How was your weekend?

thanks for asking, Jonathan…I had an inspirational 2 day down-valley ride, skirting the east side of the valley via Silverton, Sublimity, Stayton, Scio, and (ruining the alliterative string) Brownsville before blasting down Coburg Rd. with a nice tailwind into U-gene. Some picturesque small towns, beautiful rolling hills, quiet farm roads…see it before it’s gone.

btw, both the Salem/Polk Co./Marion co. bike map (free) and the mid-Willamette Valley bike map ($3) are excellent resources for navigating the more obscure, less-traffic’d routes.

I led another Small Museums tour of Portland. We had a great time visiting the Toy, Vacuum, and Hat Museum.

Photos here:http://flickr.com/photos/redbat/sets/72157594341660282/

This weekend was a magnificent break from the oncoming dark winter. While heading toward the Bike School there I found out that 7 Corners Cyclery is moving from their historic location on Division. Cory has apparently grabbed space with virtually 3 times the room in a new building near Powell on SE 21st. He’s conveniently located a block away from People’s coop.
Sunday morning I took part in the Bike Buddy program. This program initiated by Southeast Uplift is a wonderful means of connecting experienced bike commuters with people who are interested, but a little intimidated by the idea of using their bicycle as transportation. Elisha joined the program without ever having learned how to ride a bike.
She recieved a bike from co-member Greg who got her through the initial training and was at it like a fish to water. I met with Elisha and listened to her thoughts and concerns. What I initially realized is that most people look at bicycling as scary because the only experience they have is with big scary arterials. thankfully most drivers don’t use small feeder roads
So she didn’t even know about the very people-friendly roads connecting her to the shopping district. I walked her down one of these and we were completely comfortable in the middle of the street. Now only a couple of weeks later, the two of us rode all the way to Gresham, and stopped in Powell Butte. Even the strong headwinds didn’t slow us down. The most important lesson to gain from this is that the mind is fully in control. Nearly every day I hear someone tell me “Oh I could never do that.” This is completely true. As long as a person decides that they can’t do something, any hope of success vanishes. Elisha on the other hand, decided that she would succeed and therefore success was inevitable. Even crossing large roads like Foster was not a hindrance. I’m thrilled to be part of this program and to share it with others.
(to learn more about the bikebuddy program, you can download a flyer here)
After that short ride, it was time for a more ambitious adventure. I was leading a ride with Exchange Cycle Tours to the outskirts of Northwest Portland. We took an amazing ride through the Rose Garden and then through the suburbs of Beaverton, Hillsboro and Forest Grove. I was thrilled to have been joined by a couple of new women. Elizabeth and Sara joined us and both had a great time. They were not only capable of completing a fast 50 mile ride, but they led the pack on the return.
It’s great to see more women feeling confident about getting out on a bike. I am a strong advocate in supporting everyone to feel joyous in participating in whatever activity they desire.
Fortunately there are several people (like Janis McDonald) working to encourage women to ride safely and happily.
Then as if that weren’t enough, I found out from Brian that the Ankeny Block party was still going strong with lots of folks connecting and sharing the community. So it was off to SE Ankeny to meet up with Savannah who helped organize the party. No words or photographs can describe the experience of standing in the middle of a public street and hearing nothing but the sound of human voices (especially being a block off of Burnside). There were some great people there, good music and food, lots of connections, and amazing artwork. We even had time to brainstorm ideas to keep this momentum going into the winter season. Thanks for biking this weekend, and I hope you will join me for an adventurous winter riding season. 🙂
You can see the full text and photo links here

I apologize if this ends up as a multiple post – there seem to be some server glitches still?

Wow, sounds like everyone had a great weekend. Aaron, your post was inspirational. It’s a cool thing about 7 Corners Cycles – Cory has been my main bike man ever since I moved to the neighborhood, and I am happy that he is getting more space in which to work his happy bike magic.

My weekend of riding was great. On Saturday, I crafted myself a century that used the PDX Velo signature ride as a centerpiece – rode from my house in Ladd’s up and over the hills via Cornell/Thompson/Skyline/Old Cornelius Pass to the Velo start at Longbottom’s in Hillsboro, did a fast and hilly 44-miler (including a sprint up and down Pumpkin Ridge)with the A19s/21s and then back up Thompson to Skyline, where I did a 12-mile out and back before descending back into the city. 100.6 miles start to finish.

Sunday I went out with a Team Bag Balm herdlet for a Tour des Bakeries. Starting at Ken’s Artisan Bakery in NW, we went out St. Helens Rd. to HWY 30 and over the St. John’s Bridge to the Tulip Bakery in St. Johns. Sadly, the Tulip was closed, so we meandered our way over to Pix on N. Williams. The sole worker there was a little (okay, a lot) dismayed to be descended upon by 20 hungry bikers, but she did yoewoman’s duty is dispensing pastries and lattes. Then it was off for a ramble through the fancy homes on Alameda down to Violet’s at 53rd/Sandy. Violet’s was too crowded to serve so many of us, so we headed off to a new French bakery at 48th and Division (Provence something or other), with a detour west to check out the new bike signal on Burnside/41st and the Sunnyside Sunflower on Yamhill. I split off from the herd at that point for a run up Mt. Tabor and then home to garden, but I understand that the rest then worked their way over to the Springwater 3 Bridges before going home. All I know is that on Sunday I did 32 miles in the same amount of time that it took me to do 100 the day before – but both rides were fantastic!

The Portland Open Studios by bicycle was the theme for my weekend. I had a blast riding my bike around to vaious studios and visiting the artists. A couple were especially bike friendly and one said she picked her selection of snacks and beverages with cyclists in mind. I heard that other cyclists were visiting but actually saw only a couple of other cyclists – one family group and another fellow on a cross bike. We compared notes about why we weren’t racing – art over competition seemed to be the consensus. Thanks to all the artists who opened their studios and thanks to the organizers for encouraging bicycles through the art bike contest. Can’t wait to find out who wins; sure am crossing my fingers.