Note: I'm currently on a family trip and not working normal hours. Email and message responses will be delayed and story and posting volumes here and on our social media accounts will not be at their usual levels until I return to Portland August 12th. Thanks for your patience and understanding. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor
There’s a ton of bike stuff happening tomorrow and it should be warm and dry…so get out there and ride!
If you need a refresher on what’s up, check out my post from Thursday.
And, as per usual, don’t forget to share your plans and amazing adventures in the comments below — for those who live vicariously through your bikey exploits…
Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)
Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.
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In addition to the other clearly bikey events, you could also come to \”I\’m for Sam\” day and help Portland elect a pro-bike mayor.
Meet at 10:30am today at the SEIU hall on SE 26th near Powell (3536 SE 26th, to be exact). Very bikeable. For more information:
http://www.samforpdx.com/2008/04/may_3rd_is_im_w.php
There will be food! And Sam!
Twenty four hundred feet elevation climb for my commute on Friday
I decided to take a scenic commute to and from work on Friday. . .
Started at SE42nd & Division; through downtown; up Vista Ave in SW to Council Crest Park (1000 ft), then down to Sylvan Heights (750 ft), then back up to TV tower hill (1200 ft), down Cornell to Hillsboro Airport (close to where I work).
Return was east on Baseline, through Hillsboro and Beaverton, to Miller, Then up Park Way to Ceder Hills (about 450 ft elevation); on up the 26 bike path to Sylvan (750 ft), then up to the top of the Fairview hill (about 900 ft)
Then zoomed down the hill (while singing random songs out loud) to the bottom of Washington Paak; past the MAC Club (while still singing random song and entertaining the foot traffic to/from the MAC Club); through downtown and the Hawthorne Bridge; and back home via the Lincoln bike boulevard. . .
Luv
Mark
O.k… so I was sick of feeling sorry for myself after knee surgery. I have the BEST husband, he rented a pedicab for the kids and I to get around town on some errands. Because there wasn\’t enough room for all of us, he rode behind us on his bike. We went around town for a couple of hours and it was awesome.. probably the closest I will get to being on a bike for a few more weeks.
I highly recommend taking a whirl on a pedicab. Our driver was Stephan you can reach him at 503-995-3820. It was a total blast!
Other than Bridge Pedal and the \’Hottest Day of the Year\’ ride last year almost all of my biking till now is solo commuting. Other than work, I\’ll bike to breakfast, book stores, bike shops, coffee and brewpubs on the weekends with an occasional West Hills, Sauvie Island, or Gorge ride for no reason. So today\’s 65 mile \’Ride Around Clark County\’ loop was something different and very amazing. It\’s about the hardest I have ridden just to keep up with friends who know how to hold on to a draft. I played catch up for over 4 hours. It contained all the ingredients for a cycling addiction, scenery, energy, speed, good people and outstanding support. The rain held off with a perfect cool and cloudy 55 degrees. This is what it is all about.
Spring Thaw. Weather was beautiful, wish you were here.
A little mud out in the scappoose on saturday. took a guy who had never mountain biked before in his life. it was a blast! I only crashed once.
Well, we pulled off the beer century yesterday, and pub owners throughout Portland are glad to be done with us! The route was as follows:
Start at the NW Lucky Lab at noon, first 20oz while the rest of the route came to our minds. Then over the Broadway Bridge and along Williams and side streets to the Mash Tun on NE Alberta, where they serve 16oz pints. A cruise along the Alameda ridge and south to Belmont Station, now on Stark and 45th, where we purchased 22oz bottled beverages from their amazing selection, before climbing up Tabor. At the top, we naturally obeyed all public drinking laws by only drinking from our water bottles, while the 22oz bottles stayed in our packs unopened;). Here, we had some \”ghettodrome\” racing around the upper loop, and prizes were not distributed, due to the poor performances. From Tabor we flew down the backside to Lincoln, 26th, and our next stop at Oaks Bottom in Sellwood, for the world-famous tachos, and more 16oz pours. The rain finally became annoying at this point, so we hung out under the patio roof for a little bit. At the first break, we motored along the Springwater trail back into Southeast Portland, and our final destino, Green Dragon, where the beers come in 16oz glasses, or, if you\’re in the Mug Club (sorry, it\’s full; you have to wait until someone dies or otherwise does not renew), you get a 19oz mug.
Bikes and riders mostly survived, although there were some close calls. All of us who did the full circuit did so on fixed-gear rigs, although this was not mandatory. My total was 101 ounces, which I accomplished by hitting the minimum at all stops and an extra half-pint share somewhere. We noted that most places will give 2oz tastes of all their selections, leading to the idea of the Free Beer Century, which probably could be performed only once.
After the last stop, I rode down to the Aladdin Theater, to meet up with my girlfriend again, who had the good sense to bail out mid-century, and we saw Victor Wooten perform his bass-playing magic to a packed house of bass-crazies. Now I know what it\’s like for regular people to hang out with bike-crazies!
I just rode a few miles from here to the store today but was awesome as I\’ve been sick or traveling and have barely ridden my bike this year (maybe 10 times in 4 months!). Looking forward to spring and many miles on the road ahead!
Beer Century?
I love this town!
Fleche Ouragan. 24 hours, must ride a minimum of 360km. Our team of 4 women chose a 9pm start. Our team\’s route – roughly as follows: Cornelius-Lafayette-Dayton-Salem-Independence-Albany-Corvallis-Shedd-Waterloo-Aumsville-Gervais-Wilsonville-Sherwood-SchollsFy&Murray-Forest Grove.
The family rolled on the Xtracycle to the Japanese Garden while I rolled all around Forest Park on the cross with friends. We then switched roles and she jumped on the cross bike while I took the Xtra, mostly downhill, back home. Finally our strategery [sic] worked for a perfect day.
I was on Lynne\’s fleche team – what she didn\’t mention is that for both of us it was a personal one-day distance record (literally one day) – the furthest Lynne had done in a day was STP (206 miles or something) and the furthest I had done was 197 miles. Our \”official\” ending mileage was in the neighborhood of 226 (converting to and from KM is always a little rough), but according to my cyclometer I had closer to 230 because of some detours . . but after 200, I kind of stopped counting.
Took a friend visiting from Hawaii to waterfront bikes to rent a Fuji Sunday, and escorted her for her first trip along the esplanade and springwater. She bikes fairly often in honolulu despite what she says are dangerous conditions, and really fell in love with pdx bike culture. so great to see so many families with kids out on the paths now that the weather\’s changing for the better.
Rode two hours of singletrack at Scappoose on Friday afternoon. Help repair and build new trail features in Forest Park with fellow PUMPsters on Saturday. Did bike repair and maintenance for mine and my daughters bikes on Sunday.
Rode 17 (should have been twelve) bone crunching miles in the Coast Range near Brown Camp. Very beautiful, reminds me of the the Weald and the South Downs back home apart from the sound of quads and gunfire of course. Today I feel like tenderized boneless chicken…….hmmmm, chicken.
We were up in Hood River late Sunday afternoon and took a ride along the historic highway. The Mosier Tunnels are great fun on a bike, plus the wildflowers are blooming! Lupine, poppies, delphinium, shooting stars. Even saw a Western Tanager just to add to the beauty of the day. Yay, spring!
Wow please announce the next beer century!
On a whim, I rode to the end of the pavement on the Springwater Trail, since I hadn\’t done that before. Got a bit of sunburn, which I guess is a welcome problem since it means I got a lot of sun and made a lot of Vitamin D! Next time I will be more prepared and go to Boring on the gravel.
Friday and Saturday rode from our house to the Crystal Ballroom for some excellent music. Apparently spun hippies and homeless folks are both big fans of the Hokey Spokes. Such great weather for night riding too.
Sunday I did a big hilly loop that included Marine drive to Troutdale. then staying close to the Sandy River or tributaries through Springdale and all the way to the town of Sandy. Saw a few other like-minded riders on Gordon Creek road, and scads of folks out on the Springwater on the return leg. Perfect day for riding.
ps – despite what google maps says, Colorado rd. does NOT connect to Knox. It really is a dead end and I should have believed the sign!
I finally got back on my bike after a broken femur last month and rode 20 miles! Yay, no more leg atrophy!
I did a big loop around vancouver on Monday.
Started in Hockinson, rode through probstel, Fisher\’s landing, down the Old Evergreen Highway, out Lower River Road past Vancouver Lake, cut across a dike road to the Ridgfield Wildlife Refuge (Turns out you can drive cars offroad, and hunt there, but it is a $250 fine for riding a bicycle on the gravel road).
So I quickly rode around the refuge, then cut through Ridgefield, across to Battle Ground, and back over to Hockinson.
It was a nice, helmet free loop around the \’Couv and outlying areas.