Beach, California.
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
I’m still down here in sunny Orange County, California (Cypress to be exact).
The photo at right is from a ride I took with my stepdad and some of his friends to Huntington Beach over the weekend (more photos here). It was about 65-70 degress and nothing but clear, blue skies.
Have you gotten a chance to ride during the Holidays?
I noticed a group of fun-loving folks from the Shift email list met up for the first annual Kool Yule Ride.
I won’t be back in time for it, but I would definitely take part in the traditional New Year’s Day ride if I could.
I’m planning a mountain bike ride with my two brothers in the next few days. Other than that, I’ll just be re-connecting with friends and family.
Whether you’re in the Portland snow, or visiting family and friends in far-off places, I’d love to hear what sort of adventures you’ve had (or maybe you can share your coolest bike-related gift)…
Thanks for reading.
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My weekend ride:
http://bikelovejones.livejournal.com/66920.html
Pictures here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/20084214@N00/sets/72157603528149204/
A beautiful, cold-weather ride with frends.
holidays are my favorite time to ride – and Christmas Day didn\’t let me down. I did a short ride with my sweetie on the \”airport loop\” on my new ss. The roads were deserted and the air a perfect 36 degrees. Cool enough to feel the chill but not so cold or wet to be uncomfortable (I love wool). Saw a few other riders, including a couple of grandmas – one was pegging it and had snot on her face. I thought that was cool -never too old to ride hard. We got home just as it started to snow. Kinda sorry we didn\’t get to ride a little bit in the snowfall but it was still pretty to watch from inside.
Enjoyed my Vancouver to downtown commute on Monday and today. It\’s often the most enjoyable part of the day!
I actually got to ride in daylight for the first time in a month, on Monday, because it was a short day at work. Wow, the visibility! And it was mostly dry for the first since, when – September???
Jonathan – stop posting those nasty sunny pictures. We all hope you sunburn. =)
snow dreams on Christmas, water on the way
home from work.. i really wish the snow kept flowing. 🙂 was nice tho-
ride safe all
Joe almost a truck orna-ment today 🙁
Last month while touristing about India we ran into Joff Summerfield who is riding his pennyfarthing highwheel bike around the world! What a great adventure he is on! I invited him to Portland, but that is not in his route.
[IMG]http://i1.tinypic.com/6shy5ph.jpg[/IMG]
http://pennyfarthingworldtour.com/
Oops. Image tags don\’t work. Try this link to see Joff and his bike: http://i1.tinypic.com/6shy5ph.jpg
i started by riding to my parents\’ house in the morning. mom asked if maybe we could go for a Christmas Day ride on the bike she got this past summer, so she showed me her normal \”\’round the neighborhood\” route. it was great! then it started snowing, and who can pass up riding in the snow? utterly perfect. only regret is that the fam pushed up meet-up time to 2pm, so i missed the Yool Ride (sniff).
thanks for leaving great pictures before departing for points east, Carye!
Anyone know anything about a car/bike collision at N. Missouri and N. Killingsworth this morning?
I rode by when a motorcycle cop was there. There was a fendered road bike with a crunched front end, stuck to the driver\’s side of a silver Civic. The driver was still sitting behind the wheel.
It looked like the Civic pulled out in front of the bike as the bike was going east on Killingsworth.
Weird thing though was that there was no sign of a rider anywhere, and it didn\’t look like there had been any emergency vehicles there other than the responding officer.
Should have asked the cop what happened but I was running late for work.
Speaking of which – 3 to 6 inches of snow forecast for Thursday, turning to rain by evening. Sounds messy. I like extreme commutes, so no way I am passing this up. But I guess I better pull off the slicks tonight and put the knobbies back on…
Santa and I took BATMobile out for a spin during holiday rush near the malls. Got busted by TPD for \”impeding flow of traffic\” just for slowing down!
I guess they didn\’t get the memo: bikes don\’t \”impede\” traffic. Bikes ARE traffic. 😛
BATMobile looks pretty cool – we need a few of those over here.
Nice to hear that we\’re not the only ones having trouble with our PD – sorry to hear you\’re in a similar boat.
I decided to do my first Zoobomb this weekend, and I have to say it\’s as much fun as everyone keeps saying it is – I don\’t know why everyone doesn\’t try it at least once.
I rode this bike:
http://tinyurl.com/33zf6g
which I fished out of Burnt Bridge Creek in Vancouver on 12/16. It lasted 3 runs before the chain seized up and broke. Once I get a new chain and clean it up a little bit, I expect it will be back on the hill in short order.
I\’ve also racked up about 56 miles on the bike this holiday – pretty respectable for me for December.
I\’m also going to dig the knobbies out for the impending snow.
I had a nice wet ride on Saturday with Portland Velo, and then an equally nice, and equally wet, ride with Beth H and Lynne F on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday I did a couple short solo shake-down runs on the new fixie/ss (Monday I rode it fixie, Tuesday I flipped the wheel and rode it ss – my knees have decreed that I stick with the ss . . .). No snow riding for me this year though . . .
I didn\’t get a ride in this weekend. But got to check out the first bike built for chunk666 Medford. My cousin and his friend built a tall bike. And they have a little collection of bike parts to build more. The next bike will be a long bike.
pics of chunk666 Medford or whatever they decide to call it.
http://flickr.com/photos/8826791@N02/sets/72157603553000006/
Just the usual A to B journies in Copenhagen. Nothing special. Although you see cool things at this time of year on the bike lanes…
http://cycleliciousness.blogspot.com/2007/12/another-copenhagen-jul.html
Matt, #12, is available for purchase and shipment to PDX. Less than 20lbs., it breaks down at this end and easily reassembles in PDX. E-mail me privately for more details.
Matt, #12, BATMobile breaks down at this end and easily ships to PDX.
No riding here in snowy Wisconsin today, and we\’re expecting another 2-4\” of snow tomorrow. Looks like a bit more snow shoveling action for me! Can\’t wait to get back to PDX this weekend and get back on the bike..
Bet one of you was the dude wearing a t-shirt, rolled up jeans and a stocking cap riding a fixie down Cinton this a.m. in the 35 degree rain. No gloves in sight either…thought he was in Cali with J. Maus me thinks!
We biked through bits of the West Hills and made snow angels!
The Oregonian had a nice bit about Jonathan in it\’s 2007 in review article:
\”Is there a Portland-centric blog out there better than BikePortland.org? We think not.
Jonathan Maus is unabashedly pro-cyclist but in a such a polite, evenhanded Portland way. He criticizes the police when they deserve it, but also credits their efforts to make the city safer for cycling. He posts news about stolen bikes. He offers space for riders to write about their close calls.
In a city full of bicycles, where the death of two cyclists this fall helped force changes on Portland streets, we need more guys like Maus.\”
Yay Jonathan!
It is roller time for us sprinters. Time to work on building up a new playlist for track side warm-up.
Great to see the picture. As someone who spends a lot of time in HB, it made me feel warm.
Moo (#20) – I\’m that crazy, but I don\’t own a fixie.
I\’m hoping the rain will at some point actually shift to snow like the weather guessers promised.
OTOH, they also promised I\’d be living on the moon right now, and a robot servant would clean my house.
That\’s nuts M.P. I think shorts and a tank top would be better suited- less weight to carry when they get soaked.
Sun? Fun? Ha!
Today is Wet-Icy-Rain Hitting My Face Day
Snow would be welcomed…
In snowy Wisconsin, there is winter biking. I got a good snow ride in a week and a half before xmas. Such a good ride, getting buzzed by a snow plow didn\’t ruin it.
I love reading bikeportland. Keep fighting for your rights out there. I\’m certainly fighting for mine here. But I\’m having fun while doing it.
Yay, I finally graduated to my first road (touring) bike and logged a lot of miles for my book – ≈70mi over 3 days. XMAS eve was the best, heading north and exploring un-conquered nooks of smith-bybee. Ended up ripping my new suede saddle scaling a razor wire fence though. And it was too late to tell santa 🙁
Unfortunately, Beth and I didn\’t get any riding in when we visited my parents, south of Guadalaja Mexico. But, there was still some beautiful bike scenery to be had like this shot from San Juan Cosala:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84977575@N00/2142522865/in/set-72157603561698984/
There are a couple more bikey photos, and other interesting and not-so-interesting photos (including a Pesada and pinata party) from San Juan Cosala, Mexico and the surrounds here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84977575@N00/sets/72157603561698984/
The holiday bike fun is not over.
Enjoy.
Greg
I like the picture of the \”Strand\” in Huntington Beach.
Not only was I born at the hospital right up the street from this shot, I spent many a weekend day riding up and down the \”Strand\” (that is what it is called by the way) with my dad, sister, and brother.
My father, a great man, would pile our bikes, into the trunk of the 1970 MB 280SE, tie them in (certainly scratching the beautiful paint) and drive us to Torrance beach.
We would spend the day riding up the coast, and then back, enjoying the salt air, the sights, the ice cream, and Mother Ocean.
And while I have no desire what so ever to return to LA, (I have not been there since the early 80\’s) just looking at the photo accompanying this article takes me way back.
It reminds me, for the ten thousandth time, how lucky I was to be saved (or adopted as it was, I was a baby in a foster home for my first 5 months) by such a great and caring family.
Just another look into that deep, dark, truthful mirror.
Thanks for making me smile.
It has been a while.
I rode to work and home every day, even Christmas.
Rode into work today.
Did ok until I got a half mile or so from the Willamette. There was a noticable reduction in temperature accompanied by a glaze of ice on the roadways. Did ok, going strait but I called it after my second fall. One advantage was that I could slide out the fall reducing impact of the fall.
I was near the maxx line, so I trained in the rest of the way. Noted a number of serious looking commuters and a few bike messengers doing the same. I did see one die hard recumbant go by, and wonder how he/she did on the down hill.
In the Oregonian\’s article about the BTA\’s New Year\’s Day ride:
\”Like many in the crowd Tuesday, she rode in memory of Jarolimek, 31, who was killed in a \”right hook\” collision as he cycled down a bike lane into the path of a turning garbage truck.\”
If you don\’t think that\’s responsible reporting contact:
kimberlywilson@news.oregonian.com
Starting the new year right in Seattle: http://tinyurl.com/yobaxf
Good weather, good people, good times.
what\’s the best way to bring in the new year? a little bit of zoobomb! the weather was much warmer than it was on sunday night (ice everywhere!), but it was a great night. 2008omb!
Thanks for the heads-up Kevin.
Interesting indeed. He rode into the path of the truck instead of the truck turning into his path.
Email to the Oregonian duly written.
tonyt,
Did you by chance get a reply to your letter to Ms Wilson? I wrote a letter (see my blog for a copy) but didn\’t get a reply, not that I necessarily expected one.
-Kevin
Did the BTA New Year\’s ride. That\’s my daughter in the middle of the photo on the back of the metro section in yesterday\’s Oregonian. The wind eventually forced us in for hot chocolate, but we had a good time.
I got 2 super cool bike jerseys from my husband for Christmas!
Le Chat Noir (in honor of our black kitty): http://www.teamestrogen.com/products.asp?pID=27680
and Spokeapelli (primal wear) but i couldnt find a pic of that one…
A total coincidence – i got him a bike related gift too -an aerobar. he has been spending more time on the trainer since installing it, though i suppose that could have to do with all the holiday eating 😀
Cant wait for some warmer weather to show off my jerseys 🙂
I had an un-fun holiday bike experience that lead to a fun post holiday exp… I worked 12-14 hours/day all through the holidays as everyone in my office was on vacation (but me) and long hours working on a computer left me with a weird ache in my back. One day I left work early, and decided I wold combine dropping my new (to me) diesel jetta (85 future svo project) off at my mechanic\’s with a night time bike ride. The mechanic is in Gresham and its about ten miles from my house. Not a thrilling ride, but still a little time to enjoy the night on two wheels.
I had a huge blowout about three miles from my mechanics shop! Dammit… tire blown through, me in that no man\’s land between Gresham and Portland, waiting for a bus… no bike ride huge PITA…
I go to my bike shop on my Friday to get new tires and find out that the reason the tire blew out was that I had worn nearly through them in seven months. Had both tires replaced (the getting stranded thing made me do it), and today took the dog on a bike ride.
It was beautiful with the sun breaking through the clouds along the river, warm and sunny… on the way back to the house my dog started slowing down, and I realized I had taken him to far (22miles, his usual max if 15). we coasted and walked the last few miles and now he is quiet and sleeping.
I tired Border Collie is a wonderful thing. And the ache in my back is cured- Its a miracle!
I did not get to take my bike back to my Midwest homeland for the holidays, so I missed my daily rides. I tried some running, which was not so fun, because I felt like I was going very, very slowly…probably because I WAS! The good news is that I *did* get to load up on following items:
(disclaimer: vegans, beware, as the following heartland menu may disturb you.)
-Mom’s roast beef & potatoes
-Mom’s ham & potatoes
-Mom’s turkey & potatoes
– beer (not Mom\’s; with old friends by night to help digest)
Thus, I am well fueled to kick this winter riding weather in its cold, blustery hiney.
Happy New Year, everyone! See you on the road.
Jonathan,
please come back to Portland and start posting again.
I miss reading bikeportland while i eat breakfast in the morning!
hope you have a happy new year
-mike
Do we need to organize a ride down to orange county and rescue him?
Hope your having a great vacation Jon!
An annual event seems like a good idea,eh?
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2008/01/3rd_annual_memorial_ride_walk.html