Leaves on NW 19th near Lovejoy.
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
It has been a crazy and sad week. But right now, the sun is shining and Portland’s fall colors are bursting everywhere.
It’s a great day for a bike ride.
Please chime in below and share your two-wheeled adventures.
How about a report on last night’s Midnight Mystery Ride? Did anyone join Patrick for his ride out to the Sauvie Island Corn Maze?
Tonight, the family and I will ride over to the Laurelhurst area to join some friends for dinner (looking forward to checking out the leaves on our way). Then tomorrow, it’s time for more cyclocross!
Now it’s your turn…
Thanks for reading.
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I enjoyed a great ride with a huge group from the PSU Cycling Team (http://psucycling.com). We rode to Oregon City and back and the weather was *soooo nice*.
Favorite parts:
1) Stopping for coffee, snacks, and Gellato with the team
2) Flying down Terwilliger – I love those curves!
ha…I just want to thank Peter W and the PSU cycling team for the wonderful experience of getting passed on the Hawthorne bridge while I was walking across and they(about 30) passed me two abreast easily going about 14-17 mph.
wonderful bike fun!
My husband, daughter and I biked around NE and North Portland collecting walnuts and chestnuts from street trees. We also bought fenders for our bikes for those not-so-fresh days ahead.
Hey craig… sorry if we passed too close.
We do always try to watch out for other road/path users (obviously we\’d crash and be in a lot of pain as well if we hit someone), but sometimes we get so used to cars passing us closely we forget that we might be just as scary to pedestrians who we pass closely.
I\’ll send the word along that we should warn walkers and pass slowly or with more space next time.
thanks & take care,
~ peter
Rode from Sellwood out to Mt. Tabor for some quality hill repeats. I usually ride the east-facing side, because I like the challenge of the grade and the rewarding, sweeping views of Mt. Hood along the way (being from the Midwest, I never tire of the sight of that beautiful mountain). The smell of the fallen pine needles and yellow leaves crunching beneath my wheels was the sort of “aromatherapy” that they try to replicate in candles and spas (always futilely, of course. There’s no substitute for the great outdoors!). The sunshine was such a release. After riding the hill for a while, I stopped to sit and stretch in the grass at the top, enjoying the sun and view of downtown Portland and the west hills beyond. I rode home as fast as I could and felt unusually strong (I’m a wuss about going fast!). Whereas I commenced today’s riding feeling a bit sad and anxious (in light of the past week’s events), I felt a sort of high on the way home. What a gorgeous day it was: a reward for us all after some emotionally-trying days. Now…time for Italian food with friends.
Have fun and enjoy, everyone! Good luck to all of you ‘cross racers tomorrow.
I went for a run on the Salmon River trail to enjoy the beautiful day, hope it didn\’t wipe me out too much for unicross and cyclocross tomorrow. When I got back to my car I saw a touring type bike chain-locked to the bridge across the Salmon River and next to it was the sweetest, most beautiful dog, half white, half black. Just laying by the bike waiting for his owner to return. I mention it here because the rear racktop bag had a BikePortland.org sticker. Also the dog was laying in the middle of the street so I was a little concerned for it. The bike and the dog both looked really well cared for but I couldn\’t figure out where the owner might have gone…anyone know the dog or bike? I don\’t remember much about the bike except the bag/sticker and it had brand new white handlebar tape.
On another note, Jonathan, have you thought of starting BikePortland.org personals?
Oh yeah, I snapped a photo of the dog and bike.Later it moved to lie in the center of the road…
Crikey! Sorry to hear about the potentially pancake puppy. Report back if you hear anything more!
Had a wonderful leisurely ride around NE/N Portland Sat, drinking in the gorgeous autumnal splendor. From Wellington Park to a picnic in Wilshire Park to Peninsula Park, around the sweeping Willamette Drive curve, nosed around UofP, then over to the Peninsula Crossing Trail (a hidden gem!) and then backtracked home. A fabulous soul-restoring 4 hours.
Man do I love my new Electra Townie! It has such a high WHEE quotient!
After a tough 200k last week, did an easy 50 miles with the Portland Velo group. Did hope to ride with a friend today but with it being nice I think she spent the day at DQ.
We rode out to Sauvie Island today, wanting to take advantage of the crisp weather while having some cider and maybe checking out the corn maze.
Wow, were we disappointed by what we actually found. Once we crossed the bridge and were on the island, headed in the opposide direction from us on the road was more than two miles of cars, stuck at a standstill as they all tried to cram over the bridge and onto highway 30. Four of us cyclists rode along on our side of the road and as far to the right as we could in the narrow shoulder, but that apparently wasn\’t good enough for an impatient motorist behind us, who followed at a dangerously close distance and honked at us. His family\’s desire to enjoy the spoils of the season at the same farm we were headed for trumped ours, I guess. Disappointing.
The ride home, after we fished our way through the line of stopped cars, was better and we enjoyed the last waning hours of golden sunlight. I\’d recommend staying away from Sauvie Island for the next few Saturdays, and if you do go, take your bike!
My \”weekend bike fun\” is a week on Maui starting today. I hope I can find a decent bike rental place.
I finally got a ride in yesterday after three weeks off. I took Logie Trail from Helvetia to Skyline. Beautiful scenery and the falling leaves reminded me while being a tough ride, it\’s a beautiful ride almost anytime. Nice and crisp air. Especially nice downhill!
I went with Patrick\’s corn maze trip to Sauvie island. The weather got progressively nicer, and it was a lot of fun. The traffic wasn\’t a problem for us on the way in, and on the way out it was tricky, but we managed, and I made a little youtube video of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcxQwVKzxBw
Four of us stuck together after the ride back to peninsula park, and rode down Alibina until we found an ice cream stand, and enjoyed ourselves in the sun.
Then I went to the slideshow put on by the Portlanders who went to the \”Towards Carfree Cities\” conference.
And finally I bikepooled back to southeast and found myself in a gathering for a big night ride under the Hawthorn bridge that I knew nothing about. I was too tired to join them by that point, and headed home after socialize for a little while.
Out to Smith & Bybee Lakes to check out the colors and the geese (well worth a visit) and then on to Kelley Point. Incredible colors out there this weekend and lots of birds on the move. A nice ride back along the slough and behind PIR, up the Peninsula Crossing Trail, and home via Willamette Blvd.
Rode Larch Mountain starting from Corbett school at around 5pm. On the way down, the sunset through the trees was spectacular, and the views of the gorge with its fall colors were amazing. As is often the case, the summit was quite cold, and we got pretty chilly on the way down. Just barely avoided getting caught out in complete darkness, but made it back safely.
Doug, you did the exact same route that I did! It was a beautiful ride. It\’s nice to go down to the beach at the confluence of the Willamette & Columbia Rivers and relax there, knowing you are on the on the \”tip\” of Portland, before riding back home.
I had kind of expected to see more bikers, considering it was such a beautiful day, but I think I probably only saw 4 or 5 other bikers at all out around the Smith & Bybee/Kelley point park area. You were probably one of them!
went out to Sauvie yesterday, big mistake with how many cars were there it was tough to get around…I had no idea so many cars would be there, still, a beautiful day
ride deets
http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/4222299
took a nice little ride from SE to NE, North, St.Johns and beyond, and back.
I\’m guessing the Little Red Bike cafe has been mentioned on here before, but just in case, one more plug…
article here
http://www.portlandtribune.com/sustainable/story.php?story_id=119186591735012000
i made it my one stop. the food was really quite good. besides the cyclists, families, hipsters and such, a nice older couple pulled up in a cart lead by a very small horse.
Light Ride last night with the kids was a rad time plus bombing down the hill with major blinky action. it was a Zoobombtastic time as always, weeee!
Hope yours is good Jonathan!
Only a very short ride Sat AM – a brisk jaunt out to Marine Dr and back for 30 miles – spent the rest of the day on errands and then attended that very fun Sisters of the Road benefit at the Art Museum.
In what may have been the first time in months, I did not ride at all on Sunday. I did not go to the DQ, (sorry to disappoint you, Rickey!), but I did spend some quality time in the garden pulling up the last of the summer crops and laying in the first of the winter crops. MMM, I can almost taste those brussels sprouts now . . . .
Next weekend, it\’s back to the bike for some quality aqua-riding.
I took a ride along my favorite north Portland loop:
http://bikelovejones.livejournal.com/56548.html
Cheers –Beth
I live in Troutdale and could not pass up the chance to ride up to Crown Point in the Fall colors and sunshine. Beautiful views but very windy at the Point. I had originally planned to drive up with the family but when they bailed I had to ride. How many more good chances will I have, right?
Troutdale to Larch Mt. and back.
We did a ride from the Kenton neighborhood west to the water treatment plant then onto the Columbia Slough loop. This was a great, mellow ride with no one around.
Joined YOU at the Cross Race!
For about 6 years I\’ve been documenting all the fun bike lane guys, and this summer got behind in the process.
So Saturday I rode to SE, near Mt. Tabor; up to Airport Way; back over to St. Johns to photograph and capture descriptions of bike guys I\’d seen over the past several months.
Lots of new ones along Airport Way!
Then, after documenting the last one on my list, across the street from UP on Willamette Blvd, I discovered a rear tire was flat. So I had a nice walk home, too.
Cheers,
Jim
Cross, baby, cross. Even if I had a third lung, I would have dropped that one too on that course. Nice work Crusade crew!
Did my first cross race. Yippee!!
I drove from Lincoln City to Portland. That many cars on the road is wrong! I did not like being part of it. I scoped the route for future bike trips.
No biking this weekend but a great commute this morning because the number of bikes on my route seems to be about twice the average I\’m used to seeing. Last month\’s Bike Commute Challengers, I presume? Made my day! Looking forward to riding wet this week.
Hornings was fun fun fun! And Jonathan, I know it would be bad form to toot your own horn, but NICE WORK in the B\’s! That\’s gotta make Monday morning just a little bit brighter.
Thanks for NOT creating a singles meetup section of Bikeportland.org.
There is a whole internet for that kind of thing, and young lovers can meetup on rides and take it from there.
Sauvie\’s Island. So many cars. Traffic backed up from bridge three miles each direction. I biked straight past it all, thank goodness. They need a better bus service out there, stat!
This weekend is a perfect example of why my calendar is so full of bike stuff, why I love Portland, and why I haven\’t done laundry in WAY too long.
Friday
-Memorial Ride for Tracy Sparling – Very powerful. I\’m so glad that so many folks showed up. Proof that we all have friends who we don\’t even know.
-Midnight Mystery Ride – Bravo, Nikki Robo. A start in St. Johns, and then showing silent films in a superfund site? Wow. Slept on the waterfront in an old warehouse.
Saturday
-too tired. Skipped the Corn Maize Ride. Boo.
-Carfree Conference Slideshow – Pictures of Turkey! All kinds of great ideas for next year\’s here in Portland…
-Light Ride – Felix pulled together a last-minute Zoobomber cruise around the city on stunningly well-lit bikes with stops at Jamison Sq. for lounging and Hot Lips for dumpstering.
Sunday
-Cross Crusade 2 – put knobbies on my work bike and rode it out to my first CX race where I got slaughtered but had a ball.
-Clever Cycles dinner – Still a bit muddy, but very hungry, I made it just in time to hang out with a fabulous group of people working hard to change the way we think of bicycling. Thanks, Clever.
-Zoobomb! – some crazy drivetrain-less (but not brakeless) bikes on the hill these days. Ah, gravity.
I love this town.
Bought a Sears Starliner bike from a yard sell,, cleaned it up and rode it 🙂
was going to do the cross race on it, but
freestyled it instead.. fun little bike
with one gear.. hard..
My wrist has been broken for the past few weeks — after I\’d fallen, on my own accord, while riding on the west waterfront path (well, I was helped down by a small crack in the sidewalk that my wheels felt like hugging). So I still can\’t ride. So I have to live vicariously through you all. Thanks for sharing.
I miss bicycling.
Hey, Peter W. and PSU Cycling Team,
I am sure that the many Hawthorne Bridge pedestrians appreciate your apology in Comment #4, in which you wrote:
\”sorry if we passed too close.
\”We do always try to watch out for other road/path users (obviously we\’d crash and be in a lot of pain as well if we hit someone), but sometimes we get so used to cars passing us closely we forget that we might be just as scary to pedestrians who we pass closely.
\”I\’ll send the word along that we should warn walkers and pass slowly or with more space next time. \”
That\’s a great start. You\’re almost there!
Would you be willing go so far to ask all of the members of the PSU Cycling team to please NOT ride two abreast, and instead ride single-file, while crossing the Hawthorne Bridge? It only takes a minute or two to cross the bridge by bike, so it really wouldn\’t be much of a hardship for your teammates to do this simple thing.
Although bike racers are quite used to passing each other and being passed with only inches to spare (I know this because I am an OBRA member & bike racer, too.), pedestrians are NOT used to this behavior and often find it frightening and alienating. This behavior by cyclists tends to create unnecessary emotional dissonance and \”friction\” between cyclists and pedestrians, two groups that should be natural allies.
Please let us know your reaction to this idea, and thanks for your consideration!
No two-wheel action for me this weekend… my fun came on four wheels instead.
But I did see a lot of cyclists out around OR35 outside of Odell, and even a few hardy mountain bikers going up over Fir Mountain.
To the cyclist going up the 17 road Saturday night: sorry I blinded you with my lights, but my co-driver and I couldn\’t figure out what you were. No lights front or rear, and your black clothes with small patches of reflective piping weren\’t exactly cutting it. Hope that herd of deer didn\’t get you, I chased them off the road and up into the trees for ya. 🙂 Come to think of it, they were a couple of corners up the mountain from you, so you were probably okay. 🙂
I forgot to add that as part of my weekend errands I stopped by Clever Cycles to confirm as truth the rumor that they would soon be carrying the Basil line of bike bags – whoo hoo!
Drove down to Eugene Saturday to pick up our brand-spanking new Bike Fridays. Rode the paths around Eugene. What a gorgeous day. Sunday we rode around Vancouver fine tuning the new bikes.
I spent most of my weekend shovelling dirt. This would not be so bad, but I live right on Willamette and my 10 yard dumpster is right on the street. So I got to move 9 yards of dirt while watching everybody ride by on a nice day.
I did get out with my wife on the firelanes in forest park. I recent bought and fixed up a full suspension bike for her and this was inagural ride.
Cheers everyone
I helped Carye Bye lead the Milwaukie small museums ride on Sunday, and it went swimmingly – we had about 20 people on the ride, found out there is quite an eclectic collection of historical items at the Milwaukie Museum (including an ancient electric hair-curler that took 12 hours and looks like an octopus on acid), and were amazed by the giant Halloween yard display of titanic proportions at the Davis Graveyard.
Oh, and did I mention we started at Keana\’s Candyland, a phenomenal store and bakery in Sellwood? (yes, they have veggie and vegan wares too)