On the waterfront
I got home from DC late Saturday night. I had an invigorating ride home from the airport and woke up to warm, bright sunshine.
I spent Sunday with my family and managed to get a few minutes on a bike. I took a quick spin around the block with Danica (my one year-old daughter), I got a lift on the rear rack of a friend’s bakfiets (with three kids up front!), and I took a spin to the market for a six-pack.
The warm sun played games with my head. I’m ready for Summer, but I realize the sun was just a cruel tease before the darkness and rain rule for a few more months.
Did you get a chance to ride this weekend? We’d love to hear about your adventures…
Thanks for reading.
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What I love about these warm weekends is the kids that come out to play on their bikes. Yeah, occassionally one dodges in front of you on the bike path but I still like the way nice weather brings out the little one just learning to ride. One little guy on the Marine Dr. bike path definitely didn’t have it all figured-out yet but he had a huge smile -so did his dad. That pure expression of joy is what I like to see. Heck, it’s what I like to experience too and this weekend, I felt like a kid.
I got in a lovely ride on Saturday, another longer ride as I prepare for my big charity ride this summer. I enjoyed a cool, sunny morning riding along Heron Lakes golf curse and around Smith and Bybee Lakes. For more about my big ride in August, you can go to http://www.ibdride.org/bhamon and read all about it.
Happy riding!
Saturday, I rode from my home in Ladd’s to the Vista House in the Gorge – took a fairly convoluted route to get there, just because it was so nice to be riding and not freezing. I hadn’t been to the Vista House since it’s renovations – what a beautiful building. Came home via Troutdale and the Marine Drive bike paths to 33rd and then a meander through Northeast PDX before heading home – so nice to have that 33rd Ave bridge back!
Sunday, I met up with a friend and rode west via the Hwy 26 path to meet some more friends in Hillsboro and did a really nice loop through the back roads of Washington County, then back home. Total weekend mileage about 170, with a pretty decent sunburn to show for it 🙂
Me and the little man (Nathan) perched in his BoBike seat rode over the Hawthorne Bridge along the river to Sellwood bridge, with a short diversion for him to strip naked and dip his toes in the river, and then up to Sellwood Park and down to Oaks Bottom and back home for hot milk and cookies. Does it get any better than that?
We did a great ride yesterday. It was a new route for us of about 55 miles & 3500′ of climbing.
We started in Clatskanie, which has a nice park for a ride start location. We rode south on HWY 47 toward Mist. Despite its highway designation, we saw only about 6 cars in each direction over the 11-12 miles to Mist. This section has a very steady, but moderate-grade climb for about 1500′ up into the coast range. A few clear-cuts on Longview Fiber Co. properties near the top made for great views in all directions.
At Mist we continued on Hwy 47, called the Nehalem Hwy N on this stretch because the Nehalem River runs right along the road, until turning onto Apiary Road to head back north to begin closing our loop. Apiary Road was also nice and quiet, with tranquil Oak Ranch Creek (I think) alongside as we climbed back over the hills. Again, the grades were gentle and the forest scenery was sublime. A very fun descent down Apiary Road brought us to Old Hwy 30, where we took a left (west) to Alston, where we crossed real Hwy 30 (yikes!) to ride on Alston-Mayger Rd & Kallunki Rd, which run along bluffs overlooking the Columbia River and then return us to Clatskanie.
abuncha (20-30!) minibikers took an ambassadorial roadtrip to maryhill washington to check out the maryhill loops road, car-free and beatifull grassland and hairpin turns. Gorgeous camping right on the columbia river as well!
Despite getting up to 12 flats on one bike due to evil thorns we still had a blast and all ended up sunburned and tipsy with big grins on our faces. Pics and Video to come….!
I had a great weekend, riding all over the city of Milwaukie taking pictures. Milwaukie is updating their transportation plan, and as part of that, they’ve established a bicycle / pedestrian working group. So, I spent Saturday taking pictures of areas that could use bicycle improvements in preparation for the group’s meeting next Saturday.
I also got pretty sunburnt, which is a nifty trick for March.
I was able to be a part of something wonderful this weekend.
My roommate bought her first bike (finally!)- an old cruiser that fits her (and her personality) perfectly. I was asked to take her on her first outing on her new bike, which I was quite flattered and honored by. This being her first bike- we played it slow and safe, meandering through the neighborhood, stopping for coffee and getting a few groceries for dinner.
I still can’t get over how adorable she looked, not to mention how happy she was- I don’t think she stopped smiling the whole time- which was contagious.
We’ve already started planning roommate bicycle dates to go on!
I had errands to run downtown yesterday afternoon, and totally forgot about the peace protest. I’m not going to get into all of that except to say that it was a really interesting sight to see so many police officers on bikes. That, and the Portland Police Bureau needs to figure out a different way for bike cops to alert users of the road to pull over and let them by besides yelling. It didn’t work so well.
43 miles with my buddy Jeff out to North Plains to raid my sister’s fridge of week old leftovers in her absence. Shared Skyline up to Cornelius Pass Rd. with a very nice girl we met named Adell, who ditched her bf to go for a ride, and who now may want to join us for STP. Ah, good times.
I later learned that we passed my sister’s family coming back into town on West Union Road. Could only have been a curious rest of the way home for them 😉
Enjoyed a leisurely after dinner Bakfiets caravan down blossom scented NE Brazee with family friends who recently got a new cargobike from Clever Cycles. Chattering, over-tired 2 year olds, humming dynamos and deserted streets on a Sunday night – what better way to end the weekend?
Put the lads the Burley double and made the short ride to the library. Books outweighed boys two to one. Haven’t convinced the 1-year-old to wear a helmet yet, but his older brother is modeling.
Rode a lot this weekend and noticed two things:
1) Wow, pedestrians are SO much worse than cars. Seriously. Cars are my new best friend. Pedestrians are beyond clueless, aimlessly shifting direction and bumping into cyclists and other pedestrians. (and I won’t even get started on all the parents letting their 4-10 year old kids run rampant)
2) What’s with all the people riding bikes while their leashed dogs run alongside. This is one of the most stupid things I’ve ever encountered and I saw a dog almost get run over by a cyclist because of this. Do -not- put your dog in that position, and do not be lazy. If you do not have time to ride your bike and walk your dog don’t attempt to do both at once. My friends and I were floored when we saw people doing that this weekend. I can’t believe anyone could be so dumb.
All in all it looks like drivers were well prepared for the influx of cyclists, but cyclists and pedestrians are still VERY rusty. Seriously, lets use our brains.
Well, fancy you should ask, since I just got a bike this weekend, on Saturday, from the Community Cycling Center’s “Create a Commuter” program. The whole training class was good fun and educational — it would have probably been more fun if I wasn’t getting rid of the flu. Still, a nice leisurely ride around parts of N/NE Portland en masse, then home on my own. Refreshing not to be quite so dependent upon TriMet anymore! Now I just gotta figure out where to ride and the best ways to get from point A to various point B’s.
Hi Michael,
Glad you had a great time in the Create a Commuter class. Your comment made our day here at the Community Cycling Center.
You mention wanting info on route planning. Did you know about the ByCycle route finder? If you scroll up a little bit you can find it in the right hand navigation. Or go to bycycle.org
Alison
What a beautiful weekend! The wife and I took the cruisers around the neighborhood on Saturday night and found a few pints of Murphy’s and then on Sunday we rode downtown to the march.
Alison — Yes thanks, I have checked out ByCycle. It seems very helpful. I need to work out the best way to tackle “problem areas” still — for example, I volunteer at the Oregon Humane Society on Columbia Blvd. It’s not as bike- or ped-friendly a location as I’d wish. On foot, I usually come down 11th and make a mad dash across Columbia Blvd. when there’s a break in traffic — doable if a bit dodgy. That’s pretty much what bycycle.org suggests too. Yikes.
I had a nice ride through farmland here in Linn county (just east of Corvallis). Wonderful weather and just a bit of light rain. It was great to be on a bike after a week of traveling in DC at the National Bike Summit.
I will sum it up in a nice and short sentence. Hiked 8 miles Saturday morning with the dog, got home and rode 15 around NE, and topped it off with a great protest on Sunday! 🙂
This weekend marked the onset of that telltale seasonal signifier- the beginnings of my annual spandex-line farmer’s tan. Out with Winter… hello, Spring! Had a lovely ride Saturday with my good friend/neighbor, Jen, who is a much more advanced cyclist than me, so I really enjoy riding with/learning from her. We took an easy, flat jaunt out past the NW industrial zone, up to the St. John’s Bridge (sunny, sparkling view!), and around town. Afterwards we sat on the porch of her Sellwood house, eating banana cake in the sun with Jen’s hubby (who stayed inside doing housework that day, poor fellow!). Blossoming trees, bike rides, cake, shameless spandex farmer’s tan…ah, a perfect day.
Have fun, everyone,
Erin G.