John Beaston and Susan Hayden
know that bikes are the best way
to get to the Rose Festival Parade.
(Photo © 2006/J. Maus)
know that bikes are the best way
to get to the Rose Festival Parade.
(Photo © 2006/J. Maus)
What are your plans for the weekend? Do you have some bike adventures planned?
The Maus Family plans on riding down to the Rose Parade this morning and tomorrow we’ll be checking out the Walk + Bike Challenge Month Celebration at the PSU Park Blocks. From there, I hope to stop by the Blessing of the Bikes.
Does anyone plan on going to Bike to the Ballet today? If you go, we’d love to hear who wins the Best Legs Contest!
Whatever you’re doing this weekend, share the fun by leaving a comment…and don’t forget to include links to your photos.
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
I\’m down in Oakland for the week/weekend, and my girl and I rode to the Grand Lakes farmer\’s market this morning and scored some amazing produce. They are well into their berry and stone fruit season as well, so our 2 mile ride was duly rewarded with amazing local offerings. The major streets aren\’t particularly bike friendly down here, but generally motorists are quite aware of our presence and bike parking has been more than ample every place we\’ve visited. Definitely a different bike culture down here, but it\’s cool to see such a variety of people on bikes regardless of if they\’re chasing an image or just eschewing automobiles.
The Pink Martini FundFest concert for the BTA went very well last night, selling 1200 tickets (selling out) and exposing a lot of new people to the cause.
Unfortunately, we had a bike that was not picked up from bike parking at the event. So if you\’re missing a red fixie or single speed that you last saw when you locked it to an on-street pedestrian barricade at SW 13th near Burnside, contact me ASAP at heather at bta4bikes dawt org.
Bike to the Ballet had a nice turnout of bikes this afternoon. The \”best legs\” contest was won by Olga, one of the OBT dancers, and a young child. They passed out teeny bananas and Paley bars for bicyclists.
I had a gig at the Portland Farmer\’s Market at PSU this morning. I loaded my accordion, hurdy-gurdy, big amplifier, cords, microphone stand and water bottle onto my Xtracyle with the help of a few bungee cords. It was really awkward, but I and all my gear made it downtown in one piece.
The show went well (Hurdy-Gurdy music was an attention grabber) and some guy took a video of me loading all my slack back onto my bike!
-Ian
Took a pleasant spin up to Rocky Butte with my brother this evening. Hat-tip to Matt Picio for showing me a short-cut a few weeks ago on the ECT ride that made for some amusement between my sibling and myself.
Glad that I bought an Arkel Bug on Friday and didn\’t realize who I was buying it from… Even though I am a regular at this site! And can\’t wait to ride my mustache Redline 925 with its new nexus 8 hub this weekend!
Well, not exactly weekend fun, but yesterday I took myself down to Tigard from my home in Aloha to check out the new site of the Oregon State Bar, where I\’ll be taking a continuing ed class in Bicycle Law.
I\’d heard that Hall Blvd. wasn\’t the best of traveling lanes. That\’s certainly no lie. The debris, the disconnects, the speed of the cars, and the constant climbs and descents make for a rather unpleasant experience. I took the Fanno Creek trail back which was much better, but I decided to retake Hall right at the steepest climb instead of continuing all the way to Denney. Ooof! I\’m still not in the best of shapes, so if you saw someone pedaling up that stretch on the inner chainring in second gear being passed by pedestrians, that was me. It felt like L\’Alpe d\’Huez. And I\’ll be doing it all over again on Wednesday… Yipee! And no, K\’Tesh, I won\’t be taking 217, even if it is flat. 🙂
I just got back from pre-riding the Oregon Randonneurs 400 km \”Covered Bridges\” brevet that is set for next Saturday – 400 km in just under 26 hours. The course is terrific, and there is a 200 km option, so if you are at all interested in randonneuring, you should check it out (the 200, if you\’re new to endurance cycling …)
I went out to buy a wedding gift on Saturday…
I picked up the Marine Dr path to Kelly Pt. On the loop back to the St John\’s Bridge, I contemplated my choices. The wise choice, head toward home to be on schedule. The manly choice, ride the Sauvie Island loop. Of course the manly choice has nothing to do with adding another 18 miles to the ride and everything to do with being on time while accomplishing my original objective. It all worked out. HooWah
The weather was so perfect. Low 50s. Beautiful heavy skies, lite wind with a couple of short rain showers. I loved riding in it and thought, \”I can live here\”. I saw it was 90s in New York and smiled.
But my 60+ miles makes me think me, or my bike, or something is not ready for 200km. Either I ride wrong or the bike still doesn\’t fit. Most of my riding is commuting through town so I don\’t find problems until I get out on the open road where I\’m not stopping every few blocks. Gotta do more longer rides and figure it out I suppose…
The Blessing of the Bikes at St. Mary\’s was very nice.
I had an amazing day today. First I helped Farmer Kolibri transport a 250lb Rototiller over to 81st in Woodstock. Then my good friend and I rode the tandem trike out to Boring to show off to the farmer people. It was a beautiful day.
My boyfriend and I went to Bike to the Ballet and it was great! I don\’t have all the details about who won the best legs contest because I was in it and I came in 4th out of about 12. I heard later that the winner was a dancer with the company who wasn\’t performing that day (first name Olga?), second runner-up was a 3-year-old girl, so you see what we were up against. 🙂
We also went to the Blessing of the Bikes and Mayor-Elect Sam Adams was there and took the mic for a few words before the service. Bells were rung in rememberance of the deceased cyclists of the past year, although there were a few who weren\’t mentioned (like Austin Miller). Maybe 35 bikers showed up if you include the stragglers. It wasn\’t as well attended as I thought it would be, although Lord knows, we need as many blessings as we can get! The sun was out, so where were you all? Jonathan was there and I look forward to seeing the pictures; it looked like he got some good ones.
Oh, and I finally managed to brave the crowds at HUB for a beer and their awesome pretzels to reward myself for not falling asleep on my bike and crashing on the 400K 🙂
I kind of forgot all about the Blessing of the Bikes. I was in town today, and might not have minded dropping in. Guess I should work on keeping a calender in better order.
Before I came home today, I walked in Old Town and happened to see the biggest dang bakfiets style rig I\’ve ever seen. It was blue and said Ladd Cycles or \’motorcyles\’ on it. Guy was with his gal on another bike and had the cargo container loaded with his kid and several bikes. The sides of the container look to be at least 30\” high. Quite a sight for me, living out in the beav.
bike fun this weekend included getting my visiting mom on the bike to go out for her birthday dinner, biking to the Mt. Hood Model Engineers open house on Belmont on Saturday, and best of all, giving our five year old a brand new bike for his birthday this morning, and hosting a bike-themed party this afternoon.
I ventured to the \’burbs via Max, and rode up and down SW Canyon. Why? I had a strong urge to feel like a visitor from a strange land.
\”I had a strong urge to feel like a visitor from a strange land.\” Ethan
Or, \’a visitor to a strange land.\’ Yes, Canyon is Beaverton\’s own dreary little version of 82nd Ave in Portland. The consolation is reaching Canyon Drive veering off to the south side of Canyon at the top of West Slope. It winds around very quietly, roughly paralleling Canyon on the climb to the Sylvan overpass. Shame to miss that.
Yesterday was a quick bike ride with the family east along Alameda Ridge too and from a 2 year old birthday party.
Today we rode down town to the Bike and Walk challenge celebration in the PSU park blocks and arrived just in time for the alley kitten. What a blast!! The kids had fun and we got to check out Chain Reaction. I dig there bikey moves. Pizza, raffle, alley kitten you name it we dug it. Thanks to all who put on the challenge as well as the party.
After that we stopped by the Crystal Ballroom for the Gary Ewing Memorial. Then Saturday market for a snack and home.
After a (car) trip to Gresham for a bowling b-day party went back to the Crystal on my own for some good music and classic visual enlightenment. Now I sleep.
3 of us ECT regulars rode out to Milo McIver state park in Estacada and camped overnight. The pleasant surprise was that Saturday was \”Parks Day\”, and our stay ws free – no fee to camp overnight.
Weather was pleasant for camping, and although McIver\’s hiker/biker camp is really small (1 site) and the firewood a bit damp, we were able to enjoy the evening and have a pleasant stay.
And this evening, the four intrepid ECT souls who spent 3 weeks in Europe returned to Portland!
I fled to Seattle this weekend to see my best friend. We rode bikes up ridiculous hills, raided the REI used goods, played in Recycled Cycles, drank beer and worked on bikes. Woot!
The Littleman and I rode out to the North Portland Model Railway (Clinton all the way) but he was unimpressed although the hot dog, M&M cookie and A&W root beer was well received. After that I huffed the Bakfeits up Mount Tabor (no easy feat) and checked out the awesome views of Mount Hood. Littleman made friends with another boy and they wrestled and had rolly polly races down the meadow. Afterwards we tore down the unimproved section of Gladstone and home for dinner. Hmmm, tacos.
Enjoyed the parade. Later in the weekend, rode my freshly-restored 1971 Gitane TdF Professional to Freddie\’s for a grocery run.
The little girl who took second place in the Best Legs contest at the ballet was Kris Schamp\’s daughter – she was wearing her leotard for the occasion – and apparently Olga gave her the grand prize – registration for two to Cycle Oregon\’s Weekend ride. Nice work Miss Schamp!
Did anyone see my daughter\’s green toad on the Springwater between Downtown and Oaks Park yesterday (Sunday)? We drove to Oaks Bottom and me, my wife, my 9 YO daughter and my 12 YO daughter pedaled into downtown. The Springwater was packed. My daughter won this 4 1/2 foot tall stuffed toad and then she had to pedal it back to Oaks Bottom. She wouldn\’t let me help. She pedaled one handed while she held the arms of this toad around her neck. Lizzy did great maneuvering her bike one-handed the whole way.
I joined family in the search for razor clams at Ft Stevens. I rode 32 miles in wind and rain on Friday. (yuk!) and my brother-in-law and I hammered out 27 miles on Saturday including a ride up to the Astoria Column. The worst part of the ride is crossing the Young\’s Bay bridge. It\’s part of the official Oregon Coast Bike Route but it sucks…..single lane each direction and NO shoulder. Luckily the drivers were polite and accommodating. We returned the favor by riding as fast as we could to get over the bridge and back to where we could move out of the traffic lane.
No fun *on* a bike for me, but I *saw* some bike fun while I was touring in Victoria, BC. At the tail end of a bus tour to the Butchart Gardens arriving back at the Empress, I did a double take when I saw a line of a dozen folks riding down the main tourist strip in the buff! Apparently Victoria had their naked bike ride a week earlier than us (great weather for it). They got a photo in the next day\’s paper, too.
Doubled up on bike fun this last weekend…
On Saturday, I took my daughter to Bike-to-the-Ballet, where she indeed ended \”first runner-up\” in the Best Legs Contest. (Here is a blurry shot of the line-up of contestants: http://tinyurl.com/6z79a2). On the way back home, we were less lucky trying to board the Westbound MAX with a bike and bike trailer, so I ended up getting a great work-out riding back to Beaverton via the zoo with trailer-and-kid in tow.
On Sunday morning, we dropped by the Bike & Walk to School Challenge Celebration, where Maia enjoyed her very first \”alley kitty\” race (http://tinyurl.com/67em6t), some fun square dancing, and a ton of goodies, courtesy of the BTA and the other great supporters of the event.
Great start on another summer of bike fun!
Fled the traffic, rain and clouds and drove to Steens Mountain. Rode a half-century through the desert and up a pass. Beautiful, sunny skies. Lots of strong wind and a spectacular and intimidating landscape. Great weekend!