Riding Around Queen Anne

It was a lovely evening in Seattle.  The sun was shining and the temperatures were in the low 70's.  Julie and I took funny bikes (she on her Bianchi comfort bike, me on the fixie) and rode to a local Irish Pub to use a groupon. The food was good, the music authentic,  the beer cold, and the politics obvious. 

Our bikes waited tethered outside as we partook.

Following our meal we rode a few blocks to Menchies for frozen yogurt desert.  From there we rode around "the crown of Queen Anne".  The views were good.  We were in no hurry.

Seattle doesn't get many warm summer days, and the locals were taking advantage of tonight's weather.  Every overlook was packed.  No problem, we were just out looking for a gentle evening ride.

Success.


 ..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today...........4...............0..............0...............0.............4 Jan............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........701.............0..............0...............0............701
April..........749.................0..............0...............0..........749
May...........613.................0..............0...............0...........613
June............309...............0..............0...............0...........309
July...............207...............0..............0...............0............207
 Total..........3775...............0..............0...............0..........3775

Lake Washington Loop

The weather in Seattle was pretty nice today.  A lot of people were out on bikes. Our little group of 4 rode around Lake Washington. It was warm and a bit humid as we took off from Gasworks Park at 9AM.  No arm warmers, leg warmers, or jackets around today.

I was on the fixed gear bike today.  Next weekend is STP, a little 204 mile one day ride that I intend to do fixed this year.  It was nice that for most of the first 15 miles or so we were on the STP route, it gave me a chance to preview the route, and how I could handle it on the fixie.

We rode along Lake Washington, on STP this will be in dim light, today with a 9AM start it was bright

This section of road will look familiar to those who've biked STP.

Mike K spinning the pedals around

It was a fun day, with plenty of smiles.

My fellow riders were natives, so there wasn't much chance of getting lost, but just in case, there were signs to show the way.

We got about half way and stopped at Coulon Park, where there was a  good view of the water......

....and a Kidd Valley hamburger stop.  I had a cheeseburger and chocolate shake. :-)

When we got to Kirkland, I noted that a coyote was getting a ride on a cow. I wasn't sure what meaning there was in that, but I took a photo anyway.

We were beginning to get some light rain, it is Seattle afterall!  It was not enough rain to dampen spirits though.

By the time we got to North Seattle it was beginning to rain a bit harder.  We stopped to see if Bilbo Baggins was home.

We arrived back in Fremont and stopped at one of our favorite post ride refreshment establishments, The Dock. We were beginning to wish we had brought at least light jackets to fend off the raindrops.  There was some discussion as to whether the time stopped would be beneficial or detrimental to our rain issue.  We stopped anyway!

As it ended up, it was good.  We met up with a few other cycling friends there and spent a bit of time.  When we finally hopped back on the bikes, the rain had stopped.

We pedaled back up Queen Ann (via the "Kralik Way") and upon garaging the bikes, the rain started falling again.

A perfect way to end the day.


 ..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today..........58...............0..............0...............0............58 Jan............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........701.............0..............0...............0............701
April..........749.................0..............0...............0..........749
May...........613.................0..............0...............0...........613
June............309...............0..............0...............0...........309
July...............203...............0..............0...............0............203
 Total..........3771...............0..............0...............0..........3771

SOOS "Rahoo"

I ride around Mt Hood every year.  Most of the time I ride with a group of friends who have dubbed the ride "RAHOO", roughly an acronym for "Ride Around Mt Hood".  They have even come up with a pretty cool jersey. (I'll take a photo of mine and post it when I get back home)

This year I won't be able to ride with them as the chosen date conflicts with my crew chief duty for Steven Burns at the Hoodoo 500.

I still wanted to ride around Mt Hood.

All of the above verbiage can pretty much be ignored, just know that Ken and I biked around Mt Hood today. Given that Ken has been sick and off the bike for the last month, and I'm old and out of shape, we dubbed today's ride "The SOOS Ride" (sick, old, and out of shape ride)

We started from Main City Park in Gresham. In addition to a popular skate park it is adjacent to the Springwater Trail.  We'd be coming back in on the Springwater, but first took off toward Stark Street and the bridge over the Sandy River.

We started up the Historic Columbia Gorge Scenic Highway.

We climbed up to Women's Forum Park.  It was probably all mental, but with the daunting miles and elevation gain we were looking at today, this little 1000 ft hill felt insignificant.

We continued on past the Vista House picking up speed as we descended back to river level.  There were some clouds that were predicted to clear out by late morning. There was no threat of rain, and the cooler temperatures were welcomed.

Before long we rolled into Multnomah Falls, where we made a brief stop to water/dewater.

Shortly after leaving Multnomah Falls we arrived at the reopened Oneonta Tunnel.

We pedaled past a number of waterfalls, including Horsetail Falls.

After Ainsworth State Park we accessed the newly constructed connector.  When Interstate 84 was built in the 1960's the old Columbia Gorge Highway was sacrificed.  As the water level interstate was built it orphaned many segments of the old highway, and destroyed many features, including the famous "Tunnel of Many Vistas", the Mitchell Point Tunnel

The Friends of the Historic Columbia River Highway and Historic Columbia River Highway Advisory Committee have made it a priority to reconnect all the segments by 2016, the 100th anniversary of the opening of the old highway.  They've done a good job keeping all the new construction matching the look of the original features.

Here we crossed McCord Creek on a new bridge.

We continued along the old highway, here called the Historic Columbia River Highway State Trail.

The old road is left hanging at Tooth Rock, where a stairs now brings us back down to river level, where the road used to descend a now non existent grade.

We continued eastward on the HCRC State Trail for a few more miles before having to get on the shoulder of Interstate 84 for the last 7 miles to Hood River.

The shoulder was wide, and traffic accommodating. We soon were riding past Mitchell Point, where the road grade of the now gone Mitchell Point Tunnel can still be seen.

With the aid of a tailwind we arrived in Hood River quickly.  We grabbed "second breakfast" and refilled water bottles.  Talk during breakfast centered around our impending ride conditions which involved significant climbing, and the end of the tailwind that we had enjoyed up to this point.

We started up the Hood River Valley, and were rewarded for our climbing with some nice views.

Mt Adams

Mt Hood

The Hood River Valley is a famous fruit growing area.  Mostly famous for pears, there are also many cherry orchards, and the red cherries were in full splendor.

We arrived in Parkdale, our last stop for resupply before making the long pull up to Bennett Pass,  near 4800 ft elevation.

Ice cream and chocolate milk worked, and a refill of water bottles.  After leaving Parkdale we took the optional route, with bonus climbing, up to Cooper Spur.  It was more scenic, and brought us to Highway 35 seven miles farther up the hill.

Ken used a water faucet at Cooper Spur to top off his water.  He was working harder than I!

We dropped down to Highway 35 and continued the climb up to Bennett Pass.

While the road was busier, there was still some good scenery.

East Fork of Hood River

It was not a steep climb, but relentless.  I climbed slowly, at times excruciatingly so.  Ken was stronger on the hills.  He waited for me, though I told him I knew the way, and had lights along if necessary.  He even got a short nap in at the top of Bennett Pass!  Me?  I just pedaled.

We descended from Bennett Pass losing several hundred feet in elevation, on the way to White River.

We climbed back up to Government Camp and then began the 6 mile long at 6% descent, followed by generally descending all the way back to Gresham.  What had been a tailwind in the morning was now a headwind as we headed west.  It kept our speed reduced to just under 40 mph as we rolled down the hill. There were a lot of orange barrels and construction equipment staged for a road project that is slated to begin on Monday.  We were glad we got through there today.

We continued down Hwy 26, taking parallel roads where possible.  They were quieter, and more scenic.

Just west of Sandy we took the turn to Boring

  From there we jumped on the end of the Springwater Trail and rode it back to Gresham where we finished up the ride.  I was tired, even Ken said it was a workout for him.  All in all, a good ride!

 ..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........145...............0..............0...............0...........145 Jan............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........701.............0..............0...............0............701
April..........749.................0..............0...............0..........749
May...........613.................0..............0...............0...........613
June............309...............0..............0...............0...........309
July...............145...............0..............0...............0............145
 Total..........3713...............0..............0...............0..........3713

Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway, day 2

Doak and I wanted to get an early start to get as much of the return done as we could before the anticipated headwind became a factor.  We were ready to roll out shortly after 6 AM.

Since this was an out and back, I didn't bother creating a separate route on the Garmin for the return.  The only place that made a difference was on one way streets in towns. That would not be a major concern as we skirted most towns with one way streets.  We did start out having to navigate the twisting bike paths/freeway interchanges by the seat of our cycling shorts to get out of Eugene.

We enjoyed a sun dog show as we made our way north of Coburg.

We were relieved to get the first few miles finished without any headwind. The miles from Coburg to the hill are quite exposed.

See, I really was in front of Doak at times!

 We got over the hill and stopped at a convenience store for a morning snack. We continued on to Brownsville where the scene was much more subdued that when we passed through yesterday afternoon. 

 We had 50 miles under our belts before the wind became an issue.

A country church on Sunday morning

 We arrived in Albany and took a bit of a detour into Bryant Park.

Doak doing his own version of "Road Bike Party"

 Having taking enough break, we continued on northward. I stopped to take the following photos as we pedaled through the Ankeny Game Refuge.  Doak continued on. It would be the last I saw him until we finished up in Wilsonville!

 As with yesterday, the winds were more intense in the south valley.  We never experienced more that a 10-12 mph wind.  We both were grateful. As I approached Salem, I was ready for a break.  I stopped at the convenience store near the golf course on River Road.  I spent nearly 30 minutes there resting, filling water, snacking, and nursing a big cup of Sprite.  I was concerned about drinking something fizzy while biking, given my history, but something ice cold sounded so good.  While the wind was less than yesterday, the temperature was about 10 degrees warmer.  Doak texted me just as I was ready to pedal out saying he was in Keizer and would meet me at a favorite watering hole in Wilsonville.  He was about 45 minutes ahead of me at that point.

I pushed hard and stayed on the aerobars most of the way. The rest and recharge and done well.  I was able to hold in the high teens, even into the wind.

I arrived back in Wilsonville, a bit tired, but pleased that I had nearly closed the gap on Doak.

We had a cold adult beverage and debriefed the weekend of riding. It was fun!

..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........153...............0..............0...............0...........153 Jan............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........701.............0..............0...............0............701
April..........749.................0..............0...............0..........749
May...........613.................0..............0...............0...........613
 June............309...............0..............0...............0...........309 Total..........3668...............0..............0...............0..........3668

Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway

I have not been on my bike since June 5th, and then it was only a five mile commute.  My last decent ride was last month. Since that time I've been sitting in a car following cyclists across the country.  It was with some trepidation that I set off on a 300 mile weekend this morning.  Would I be able to do it?  Would I be able to keep up?

I arrived at our meeting point a few minutes late. I found nobody there.

I checked my phone for messages, and rode around the area looking for others.  It seemed that Doak was doing the same.  We eventually found each other and determined that the other half dozen were going to be no shows.  I thought I had left that behind when I left Meetup.

Doak and I started south at 6:20 AM, on the longest day of the year.  The sun had been up for nearly an hour already.

I've always appreciated local scenery, but I did even more so after my recent travels.

The Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway takes us from Champoeg Park near Wilsonville to Armitage Park near Eugene.  We travel right down the heart of the Willamette Valley, Oregon's most populous region, but stay in remarkably rural areas.

As we pedaled out the wind was calm, and temperatures were mild. A north wind by afternoon was predicted, as is common with a fair weather pattern in summer.

We pedaled along taking in the scenery and awaiting a gentle push from the wind.

We made our first stop on the north side of Salem, about 40 miles in, where we refilled water bottles and ate a quick snack.  From there the route turns out toward Independence, following the Willamette River.
At Independence the route bends back SE following the river toward the Buena Vista Ferry.  We wouldn't be crossing the ferry today as the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway stays on the east side of the river. Just before reaching the ferry we turned east and rode by the Ankeny Wildlife Refuge.

We turned south again and soon began to notice a slight north wind pushing us.  It was 10:30 AM
 We pushed onward.

We stopped for a brief tour of John Deere combines!

White Clover filled the air with a pleasant aroma.

I've done this route a number of times and always look forward to some ice cream at the Shedd Store.  A very short detour off course takes us into "town".

 Having enjoyed our ice cream sandwich, chicken nuggets, and a refill of water, we pedaled on.

As we arrived in Brownsville it seemed that they were enjoying the Summer Solstice with a festival.  There was band playing in the town square, and people all over the place.  Even a group of the other kind of cyclists were in town.

The wind was increasing, we now had a sustained tailwind of about 10 mph. We played cat and mouse with a Blacktail doe. 

We were in wide open country now and fully exposed to the wind. At one point I was pedaling along at 17 mph keeping pace with the wind.  We were making good time south, but talked a bit about what tomorrow might bring as we pedaled back northward.
We continued to ride southward, taking in the scenery as we did so.

Doak says this is his favorite scenery!

Before long we passed Armitage Park, the official end on the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway.

Today we'd pedal a few more miles yet, crossing the Willamette River into Eugene where we had reservations for lodging and plans for dinner.

I was a good day to be on the bike.  Despite earlier concerns my legs carried me well.  Doak was kind enough to slow his pace so we pedaled together most of the day. 

..........road bike..........rollers........mtb.........lifecycle....total
Today.........151...............0..............0...............0...........151 Jan............710................0..............0...............0...........710
Feb........... 578...............0..............0...............0............578
March ...........701.............0..............0...............0............701
April..........749.................0..............0...............0..........749
May...........613.................0..............0...............0...........613
 June............156...............0..............0...............0...........156
Total..........3359...............0..............0...............0..........3359