from the 4th floor of the
Performing Arts Center.]
We had both weather extremes over the weekend.
Saturday was depressingly dreary and wet, and yesterday was so warm and nice, it was hard to believe that just a few weeks ago the whole city was covered in snow.
On Saturday, Eleni and I dodged the drizzle and rode downtown to see a puppet show at the Performing Arts Center. The fourth floor provided a great view of cyclists zooming about on SW Broadway on their way to rides in the West Hills.
On our way home, I noticed this scene in front of a Hoyt Realty office in the Pearl District.
They must be doing some sort of bike giveaway promotion. I’ll have to look into it.
Yesterday I joined the annual Slug Velo Coffee Worship Ride out to St. Johns and then stopped at a friend’s house to watch the Big Game with a few other families. At halftime, I gave all the kids a turn on the trail-a-bike.
With most of Portland glued to their TV screens, the roads were nice and quiet. Did you got a chance to ride yesterday? If so, let us know how it went.
ooooh dawg! ~12 of us ventured north on friday in the big ole sharedroute bus to raid the city of seattle and ride our minibikes on the infamous deadbaby ride. We rode all over the dang city, me with chariot in tow from the church of bicycle jesus on beacon hill to diviest dive bars of ballard and back again.
The next morning we woke up with hangovers and bruises but had to rally to make it to vancouver BC by 18:00 hours for the world’s third ever ALLEYKITTEN! revphil never made it out of the city, however, unfortunatly his brand-new id and wallet was lost somewhere inbtween a few pitchers of beer. We would let that hold us back, so we left him at the nearest bar, refueled the biodiesel, and made it to vancouver by 19:00. Those canadians love us soooo much that they delayed the race till we got there. They wern’t doing us a favour, though, because it was a military themed race and each checkpoint consisted of “DROP AND GIVE ME 20 YOU LITTLE MAGGOT!” or “EAT THIS BOWL OF GRUEL AND THIS WHOLE RAW ONION.” Needless to say we all lost, and got lost. Finally we all showed up, and thankfully our own tom rolf got the most glorious porize of all: DFL!
Then it was time for the bikes inside party which was amazing to say the least. B.C.clettes, B.R.A.K.E.S., the mainland premeire of victoria’s Velovixens, my first time seeing the Kablamo team, and indoor trackstand/trick comp. minibike thunderdome, dance party, award ceremony, noodle jousting, and countless other debaucherous activities. Egads, I’m sure tom will have more, but the only way to really find out what happens in canada is to GO THERE!!
The best part about the trip everytime, though, is the canadians amazing reputation for hospitality, heck we had an entire house to ourselves for sleeping and then in the morning they came over and cooked us breakfast in bed! There will big an enormous crew coming down for minibikewinter be prepared to repay thier generosity.
What a great whirlwind trip of deadbabies, mc3, and all the great biker solidiarity throughout the west coast!
Heh, having lived in NYC for 20+ years, “extreme” is not a term I would ever apply to Portland’s weather!
Random weekend riding experiences:
On Saturday my wife escorted our family to test ride a bakfiet and loved it (sans the cold rain). Truly the luxury SUV of bicycles. Dean at Clever Cycles is a champ and super helpful/knowledgeable. If we take the plunge, I feel great knowing that we could help support his goals/business.
On Sunday I took my daughter to Crema in the Trek (Chariot) trailer at 8 a.m. and loved the morning ride. Simply beautiful! The weather change (from Saturday) made it feel like a late spring ride. Sunday mornings are perfect for neighborhood cruises.
My boyfriend and I decided on a pre-game ride that ended up being about 17 miles.
We live in Tigard so jaunted out to the Performance Bike down in Lake Grove, then back through Tualatin and across the new ped/bike bridge between Tualatin Park and Cook Park. After that we went back up Hall to the Washington Square area, and back down the Fanno Creek Trail to Scholls to head home. It was pretty good! Lots of walkers and bikers and wonderful weather and scenery. 🙂
And it felt good to get out and ride.
My girlfriend and I decided to bike to the coast this weekend. We left Friday at noon and got back Sunday at 5pm. Despite some ice on the road, a cold night and some “chasers” (fast dogs) – we had a great time!
I was a little bored this morning, so I traced our route on gmap-pedometer:
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=689479
The maps from this page were our inspiration:
http://www.portlandonline.com/transportation/index.cfm?c=djiij
Winter in Portland does not mean that you have to stay inside! Bring warm sleeping bags, decent rain gear, and be careful on the ice.
Enjoy your beautiful region!
Managed to get in about 1.5 hours of intervals on Mt. Tabor before it started raining on Saturday, yesterday was a non-biking day – went up to Old Man Pass and snowshoed The Terminator instead. It was very warm – I was down to the tank top at points – and although there was a good base of snow it was pretty slushy (and sometimes slick). Great fun anyway, and extraordinary views of Mt. St. Helens steaming in the distance.
Rode out to Troutdale and back via Marine Drive. No wind, for once! What a glorious day!
Fantastic leisurely Sunday ride from NE PDX (72nd & Sandy-ish) to the tram via the COMPLETELY EMPTY, WOOHOO! Esplanade.
Sadly, the tram was not running (waah!), but what a great ride in spectacular weather! And I’ve never seen the Esplanade so devoid of personages!
jonathon, some people love the weather we had on saturday.
I discovered that Super Bowl Sunday is a great day to ride.
http://portlandor.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/super-bowl-sunday/
Sunday I decided to finally join http://www.exchangecycletours.org/ for their weekly ride. It was a beautiful day to conquer Rocky Butte for the first time.
Jonathan,
You never stop thinking about bicycling! It amazes me. Even taking photos while being dad!!!
If I had never hear about the tram, I would be happy as a clam.
One more, a tram haiku…
Riding on a cable
Three dollars from my pocket
Never gonna happen
weekend sitting on butt making truffles on saterday with a little polkadot elephant party action in the eve. then sunday i carved a couple of spoons still sitting on butt. this healing thing sucks rocks till it’s bike ride time. I might be able to go ride in a couple of days for a mile or so. then a day or rest (sitting on butt) then another mile or so (then sitting on butt.
But i am happy you all got some really nice weather to play in.
Somehow, me and my friends planned to and actually rode THE 3 hours of the weekend that were raining. We were happy to be out (it wasn’t that bad – though my feet were frozen by the end our our 30mi ride). We did see lots of other riders out, which is inspiring.
Sunday I was busy with family stuff, and I was cursing my fate to not be on the road on such a beautiful winter day.
Commuting today was lovely though. I embrace the return of the light.
M
My husband, daughter (age six) and I rode to our friend’s superbowl party. It was a short ride (about 35 blocks each way!) but it was a fun family activity. We left the party before the game was over to avoid drivers imparied by alcohol, their favorite team’s loss, hatred of Peyton Manning etc…