The end of the month....

....and two rides after work!

The first was my night route which I lead for my social bike group as a two lap ride beginning at 5PM.

Tonight I had 4 riders total.


We started out from Tualatin and made our way to Wilsonville, as we turned back northward Dave got a flat.

Dave fixing his flat on our first 50 miles of the evening.

The repair didn't take long and we were soon back in Tualatin with 25 miles to show for it. 2 of the riders didn't stay for the dark lap. Dave and I pedaled off on round two, but I had another ride beginning at 9PM so planned to cut round two short. I bid Dave fair travels just a bit beyond half way to Wilsonville. He continued on and I turned around.

I followed the club ride with what we are calling the Waffle Ride 2. What a blast! Rode from 9PM to 3AM, not many miles but what fun!

As I rode to the starting location I met on of tonight's riders admiring the waterfront view.


Chris always has such fun on these rides. Tonight she helped the bronze statue of Vera Katz get into the spirit of the evening.


We rode along the Eastbank Esplanade then out the Springwater Corridor


Then northward on the better illuminated I-205 path.


We made our first stop of the evening near Stark Street. After a short stay there we continued northward to Tillamook Street, a designated "Bike Boulevard". We rode down to 28th, another bike boulevard then made our way over to Burnside Street for the second stop of the evening.


After that brief stop we went across the Hawthorne Bridge and headed for a famous waffle cart on the west side of the river. To our surprise it had moved locations since we were out this way a week ago. Carts will do that I guess, they are on wheels after all! We decided that as much as we had planned on waffles, we could do Voodoo Donuts instead.


Chris was up to her hijinks again. She decide that some poster art could use some improvement.


She tells me you should always carry a supply of "googly eyes" because you never know when you might need one. ;-)



Having done the job of beautifying Portland we headed back across the Steel Bridge to close the loop. It was 3 AM and time to call it a night.


I had to be in Hood River ready to pedal a hilly 100 mile ride at 9AM. I went to the ATM, filled with gas and was ready to go by 4AM.

Yawn.

62 total miles for the day.

..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........62..............0.............0..........0..........62
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept.......1153..............0............50..........0........1213
YTD........7305..............0............87..........7........7489

A page turns

Tonight was the last Rocky Butte Hill Repeats ride of the season. Sunset was officially 6:57 pm this evening meaning it was fully dark by our finishing time of 7:30. Once the rains start it just isn't safe to be rocketing down that hill on dark and wet streets. It's been a fun run. Folks have improved fitness and we've had good times riding as well as post ride food and drink.

Tonight there were 4 of us. Monica and Jim have been quite regular attendees.



Chris has joined in the fun a few times previously too.



It was a nice evening for a ride up that hill. None of us worked really hard at it, but hard enough. Tonight I had my camera with me but the spectacular sunset of last Tuesday did not repeat.


Following the ride, even though 2 had driven to Rocky Butte, we all rode a few miles to our somewhat regular post ride watering hole, Staniches.

This photo, taken with natural light, shows there to be much more light than there really was. It was dark. The photo I took with flash wasn't as good.


We arrived at Staniches and rolled our bikes right in, as they welcome us to do. We sat down to some hearty snacks and cold drinks. (and maybe just a bit of horseplay!)


After a bit of time we rode back to Rocky Butte to return Chris and Jim to their cars.


I parked at 82nd and Johnson Creek Blvd this evening so I only had about 6 miles left to ride via the I-205 and Springwater trail.

It was a very good evening for a ride, thanks so much to all who made these hill repeats so much fun.

..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........31..............0.............0..........0..........31
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept.......1091..............0............50..........0........1151
YTD........7243..............0............87..........7........7427

Double the pleasure

I rode two laps of my "night route" and two people joined me! I have listed this ride on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on the social bike club's calendar for a couple of weeks now. I had yet to have anyone sign up to join me, until tonight when Teresa joined me for the first lap and Dave joined me for the second.

It was a beautiful evening for a bike ride!

It was a wouldn't/couldn't night. I told Teresa I wouldn't drop her, and try as I might I couldn't drop Dave. ;-)



..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........50..............0.............0..........0..........50
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept.......1060..............0............50..........0........1120
YTD........7212..............0............87..........7........7396

In your mind's eye

What a night not to have brought my camera!

I was leading the Rocky Butte hill repeat ride again tonight. Only two of us tonight but we were treated to an absolutely gorgeous sunset from Rocky Butte. You'll just have to envision it in your mind's eye. Jim and I rode 5 repeats before darkness made it's presence known.

Following the ride Jim and I were adopted for dinner and a card game. I had ridden in from Oaks Park so I raced back to my pickup and drove to the event.

It was our last scheduled Tuesday Rocky Butte ride, Thursday will wrap it up for the season.

It's been fun. We had good turnouts earlier but attendance has been lagging of late. Probably time for something fresh, though my M-W-F 25/50 ride has not caught on either. Maybe nobody likes riding with me! :-O

..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........36..............0.............0..........0..........36
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept.......1010..............0............50..........0........1060
YTD........7162..............0............87..........7........7346

Surprised!

The day started like this......



........and ended up by getting my thousand miles for the month of September!

After getting a good start to the month (404 miles in the first 5 days) I then took the next two weekends off from riding. I had fun wandering around in the Three Sisters Wilderness but figured it would likely cost me my thousand mile month, and the 10,000 mile year, but then a change of circumstances occurred. The weather was very nice and there were reduced hours at work. I hopped on the bike and rode.

An above normal amount of midweek miles coupled with a few longer weekend rides allowed me to hit the thousand mile month mark tonight. I was leading the "night route" for my social bike group. It's an event I've hosted every Monday-Wednesday-Friday for the last couple of weeks. It's been a bit slow to catch on and tonight was no exception. I was the only person signed up. While disappointed that no one would be joining me, it did give me some flexibility. After rain yesterday, and rain this morning, the afternoon was dry but windy. I got off work and was on the bike within an hour, a full hour earlier than the ride was officially supposed to start.

The early start allowed me to get the two laps in just before dark, and just before the rain started again. :-)

2 laps, 50 miles

..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........50..............0.............0..........0..........50
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept........974..............0............50..........0........1024
YTD........7126..............0............87..........7........7310

When rain is not the issue?

Well, when there's a 20 mph wind along with it of course!

I rode Salem Bicycle Club's "Peach of a Century" today.

The weather forecast called for a 90% chance of rain this morning and a peek out the window and a look at the radar image confirmed that the bike of choice today would be the rain bike. (more robust drive train, full fenders with buddy flaps)

My brother-in-law Dave and I rode together today, and there were about 10 other members of the social bike club there as well along with quite a few folks I've met through cycling over the years.

We got registered for the ride and pedaled off on the full century route, and directly into a 20 mph wind. It's fair enough to say that most of us have ridden into winds of this intensity before, but it doesn't make it any more fun! It was a long slog of about 20 miles into this wind before we made the turn on this somewhat circular course and the wind quartered out of our face.

Now we had rain to add to the fun. I stopped and put my goretex raincoat on, knowing that with the reasonably warm temperatures over heating was a likely outcome. I opened all the vent zippers to help with that issue.

The middle of the route is hilly. We climbed 4000 feet in the one hundred miles, most of it in the middle 35 miles. The rain lasted a couple of hours at varying intensities. It was wet but not cold. The last 30 miles or so we had winds ranging from sideways to directly in our face. After the morning's wind battle, the hilly mid section of the course, and now back into headwinds it turned out to be a tougher ride than expected. I've done The Peach a half dozen times, this was the hardest.

Part of my issue was heat. I knew I was getting hot but only had 15 miles to go. I unzipped as much as I could and just planned to pedal it out. Bad decision. By the time I rolled slowly across the finish my bike clothes were just soaked with sweat.

Oh well, call it training! (and as odd as it seems, call it fun!)

..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today.......100..............0.............0..........0.........100
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept........924..............0............50..........0.........974
YTD........7076..............0............87..........7........7260

Perspective

There was a heavy mist falling this morning as I drove out to ride the Banks-Vernonia linear trail. When I was in San Diego this would have been called rain. Around here this was just mist.
A small group of us assembled and prepared to ride.


Before long we were on our way toward Vernonia.


Steve was breaking in a new stoker today.



As we neared Vernonia there was a definite deterioration in the trails' care. There were cracks, root ridges. Even more of a concern were places where bollards had been removed, leaving holes in the asphalt that have not been repaird.

Two of our riders today went down in separate incidents. They ended up with some scraped up skin.


The tandem team rushed back to our starting location to bring a car to transport the rider. The other rider wasn't injured as badly and figured they could get out on their own.



We finished up in plenty of time for me to make it to Portland where I had an invitation to join a few folks on what promised to be nearly a repeat of what we rode yesterday. The four women responsible for putting this ride together posed for a little pre-event photo.



Maria was feeling a bit "badazz" tonight and decided to ride her single speed as well as show off her new bunny hopping prowess. ;-)



We started off with 9 folks, but after several hours our group had morphed into 4.


It was yet another good night for a ride. The light wind had switched around to now be coming out of the South. In these parts that generally means rain. We will see what tomorrow morning brings, I may be bringing the "rain bike" to tomorrow's Peach of a Century.



..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........57..............0.............0..........0..........57
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept........824..............0............50..........0.........874
YTD........6976..............0............87..........7........7160

The weekend begins

I had enough hours in at work this week that I got off in the early afternoon today. I was on the road pedaling by 4PM. I led a ride for my social bike group on a route that I ride often in the winter when I need a few miles, and it's dark and wet. It was neither today as I took off on the 25 mile loop. It didn't make a whole lot of difference that no other club members joined me. I rode two laps and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading out for ride #2 today. The second ride wasn't going to be as long, but was going to be a lot more fun!

Tonight 6 of us got together to ride a route that would take us over bridges, on bike boulevards, and through Portland's night life. Along the way we'd stop at a few bike themed or at least bike friendly food and drink establishments and finish up at a food cart noted for hot waffles made to order!

I arrived just a bit early. I had a few minutes to enjoy the evening. Oregon late summer evenings are just great.






Before too long the others began arriving. Chris had cut short Salsa dancing to attend our little bike adventure. Salsa dresses make pretty snazzy looking riding attire!


Chris came up with the idea for tonight's ride and picked out the stops. I connected the stops with a route on bike boulevards and bike paths. Christine was really into the spirit of things and had brought glow sticks to share with us. Maria found an interesting location to keep her glow stick!



Now all attired in glow sticks and good cheer we pedaled off toward our first stop of the evening, Hopworks Bike Bar.



After a bit of time there to boost calories we pedaled off on a series of bike boulevards. Maria took her leave at this point, having big plans for tomorrow.



We eventually arrived at Doug Fir and pulled in for our second stop.


From there we crossed the Willamette River and rode around the craziness of downtown a bit. We had a guy wearing only a cardboard box ask if he could ride one of our bikes. It was a crazy night and there isn't time or space to describe all that we saw and heard. Keep Portland weird!

Our only issue of the night was one of our riders went down while crossing the light rail tracks. There was a banged up elbow and knee to show for it.


Our last stop for the evening was for some yummy waffles from a food cart. Luckily they were open late because it was nearing 2 AM!


We all had to get up in the morning, some to work, some to ride bikes, so we decided to call it a night. Luis and Wendy pedaled a direct route back from the waffle stop saving perhaps 3/4 mile. Chris, Dave, and I rode a bit longer crossing the river on the Hawthorne Bridge. We got on the Eastbank Esplanade and worked our way back northward. Chris and Dave had parked near OMSI so they split off there.

I continued on to the Steel Bridge than by a series of wrong turns on surface streets added an extra mile or so.

I did eventually get back to my pickup. Good thing, I've got two rides tomorrow, the first requiring me to leave quite early.

Though some of the day's miles were technically in Saturday (well after midnight) I'm going to include them all here.

The waffle ride was a hoot. It was a warm evening, just perfect riding weather. Great company to ride with too!



..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........68..............0.............0..........0..........68
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept........767..............0............50..........0.........817
YTD........6919..............0............87..........7........7103

The weekend begins

I had enough hours in at work this week that I got off in the early afternoon today. I was on the road pedaling by 4PM. I led a ride for my social bike group on a route that I ride often in the winter when I need a few miles, and it's dark and wet. It was neither today as I took off on the 25 mile loop. It didn't make a whole lot of difference that no other club members joined me. I rode two laps and grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading out for ride #2 today. The second ride wasn't going to be as long, but was going to be a lot more fun!

Tonight 6 of us got together to ride a route that would take us over bridges, on bike boulevards, and through Portland's night life. Along the way we'd stop at a few bike themed or at least bike friendly food and drink establishments and finish up at a food cart noted for hot waffles made to order!

I arrived just a bit early. I had a few minutes to enjoy the evening. Oregon late summer evenings are just great.






Before too long the others began arriving. Chris had cut short Salsa dancing to attend our little bike adventure. Salsa dresses make pretty snazzy looking riding attire!


Chris came up with the idea for tonight's ride and picked out the stops. I connected the stops with a route on bike boulevards and bike paths. Christine was really into the spirit of things and had brought glow sticks to share with us. Maria found an interesting location to keep her glow stick!



Now all attired in glow sticks and good cheer we pedaled off toward our first stop of the evening, Hopworks Bike Bar.



After a bit of time there to boost calories we pedaled off on a series of bike boulevards. Maria took her leave at this point, having big plans for tomorrow.



We eventually arrived at Doug Fir and pulled in for our second stop.


From there we crossed the Willamette River and rode around the craziness of downtown a bit. We had a guy wearing only a cardboard box ask if he could ride one of our bikes. It was a crazy night and there isn't time or space to describe all that we saw and heard. Keep Portland weird!

Our only issue of the night was one of our riders went down while crossing the light rail tracks. There was a banged up elbow and knee to show for it.


Our last stop for the evening was for some yummy waffles from a food cart. Luckily they were open late because it was nearing 2 AM!


We all had to get up in the morning, some to work, some to ride bikes, so we decided to call it a night. Louis and Wendy pedaled a direct route back from the waffle stop saving perhaps 3/4 mile. Chris, Dave, and I rode a bit longer crossing the river on the Hawthorne Bridge. We got on the Eastbank Esplanade and worked our way back northward. Chris and Dave had parked near OMSI so they split off there.

I continued on to the Steel Bridge than by a series of wrong turns on surface streets added an extra mile or so.

I did eventually get back to my pickup. Good thing, I've got two rides tomorrow, the first requiring me to leave quite early.

Though some of the day's miles were technically in Saturday (well after midnight) I'm going to include them all here.

The waffle ride was a hoot. It was a warm evening, just perfect riding weather. Great company to ride with too!








..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........68..............0.............0..........0..........68
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept........767..............0............50..........0.........817
YTD........6919..............0............87..........7........7103

Another good night

Thursday night, time to lead the Rocky Butte hill repeats again. I gambled that I could ride the last 10 miles via Springwater Corridor and the I-205 Bike Path faster than I could drive through rush hour traffic. I managed to ride the 10 miles in 36 minutes, arriving at the starting location with 10 minutes to spare. :-) Not bad considering the stop signs and busy road crossings.

A small group again. Technically 3 of us, but one of the riders had a friend along bringing our number to 4.

Jim


Monica


and John

It was another beautiful night for a ride.

After riding 6 repeats (the last one with the bright light on) the group dispersed, Jim returning back across the Columbia River, and the other two heading west. I did what I do, hopped on the bike and enjoyed the perfect weather with some bonus miles.

I once again thought 50 miles would be a good goal for an after work weekday ride. I had 38 miles with just the hill climb and commute from Oaks Park. It didn't take much to ride another 12 via an out and back on the Springwater Corridor.

If I didn't have to work early in the morning I'd still be out riding.



..........road bike.......rollers.........mtb.....lifecycle.....total
Today........50..............0.............0..........0..........50
Jan.........474..............0............21..........7.........502
Feb.........530..............0.............0..........0.........530
March.......502..............0.............0..........0.........502
April.......524..............0.............0..........0.........524
May........1003..............0.............0..........0........1003
June.......1016..............0............10..........0........1026
July.......1148..............0.............0..........0........1148
August.....1049..............0.............0..........0........1049
Sept........699..............0............50..........0.........749
YTD........6851..............0............87..........7........7035