads required to connect them.  Riding a road bike on a road?  The horror!  ;-)

Once I connected with the Springwater Corridor, I turned left and headed toward the Willamette River.  I prefer to ride the 40 Mile Loop clockwise.  There are some areas on Going Street near Swan Island that are just safer in that direction.

I continued on the 40 Mile Loop and despite a nearly cloudless day, there managed to be a few clouds over Mt Hood when I got to the I-205 path.

I continued south on the I-205 path, passing through the city within a city, Maywood Park.

Click on the photo to get a readable sized version

I came across a good example of why a cable lock is pretty much worthless.

I made slow but sure progress with my southbound riding.  Eventually the clouds over the Cascade Mountains, and Mt Hood, had cleared.  I was stopped at a red light and managed to get a quick photo, but could not get a good position to get that pesky sign out of the way.

I was soon back on the segmented southern portion of the I-205 path, being aided by a brisk tailwind!

In no time at all, I was back in Willamette, finishing up a 65 mile day, and a 380 mile week.

Fun, fun, fun!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today .........65................0..................0.......................0............65
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........119...............0..................0.......................0...........119
YTD...... 1827.............0...................0.......................0..........1827

Another computer house call

I rode out to my mom's place again today to do some computer house cleaning.
When I last rode out there, there was a section through Beaverton that I knew had to have a better option. Mom has moved recently and I knew that a nice route around the south end of Beaverton existed.  Today I used ridewithgps.com to look for an improved passage.

I avoided the busy city streets and pretty much stayed on paths and virtually empty residential streets.  As I rode past Century High School, the bike lane was covered by 3 drivers too lazy to walk an extra 50 ft, who parked right on the bike path, and right next to a "no parking any time" sign.

I did my civic duty and called the Washington County Sheriff's non emergency dispatch and filed a complaint.

The only other issue I had was as I neared Hillsboro I needed to take a left turn across Brookwood, a busy street.  There was a steady stream of vehicles coming from both directions.  Rather than wait for them to clear, I pedaled onward to Cornell and took my left turn with a signal.  (see the "flag" on the map)

I spent a couple of hours changing a few settings, copying photos to alternative storage, downloading some new security apps, and de-cluttering facebook.

Then I pedaled back.  On the way back I managed to ride my course.  Right turns are always easier. :-)
The new sections of trail (to me) were nice.

And the residential streets were an improvement over busy city throughfares.

Another nice 50+ mile day!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today .........54................0..................0.......................0............54
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.........54...............0..................0.......................0............54
YTD...... 1762.............0...................0.......................0..........1762

Thursday again

Today was Thursday, and time once again for the Thursday Night Ride! Art, Bettina, and Dave joined me for a 40 mile preride of the Springwater Corridor to Boring and back.

It was a beautiful day!  We pedaled along at a moderate pace, enjoying a long overdue visit.

We got to the trail end in Boring, where we had a chance to talk to a Death Ride participant. In short order we were back on our way to Portland.  Bettina picked up the pace a bit, and we boys did our best to hang on!

                             

She rode fast enough that I had nearly an hour to waste before TNR started.  What better way to waste time on an 85 degree day than to have a chocolate sundae?  ;-)

TNR was going to be fun tonight.  There were more mobile sound systems and more decorative bikes than usual.

The crowd was a little smaller than it has been in recent weeks, possibly owing to other rides going on tonight.

There were still about 200 people on bikes.  Nathan was back at the helm after working the Trans Am Bike Race.  He led us on a slightly longer than normal route tonight, ending at Irving Park were we met up with a sizable crowd that was already well into bike party mode.

I didn't hang around the party for long.  I noted that by the time I finished riding it was 9:38 PM PDT, and the sky was still blue with no stars yet visible.  The days of course are getting shorter again, but the long daylight is certainly nice.

Another fun day on the bike, and despite only having 75 miles in June as of the 26th, I managed to end up the month with 337. Hardly stellar, but at least decent by this year's standards.

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today .........59................0..................0.......................0............59
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
YTD...... 1708.............0...................0.......................0..........1708

Another nice day!

It was going to be another nice day in NW Oregon........despite a cloudy start. I finally got out for the 50-100 mile route that I had hoped to ride yesterday before computer problems changed my plans.
I searched my past routes using the search criteria of starting close to home, and being between 50 and 100 miles.  This 73 mile route fit the bill perfectly.

It was in the high 50's as I started off, and I wore a light windbreaker to ward away the chill.  The clouds held out longer than expected, and I kept the jacket on for about 30 miles. This was a pretty flat course, only climbing about 1600 ft in the 73 miles.  There were a couple of 5% grades near the Willamette River, but they weren't long.

By half way through the ride, the clouds vanished and the temperature began to climb.  It would reach 81 before I was finished.  That is a few degrees cooler than it has been the last few days, and not "hot", but actually quite comfortable today. The wind was out of the north, and not overly troublesome.

It was a good day on the bike!

.........Road Bike.....Rollers.............MTB..........Lifecycle......Total
Today .........73................0..................0.......................0............73
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........278...............0..................0.......................0...........278
YTD...... 1649.............0...................0.......................0..........1649