(Photo © J. Maus)
Believe it or not, the sun was actually out for much of the day today. It’s really cold, but at least the ground is dry and we can see the sky — a welcome change after so many days of rain, snow, etc…
I hope the weather holds for the weekend. Do you have bike plans?
Some folks will kick off the weekend with the Midnight Mystery Ride. It leaves tonight at midnight from the Jolly Inn (1937 SE 11th Ave). If you go, make sure to dress warm and show up early to catch a performance by “Full Face Riot“, a new band of Zoobomb regulars who will start playing at 8:00 ($2 cover until 11:30ish).
Tomorrow (1/9) is the Portland Veloswap. It’s going to be jam-packed with lots of new and used bike gear from close to 100 vendors. Admission is $3 (includes food/drink specials and kids under 16 are free!) and it all goes down at Roots Organic Brewing (1520 SE 7th Ave.).
On Sunday, Heather Williams is leading a ride from Portland to Frenchman’s Bar Park in Vancouver. Heather is with a new riding group calling themselves Easy Riders. According to the event listing on Facebook, the Easy Riders are a “loose-knit, non-speedy group of fun, sociable folks who like to ride bikes with friends old and new.” Sounds like a great time. (To join them, meet at the Vera Katz statue on the Esplanade at 10:30. The ride is 32 miles round trip).
What are your plans for the weekend? Share your adventures in the comments below.
For those of you who are NOT on Facebook, the ride to Frenchman’s Bar Park leaves from the Esplanade at Vera Katz at 11:00 Sunday morning. 32 miles round trip.
Here’s the route:
http://tinyurl.com/7tn6sj
Oops, sorry Brad, but we gather at 10:30 and leave Vera Katz at 10:45.
We’ll pick up NE folks at Farragut Park around 11:15.
Hope to see y’all there!
Thanks for coming out to the MMR, the crowd was diverse and in great spirits. Fun was had by all!
I am about to bike down to the train station to head to DC for the TRB conference.
I’m still exhausted from riding all over Baltimore in the wind and cold for three days straight, all the while receiving massive amounts of information about transportation, housing, and revolutionary history.
I *love* this city. Jonathan, what do you say we open a Baltimore bureau office?
Just got back from a very cold and foggy ride with Portland Velo – rode to/from the start in Hillsboro from my home in SE PDX. Skyline at 8:30 AM was one dense fog bank and the road surface was quite slick. Yikes. I could not bomb down Old Cornelius Pass, which sort of defeated my point of going that way. It was only slightly better on the way home at 2:00 PM, and this time there was more traffic. Tested my new climbing cassette on Laidlaw – it’s a wonder how much easier 4 extra teeth can make it 🙂
Did the club ride on Saturday out in Hillsboro with Portland Velo. It was pretty cold and gray, but at least the roads were dry and in relatively good condition gravel and debris-wise.
A note for those doing the Frenchman’s Bar ride tomorrow. I rode out there this past Tuesday, and the road conditions were terrible. There are even more trucks than usual operating out there. It looks like they are dredging the river or working on the levee. Anyway, the trucks spread dirt all over the shoulders as they drive back and forth. If it’s dry it will probably be ok, but if we get any sprinkles overnight or in the morning the road will likely be a real mess.
Here is a link to photos of our bikes after last Tuesday’s ride:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7626844@N07/sets/72157612260175428/show/
The bikes were perfectly clean when we started.
Went to Veloswap. Saw lots of friends I normally only see in the nice weather times. Got a good deal on new tires from BikeTiresDirect, and a couple of gently used parts to try out. My husband got some nice Showers Pass gear at a screamer price. Great event…thanks to the organizers!!!
Had a great time at the MMR! It was my first one and people were incredibly friendly. Looking forward to next months.
mmr was a blast! we saw trains!
Fenchie’s Bar was fun–road and trails not too bad, tho we were fairly muddy at the end. Chilly and grey, but no rain, yay. But no wind eitehr (?!), so no kite flying.
Thanks Heather & Brad for a fun fun ride!
The Easy Riders ride to Frenchie’s was such a blast! There were 12 of us total, many who came from far away, and all despite the rain. As soon as we left from Vera Katz the rain let up and stayed away for the duration of the ride, yay! We made our way to the park at an easy pace, stayed for a potluck lunch, Jenny cursed the lack of kite-flying wind, Steph and Jen got two flats in rapid succession on the way home (it made for a nice excuse to loaf about in Delta Park for awhile), and the finale: beers at the Speakeasy!
Thanks to everyone who came, I hope to see you again on another ride! We’ll be posting a schedule of future rides very soon to the BikePortland ride announcement section of the forums, the Shift calendar, and Facebook, so for those who couldn’t make it today (we missed you!) there will be ample opportunity to ride with us again.
xoxo
Easy Riders
Went on the most painful ride. A late start followed by 3 flats (by different riders in the group)… spent more time standing around than actually riding. My attempt at some base miles failed. Ugly
Took the LAB Traffic Skills 101 class on Saturday, joined a friend’s birthday ride on Sunday, 52 miles for me, plus riding in places in the metro area I’d not been to before. In very decent weather for January, as well!
Great fun on MMR. Thanks, Dutch, for such an interesting destino! I’m amazed at how many hidden magical places keep appearing in areas I thought I knew so well. Props to the wood-carriers. A fire is always festive on a cold night, and makes the Jiffy Pop taste so good.