I had my fair share of bike fun on Sunday.
It started with a fantastic ride out to Kelley Point Park (tip of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers). Kelley Point is a great destination because there is either bike lane or bike path the entire way. Not to mention it’s got great beaches, huge, grassy meadows, and lots of good picnic spots. Highlights of the ride were picking blackberries on the beach and coming across a brush fire on the bike path near the water treatment plant (just north of Columbia Blvd).
See more of my Kelley Point ride photos.
I then switched gears from family jaunt to mini-bike mayhem on my first ever Zoobomb. Like everyone else, I’ve been reading and hearing about this for months now and I finally got a chance to give it a try. I dusted off a 16″ wheeled bike I’m saving for Eleni and MAX’d down to Rocco’s Pizza to check out the scene. I saw some of the usual suspects including Rev Phil, Dingo the Clown and Yuffie (a guy in a Border Collie costume).
Even though I cut out before the serious partying and festivities began, I managed to partake in the night’s first bomb. I raced down the hill against some serious mini-bike talent, in total darkness, and with sharp, wet turns thrown in for good measure. I came very close to wiping out when I locked my coaster brake around a gnarly, wet turn at 30 or so mph…but somehow managed to stay upright. I was disappointed to lose about 4 places in that turn, but for my first run ever, I was glad to make it down in a respectable time.
The MAX ride back up the hill was an event in itself, as we all packed into the train like sardines. Thanks to the very cool MAX driver for putting up with us!
See more of my Zoobomb photos.
A little side story is that when I got down to PGE Park hoping to catch the MAX back to NoPo I missed the last one by just a few minutes! There was no way I could ride a 16″ bike 5 miles through the city and back up the hill to my house! Luckily I met a nice kid from North Carolina who took pity on me and paid for a taxi to drop me off at home.
The kindness of a stranger capped a great day of bike fun. I slept well (considering I’ve got an 11 day old baby at home!).
Thanks for reading.
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you didn’t stay for the summer olympics! you missed the best part.
i see from the photos that you hauled the trailer with the bionx-equipped bike (electric assist). impressions? did you find that the assistance was just enough to make up for the trailer, or did you feel like you were getting by with a lot less expenditure than your riding buddies? how many miles did the pack serve you, and did it feel like a drag after it wore out?
the sports section of the orgonian should include a zoobomb BIFFday results soon. stay tooned!
todd:
[First, just want to disclose that I work with BionX as their U.S. marketing consultant]
I’ve been using the BionX unit for a few weeks now. It definitely makes riding with the trailer much easier (especially on hills). The battery doesn’t last nearly as long with a loaded trailer, so I don’t have it “on” all the time. We rode pretty slow on the ride, so it wasn’t a problem to not have it activated. I conserved the battery for the ride home so it never actually ran out.