The McClinchy Mile

 The forecast called for 100% chance of rain today in the Arlington, WA area.  I loaded my rain bike up and made my way northward.  The McClinchy Mile ride started at Haller Middle School.   Given the forecast, there were only about half the number of riders in attendance as would normally be expected. I teamed up with 4 friends and rode off with dry roads and cloudy skies.  The McClinchy Mile has three main loops, plus a short family friendly loop. John H and I hoped to ride all three loops for the full 100 mile ride.  We chose the 48 mile loop to start off with, because we heard it was the hilliest.  We figured we'd get the more difficult stuff out of the way. 

As we got the route sheets in our hand we noted that hilly is subjective, there was less than 2000 ft elevation gain in the 48 miles.  We were a group of varying bike readiness.  Craig D was on a brand new Specialized Robaix with DI2 shifting. The other 4 started out in rain coats, but I started with just a windbreaker on.  The temperature was in the mid 50's, and I was afraid of overheating.

There were no big hills, but a lot of shorter ones.  At the top of each hill we'd regroup.  About 10 miles into the ride it started to sprinkle.  We all presumed our luck had run out.  I put my windbreaker away and put my rain coat on while we regrouped.  As it ended up, it never rained much.  Craig had not got fenders on the new bike yet, and so little rain fell that he didn't get that muddy stripe up his back.

We noted that we were doing a lot of waiting to regroup.  In two hours we had covered 17 miles. We got to Granite Falls and missed the first food stop.  The stop was poorly marked, as was the course in a few places.  None of us were hurting too bad, so we decided to ride on toward Machias, the location of the second food stop, another 15 miles down the course.

 After another few miles, and few more hills, Julie needed a food break. She didn't have a big breakfast and was getting hungry.  We stopped along the side of the road and she attacked some of the snacks she was carrying.  Having refueled we continued on. We regrouped at the right turn onto Carpenter Rd, and as we were waiting, who would ride by other than friend Geoff H!  He was on an SIR (Seattle International Randonneurs) ride. He continued straight, we turned right.

We arrived at Machias and feasted on cookies, peanut butter bagels, grapes and bananas.

At Machias the route turned onto the Centennial Trail, not to be confused with the Centennial Trail near Spokane.  There was a 15 mph speed limit on the trail, not that we were in too much danger of exceeding that today.

We pedaled along, visiting and watching the scenery go by.  After a few miles of trail, we got back on roads for the last few miles into town.  I understand that the trail is not paved all the way into Arlington, but they are currently working on completing it.

In no time we were back in Arlington.  We decided we'd better get a group photo.

John H, Scott B., Julie P, Me, Craig D

It was 2:30 PM, the course closed at 4 PM.  There was a stiff wind blowing.  My pickup was right there.  I decided to not make Julie wait as I rode.  John thought he might go for a few bonus miles, but was unsure how many he'd go for.

We walked into the school and nibbled on rider snacks.  After 30 minutes John hopped on his bike, and the rest of us got in vehicles and called it a day after just the 48 mile loop.

............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........48................0..............0...............0.............48 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........257.............0..............0...............0............257 Total..........1545...............0..............0...............0.........1545

Just in time

 I drove up to Seattle this afternoon in anticipation of this weekend's McClinchy Mile ride. I arrived with 30 minutes to unload gear, change into bike clothes, hop on the bike and ride down to Gasworks Park to join a group of folks on a ride to Alki Beach.  We left Gasworks at 6:15 PM.  We picked up a couple of riders at various points as we pedaled toward Alki Beach.  By the time we got to Jack Block Park we were 9 strong. It was a nice evening and there were others out for bike rides too.  We passed by friend Eric S who was riding the other direction.  We exchanged shout outs.  We were all invited to Bob D's place in Alki where he had turkey sandwiches all made up, and several varieties of beer.  I graciously accepted a sandwich, I passed on the beer.

  As it ended up, Martha, one of the last riders to join our group had biked the San Diego Christmas Bike Ride this year. She crashed on the last day of that ride, very near the end, and had been off the bike since then.  Today was her second time on the bike since December.  It was nice to hear about that ride, as I've done it for the last 5 years, but did not do it with the group this year.

Before we left Bob's I put my headlight on.  I would have had it on a bit earlier, but it was buried in my pack, and I was in a group of bikes with headlights.  I did have my rear blinkie on the entire ride.

As we passed under the ramps of the West Seattle Bridge we came across a large group of folks on bikes. It turned out to be an outing of the fun loving .83 bike group. They were about 45 of them!  As we passed, they pointed out that we should join them, and that we were going the wrong way to find fun.  They were probably right!

When we got back along the piers in Seattle I was a bit ahead of the group. I stopped to take this photo.
I was a nice night, despite the forecast for rain by dark.  I was riding in a thin long sleeved top with a windbreaker.  Long pants, but not my windproof ones.  I was very comfortable.

The rest of the gang was going to take a pitstop at the Nickerson Street Saloon  but I turned up Queen Ann instead.

What a nice night to be on the bike.

............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........32................0..............0...............0.............32 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........209.............0..............0...............0............209 Total..........1497...............0..............0...............0.........1497

Hardly worth blogging about

I'm attending to last minute details before taking off on a little road trip.

I put some toe straps on the fixie in an effort to stabilize my feet, especially when spinning fast down hills.

It is another absolutely gorgeous day, but alas, no time for a real ride today, but I did want to test the toe clips.  I went for a two mile spin before coming back home, and promptly taking a tumble because I couldn't get my foot off the pedal quick enough!

At least nobody saw me tip over!  ;-)

Evening update:

  It was just too nice to not be on a bike.
Dave, Bev, and I biked to "dinner".

High class people be we!
In the process, I more than doubled the daily mileage total.  ;-)

............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today...........5................0..............0...............0..............5 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........177.............0..............0...............0............177 Total..........1465...............0..............0...............0.........1465

A Beautiful Day to Boring

It was a beautiful day. I dilly dallied around in the morning, but finally got on the bike mid afternoon. I drove to Sellwood Riverfront Park and unloaded the bike. One had to look really hard to find any clouds at all.

I was on my fixed gear bike again. I've got to get in some miles on it so that I have at least a chance of doing a one day STP on it.

I wasn't sure exactly where I was going to pedal to, but started out on the Springwater Corridor.

When I got to Cartlandia there were a couple of Voodoo Donuts calling my name.

Seattle likes to talk about the views from the Burke-Gilman Trail, but IMHO they have to go a way to beat this.

I continued to pedal until I got bored, or more precisely, until I got to Boring. While the Springwater Trail runs generally east from Sellwood to Boring, it wiggles around a bit.  At the end point turn around the north wind was at my back as I rode up.

I turned around and pedaled back toward Portland, against the wind and uphill..........at least for the first half mile or so, then it was downhill and the route gradually changed direction enough that the wind wasn't a bother.

I got to Gresham to find a police car blocking the path, and fire trucks and ambulance blocking the nearby road.  It seems that one of those little mobility scooters that some folks use had gone off the path an into Johnson Creek.  Johnson Creek was running chocolate colored and fast.  The police and fire personal were setting up a "z-drag" to pull the little scooter out of the water.

After watching for a bit I pedaled off.  It seems nobody was hurt.  I'm guessing that maybe the operator just got too close to the edge to watch the water, and got a closer look than they planned on.

I was pedaling along about 17 mph, a pretty good pace for the heavy fixie with it's high rolling resistance tires.  I caught up to a young guy wearing a Cross Crusade jersey.  We rode together for a few miles, visiting about bikes, wheels, fixed gear, and STP.  Good stuff!

After a few miles he exited the Springwater Corridor and headed toward home.  I continued on to Sellwood.

I was a nice day, temperature was in the upper 50's and the sun was shining!


............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........39................0..............0...............0.............39 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........172.............0..............0...............0............172
Total..........1460...............0..............0...............0.........1460

An Adventure

 The word "adventure" is rarely used to describe a 3 mile round trip to the post office, but today it describes it quite well.

  I went to the post office to mail a couple of registrations to ride the McClinchy Mile bike ride in Arlington, Washington next weekend and payment for the Portland Wheelmen's STP bus.  The sun was shining through the windows at home, it looked to be the perfect day to bike there.  As I rolled out the driveway I noted some puffy dark clouds around, but no concerns, after all, I was only going to the post office!

I made it there and was sliding the envelopes through when the first big drops of rain fell.  I made my way under the post office covered entry and waited about 5 minutes as an intense rain shower passed. I took off as the rain tapered off to a few scattered drips. 

Before I could get 2 blocks, the rain came down in torrents.  I ducked under Ace Hardware's covered entry.  The rain turned to hail. The cashier stuck her head out the door and complimented me on my timing.

This time I waited longer to make sure it had really stopped before I rolled out again.  I pedaled over to McD for a bite to eat, and lo and behold, it started hailing hard again!

I took a refill on my soda and waited a bit longer.

I guess that's the kind of day I should expect when I can look one way and see this:

Then look the other way and see this:

In between there was this:

Only 3 miles, but it was an adventure!  I made it home without getting wet.



............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today...........3................0..............0...............0.............3 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........133.............0..............0...............0............133
Total..........1421...............0..............0...............0.........1421

Another Field Trip Day

Well, sort of.

After a nonstop rain day yesterday, on what was originally predicted to be the driest day, today was dry, on what was earlier predicted to be a wet day. I had a few errands to run. What better way to do it than to bike? I made a couple of rides to town for various supplies. After completing the projects I was working on the weather was still pretty darn nice. I hopped on the fixie and just went for a tour of the neighborhood.

I am a vocal supporter of riding with a helmet at all times, but.....me bad...... if I'm just riding the fixie to town I sometimes don't wear one. The route to the hardware store is just over a mile, and can virtually all be done on sidewalks or parking lots. My fixie has flat pedals, so literally I can just hop on a go for a ride.

I pedaled through parking lots and vacant residential streets and got to the historic site of Boone's Ferry.

Click on the photo to view full size and be able to read the text

The Willamette was running high from the recent heavy rains.

I continued to ride through city parks, parking lots, and quiet residential streets. Finally, with the day coming to an end I thought about getting a bite to eat. As I'm pedaling toward caloric nirvana I come across my sister who is out for a little fast paced stroll.

She rightly scolds me for not wearing my helmet, then takes my photo for proof of my stupidity.

I don't know why, but Friday was awesome weather but I didn't ride much, wanting to stay fresh for Saturday's ride....that was supposed to have awesome weather as well. Saturday was a very wet day but I rode 59 miles. Today was supposed to be wet, but was dry, and again I am a slacker. Can I only ride when it's raining?

It was a short mileage day, but a lot of fun!



............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........16................0..............0...............0............16 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........130.............0..............0...............0............130
Total..........1418...............0..............0...............0.........1418

Pinch Hitter

I had posted an invitation on Facebook for friends to join me on a reride of last year's 58 mile birthday ride. I love the route and hadn't ridden it since last year. After yesterday's awesome weather, and a forecast for a good day until rain moves in around 5PM, a lot of people made plans to ride. This morning I woke up to a changed forecast (rain now by 11AM) and only one lady friend joining me.

I was planning on starting the loop at Riverside Park in the Sellwood neighborhood of Portland at 9:30 AM. I arrived a bit early, made my preparations to ride, then just surfed Facebook from my smart phone waiting for my friend. 9:30 came and went, still no riding partner, but a light rain had arrived early. The Facebook surfing paid off however, dear friend Monica was semi-looking for a ride. It took just a bit of arm twisting to get her riding down from the West Hills to meet me at the Hawthorne Bridge. She would make a good pinch hitter.

The route is mapped to send us mostly on Portland's 40 Mile Loop with a foray north into Washington to the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail, just to gain some miles. I had not ridden with Monica for many months. We chatted a bit as we pedaled. She has moved to a low traffic area and remarked on how she has become a bit uncomfortable around traffic now.
When we got out by University of Portland I took the Peninsula Crossing Trail rather than stay on roads out to Kelly Point. That cut off about 7 miles of our expected 58. It had been raining continuously since I started, I didn't think she'd mind.

When we got to Columbia Blvd we rode on it for a few blocks before turning left onto the path again. At that point we have to cross railroad tracks. If we had just been 1 minute quicker to that point we wouldn't have had to wait for the train to clear. At least this one kept going forward, unlike the one yesterday.

One thing about a rainy day, I carried my camera, but it's just too much of a hassle to take off gloves, take off pack, take the camera out of it's waterproof enclosure, take the picture, reverse the process. In nice weather I just reach into the pocket and take the photo. Today there were no pictures from the road. :-(

When we reached I-5 we exited the 40 Mile Loop and entered into Washington. Monica had left home on short notice and was riding without breakfast. We fixed some of that caloric deficit at a coffee shop in Vancouver.

I was on the fixie. The route was fairly flat and the weather was supposed to be dry. Alas, the weather was wet (the fixie has no fenders) and the course had a few more hills than I remembered. There was one hill just passed the Ross Substation that worked me pretty hard. I got within 50 feet of the top of the 15%ish hill, then bailed off. I was down to an excruciatingly slow cadence and pushing on the pedals with all I had. I finally gave in to Sandy Earl's voice saying, "I could pedal it, but what's the use". I walked the bike the last 50 feet.

The rain was relentless, but never heavy. The temperature was in the 50's. We've all biked in worse. As we crossed the Glenn Jackson Bridge (I-205) we were on the path nestled between 3 lanes of freeway traffic each direction. While it was not raining hard, the road was wet, and each passing vehicle whipped the water into a frenzy. We were both glad to finally reach the Oregon shore and get off that bridge.

We pedaled the remainder of the 40 Mile Loop without incident. We were both glad to be finished up, but neither of us were really finished yet. Monica turned down my offer to drive her home, and planned to ride to the OHSU tram, ride it up the hill, then pedal the remainder back to her house. I planned to put my bike on MAX light rail, take that to Hillsboro, and lend my mom my "Gravity" DVD.

The shortcut taken early in the ride had shaved off almost 7 miles. My little commute from the Hillsboro Downtown MAX station to mom's and back, and from the Moda Center MAX station back to my pickup added 8. Net mileage? 1 more than I had expected.

Ya, it would have been nice to have sunny weather, but it didn't rain all that hard, temperatures were mild, and I got to ride with Monica for the first time in many, many, months.

I guess I'll have to call that a good day on the bike!


............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........59................0..............0...............0............59 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ........114................0..............0...............0............114
Total..........1402...............0..............0...............0.........1402

On a Field Trip

I have been attending the NW Leadership Seminar this week. During most of the seminar it was raining and blustery. Starting late yesterday the weather started to clear up. The seminar ended around noon today, and by that time it was looking pretty darn nice. I brought the fixie along to the seminar today, hoping to get a ride in so by 2 PM I was out riding.

The seminar was just a couple hundred feet from the 40 Mile Loop route, so I started out west on that. It was a nice afternoon.

Along the way I decided to ride out to Kelly Point Park, the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, rather than continue on the 40 mile loop. I had a gentle tail wind and was moving along at a pretty good pace. That all came to an abrupt stop when a came around a bend to find............

The train was in no hurry to clear the crossing. It crept forward a bit, then backward a bit, then stopped, then forward again It was a bad as a cat trying to decide whether to go outside or not! It finally moved on slowly.

I continued westward and was soon in the braided channels and lakes common at the junction of these two big rivers.
Here I ride along the Columbia Slough.

The sun was out, the temperature was in the low 60's, but still the park was nearly empty.

I made my way to the tip of land where the two rivers flow together. There were a couple of ships anchored in the Columbia River. A tug pushed a barge up to the grain terminal at the mouth of the Willamette River to load wheat. There were some barges tied off on piling along the river bank. I was out playing, but it was a working day on the river.

I felt like I was on a school field trip. I stopped and read all the sign boards.

I did a little better than Lewis and Clark, at least I saw the Willamette River. Of course they saw it, just didn't recognize it as a separate river. It would be easy to do when in a canoe among these channels and sloughs.

I exited the park and rode toward the St Johns Bridge but part way out turned around because the time was slipping away.

I rode back along the Columbia River. When I reached where the Columbia River splits around Hayden Island I stopped to take a photo of Mt Hood about 70 miles to the east.

I arrived back at the tangled twisty route through the I-5 interchange. Luckily it was well signed, because often one has to turn away from where you really want to go!

I made it back to my pickup, and as I was putting everything away my sister called. She had just flown back from a Minnesota business trip and was wondering if I wanted to join her and her and Dave at the Lauralwood Pub.

Score! A great way to wrap up a bike ride on a sunny day.


............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........27................0..............0...............0............27 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March .........55................0..............0...............0.............55
Total..........1343...............0..............0...............0.........1343

Golden Gardens

It was raining this morning in Seattle and predicted to be quite wet until mid morning then changing to showers. To my surprise it stopped raining about 10 AM, and the wind had the roads dried off by 11 AM. With mostly blue skies with a splattering of white puffy clouds it was time to get on the bike. I've only got the fixie with me this time around, so bike choice was easy.

I rode down from Queen Ann via 3rd Ave N. I was spinning pedals just as fast as I could and moving along at 25 mph. I hit a bump in the pavement and lost my footing on the pedals. No way could I catch back up with the pedals so I curled my legs up and rode it down to Dravus St where I could take a slight right and level out a bit. Once the speed slowed a bit I got back on the pedals. I was pedaling along about 20-21 mph when a car came up behind me and honked. There were cars coming toward me and this guy wanted around me. I held my position in the middle of the lane for safety, as there was no room for both of us to be in the same lane side by side, and pavement imperfections made room to maneuver mandatory. Within 2 blocks we came to a backlog of vehicles waiting for a light on Nickerson. I took my position in the line of cars, the impatient driver quietly cued up behind me. As the light turned green I accelerated hard and kept my place within the line of cars in the center lane, being the right lane as it turned across the Fremont Bridge. As I made my way onto the bridge I veered right and took the MUT on the bridge deck. The impatient driver watched from his backed up lane as I took the signal and crossed in front of him. Point made.

I rode out along the Burke-Gilman Trail toward Golden Gardens. I stopped at Jack-in-the-Box for some health food. ;-)
Having taken on calories and hydration I continued on to Golden Gardens. It was pretty out there today, but alas, no camera along, and also forgot to bring my phone. Take my word for it, the view across the Sound was glorious today.

After taking in the view for a few minutes I turned around and started back, all the while pondering the climb back up Queen Ann.

I started off on the "Easy Way" up Queen Ann. When I got about half way up I took a left where we'd normally go right, just because it was a sunny afternoon and I felt like exploring. It ended up being a bit steeper, but ridable on the fixie, barely.

I came in just below a cemetery and finally recognized the normal route ahead. I mostly followed it the rest of the way back.

Only 15 miles, but the weather was nice, and with the hill, it was a good workout.

............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........15................0..............0...............0............15 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March .........28................0..............0...............0.............28
Total..........1316...............0..............0...............0.........1316

Bike Expo

 Today was Bike Expo in Seattle.  It is one of the longest running trade shows, now in it's 26th year.  There was a wide variety of bike related businesses.  Attendees had the chance to look at bikes, bike racks, bike nutrition, bike clothing, tours, events, art, and photography, as well as presentations on all sorts of topics of interest to cyclists.

 There were a few guys demonstrating bike handling skills on trials bikes.



There were also a team from Germany doing "Artistic" cycling demonstrations.





I rode my fixie there, just a short 5 mile trip from Queen Ann via the ship canal trail.  The ride this morning was nice, the roads were dry and temperatures were reasonable.

The predicted rain arrived during the day so roads were wet on the return, but we dodged the worst of the rain. On the ride out I took 3rd Ave N straight down the hill, on the return I took the slightly longer and less steep way back up.  I did manage to ride all they way up Queen Ann without walking or dismounting.  I wasn't sure I'd be able to manage the grade in the 43x18 gearing, but managed (with much huffing and puffing!)

It was a nice ride and an appropriate way to commute to Bike Expo.

 ............road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........13................0..............0...............0............13 Jan.............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March .........13................0..............0...............0.............13
Total..........1301...............0..............0...............0.........1301