Wanderlust - My personal soapbox and cycling journal

moving day!

2009-10-12T13:17:00.000-07:00

yes, this is the end of "Wanderlust" as you know it, and the beginning of the new blog, "not all who wander are lost" (thank you j.r.r. tolkien). Find the new stuff here: http://www.northwestwanderer.com/

Bike Nazis?

2009-09-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, Godwin's Law. This term always riles me up a bit.

Partly it's because it diminishes the horror that was Nazi Germany and diminishes the sacrifices of the millions of Europeans and Americans who fought, lived and died because of that regime. Well, ok, mostly that's why - my grandfathers fought in WWII, both in the European theater. Grandma Picio was almost literally Rosie the Riveter - she built B-24 bombers at Henry Ford's Willow Run plant in the 1940s, and birthed a child (my dad) and raised him for over a year until her husband came home from the war. (In fact, since the real "Rosie" worked at Willow Run, it's possible they even knew each other. I have a number of friends who had relatives who died in concentration camps during the war. So, yeah - Bike Nazi, Lawn Nazi, Soup Nazi, they all cheapen and diminish the evil that was the National Socialist Party in Germany during the 30s and 40s. (To be fair, "Soup Nazi" is humorous, but a brilliant comedy sketch has spawned hundreds of imitations that water down the term)

So, what provoked this? A comment on the Oregonian's website, of course. CRC looks to be scaled back because of the economic climate, and the groups and polities that formerly supported it are dropping one by one. Now, I know, reading the Oregon Live comments is a long walk off the short pier of pissed-offedness, but sometimes it has to happen. If nothing else, reading the statements of others who I violently disagree with helps me to clarify my own positions, attitudes and beliefs. (If you don't learn from your enemies, the problem lies more with you than with them)

We're NOT "Bike Nazis". We don't round up motorists into concentration camps and execute them. (and besides, have you ever tried biking in those jackboots?)

We're advocates and activists, at least some of us. We're bicycle commuters, people who deal every day with operating completely unprotected around 1-3 TON machinery operated largely by poorly-trained and unskilled operators, who largely fail to pay close attention to their surroundings. Yes, that can put us a bit on edge, but the current system was built to cater to these machines, and not to people on bikes or on their own two feet.

And that's my morning rant...

So, What's Going On?

2009-08-05T13:36:00.001-07:00

That's a very good question. So much has happened since I last updated this blog, and for a while I wondered if I was going to delete it, or let it sit static, or whatever. I think I've decided to expand the scope of this blog and continue to post to it - just not always bike-related stuff. (although I think bike-related stuff will still be a big part of it)

That's it for now - not much, I know, but be patient. I mean, you have already, right?

He Keeps Going, and Going, and Going...

2008-10-14T20:11:00.000-07:00

5,575.57 miles to date. 4,503 are on the Sutra, which I bought on Feb 1. At my current rate of 19.4 miles per day, I should break 7,000 miles before the end of the year.

I have a grand total of 542 hours and 15 minutes in the saddle. That's more than 22.5 DAYS of riding, or to put it in terms of the work week, equivalent to performing a full-time job for a bit more than 3 months. That's a LOT of time.

5,000 and Going Strong

2008-09-23T23:31:00.000-07:00

So, I broke 5,000 miles on the Alder Flat trip, and I'm now only 24 miles away from my entire mileage of last year. Wahoo! Or Sutra! Or both! (ok, bad pun)

502 hours in the saddle, and 5,146.08 miles. 24.32 more to go. At the current rate, my spreadsheet guesses me at 7,035 miles for the year - but we have 2 of the crappiest weather months ahead: November and December, which normally totally kill my mileage. In fact, last year I only rode 1,065 miles for the entire final 3 months of the year. I'll need to do almost twice that THIS year.

I think I can do it. I have at least 3 more camping trips this year, plus the Harvest Century. That's at least 350 miles right there, plus the normal riding around. It could be as high as 500 miles depending on where I ride.

I'm looking forward to blowing out the end of the year, if I can just stay dry enough. The Ortliebs will ensure my gear stays dry, but I'm another matter entirely.

At least I'm not sick anymore.

Alder Flat - A Camping Slice of Paradise

2008-09-23T23:00:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, 4 brave souls made the trek from Portland out up the Clackamas River to the gem known as Alder Flat. Alder Flat is the only USFS campground up the Clackamas with NO FEE. That’s right, NO FEE. Despite this, it’s rarely if ever full. Why? Because Alder Flat is a mile hike in from its parking lot, and the car-bound don’t want to schlep their gear by hand one mile down a dirt trail.

Psst… guess what? It’s a good enough trail to ride a fully-loaded touring bike up and down, and while the Forest Service doesn’t encourage bike use on the trail, they don’t PROHIBIT it either. If you know me, you know that that's all the encouragement I need - I totally respect the restrictions placed by property owners and government agencies, but if you don't tell me I need to stay out, I've just GOT to see what's there. And in this case, what's there to see is pretty awesome!

Alder Flat is 44.5 miles from the end of the MAX at Cleveland Avenue in Gresham, or 63 miles from downtown Portland if you want to do it the hard way. Don’t ask me why, but Steph, Ed, Tomas and I all decided to do it the HARD way, even though none of us got more than 4 hours of sleep and ALL of us had been drinking cocktails the night before.

The route climbs from basically sea level (Portland ranges from 0' to 1,100' in elevation) to about 1,500', and the trail to the campsite drops from there to about 1,300' elevation. You can see on the GPS elevation chart I've posted that there are two large hills - one between miles 8 and 10 and another one near mile 42. Both are about 300' tall, and both fairly steep. No matter which way you're headed, you have to go down one and up the other. Makes for an interesting trip.

We dragged our asses, but we made it, and made it fairly easily down the trail, which leads about 200’ down to the river through old-growth Douglas-Fir trees. We were welcomed by a completely empty campground, right on the river, with a tiny little sandy beach, a nice slow-moving area to swim in, fire pits, and picnic tables (granted, some of them are a little… worn).

A few of us promptly skinny-dipped in the water and dried off in front of the fire, and everyone else skinny-dipped the next morning. No road, no cars, no noise, no people. AWESOME.

I’m going to be leading another trek up to Alder Flat at the beginning of November, before the snow moves in, but the weather isn’t likely to be as nice as it was last weekend. Still, that late in the season, it’s guaranteed that we’ll be the only ones there. Keep an eye on http://www.cyclewild.org/ for details.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of the event:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattpicio/sets/72157607445146541/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomascosauce/sets/72157607419449340/

We rode 63 miles each way – it took about 6 hours heading out (slightly hung-over) and 5 hours heading back (mostly downhill). That’s actual riding time, plus another 2-3 hours of stops (we had lunch at the bakery in Estacada on the way out, and at the brew-pub on the way back). The day ended for half of us with a trip to the Kennedy School soaking pool. Yay McMennamins!

Flu, Camping, and the Elusive 5,000

2008-09-19T11:38:00.000-07:00

I got sick this week - REALLY sick. Flu, chills, sweats, fever, sore throat, sore joints, tired, lethargic, headache - almost every single symptom of the flu, and it only took about 12 hours to get them all. It started on Sunday, and I was out flat in bed almost all day Monday and Tuesday.

I'm doing a lot better now, but it really put me behind in the work I'm doing for umbrella, and really screwed up my mileage this week. I'm currently at 4,974.27 miles for the year -just shy of the elusive 5,000. The exciting thing is that it's only September, and I only rode 5,170 miles TOTAL last year. So in 200 miles, I pass ALL of last year! My spreadsheet keeps guessing I'll ride about 7,000 this year - my goal is 8,000. Rainy season is coming up, so we'll see what happens.

This weekend is the first official camping event for Cycle Wild - a ride out to Alder Flat in the Mount Hood National Forest. Alder Flat is a campground along a bend in the Clackamas River above the last of the dams - the river runs wild there, and there are some nice rapids, and about 6 campsites with firepits and picnic tables. I'm looking forward to it.

That's about it for now - 4,974 miles, average speed 9.9, total of 486 hours in the saddle (20 DAYS!). I'm over 1,000 miles on the Gary Fisher, almost 4,000 on the Kona, (since February 1st) and only 17 miles on the 20" Huffy. Hmm... need to Zoobomb more. Now that it's getting colder and I can wear more padding, I think that's a given.

-rubber down!

It's Official!

2008-09-05T14:21:00.000-07:00

Cycle Wild is a reality, even if at the moment it's just me and a handful of friends.

Cycle Wild is my attempt to blend my 2 greatest interests: Biking and the wilderness. Put simply, Cycle Wild's mission is "To reconnect people with nature via the bicycle". The main focus of this group is bicycle camping. Starting from home, riding out to a location to camp, camping, then riding home. Totally self-supported, no private motor vehicles involved. Taking transit or Amtrak to extend the camping range is ok, but no personal automobiles.

It works great in Portland since we have so much great camping within one day's ride (40-70 miles). Within 100 miles of Portland, we have a half-dozen or more state park campgrounds, a state forest, a national forest, 3-4 dozen federal campgrounds, an 11,000' volcano, 2 major mountain ranges, 2 major and countless minor rivers, 2 major river gorges, and the Pacific Ocean. Yet we have people who never camp, and rarely leave the city. Those who do usually do so in cars - which was fine when gas was $1 a gallon, but more problematic when gas is $4 a gallon. A bike can be outfitted to camp for less than $100 (2-3 tanks of gas!) and allows a 40 mile trip to a state campground or the national forest for camping at $4 a night (or in the case of the national forest, for FREE). All it takes is some muscle power.

What it also takes is knowledge. Where are the parks? What are the best (low traffic) routes to get there? What do I need to know when I'm out there? Cycle Wild aims to teach people the answers to those questions, and to lead bike camping outings (usually weekenders) to help people develop the skills they need to enjoy camping by bike. In effect, we want to create a nation of bike tourers - one metropolitan region at a time.

I hope that the Cycle Wild concept can be extended to other cities - Eugene, Seattle, Vancouver, San Francisco - and eventually across the US.

You can see the site HERE.

Way over 4,000 miles

2008-08-21T02:01:00.000-07:00

On a happy note - I'm at 4,380 miles and climbing, and I'm doing the Portland Century on Sunday - Yay! I should be over 4,500 miles in no time!

I've averaged 19 miles per day for the year. At my current rate, 7,000 miles for the year is no problem, and my goal of 8,000 is in reach.

Carfight! Mano e Auto

2008-08-21T01:26:00.000-07:00

So, I finally got involved in my first bike/car collision - an event I was hoping never to have, and one which, fortuately, ended up a lot less damaging to me than it should have been.

The frustrating thing is that generally, I follow the rules. I usually stop for stop signs. I signal my turns. I generally don't ride like a nut, and I usually wear a helmet. Now, that last item isn't against the law, but I personally believe that helmets are a good idea, even if I am adamantly against the government making it mandatory.

I was on my way to the bank to deposit a check. I bank with WAMU, and there is a branch at SE 39th and Hawthorne that I usually go to. Rather than taking my usual route, and popping out onto 39th at Main and riding south to the bank, I decided to ride along the west side of the Fred Meyer on 38th and turn left onto Hawthorne. It being about 10 minutes to 6pm, there was a lot of traffic. I was sitting patiently at the stop sign at 38th, waiting for my chance to turn left. I'd signalled my turn to the car(s) behind me, and traffic was clear to my left but not my right. I saw the end of the cars coming to the right, and then there was traffic on my left. No problem, I can wait.

The traffic on the right-hand side then stopped, someone was going to let me cross the road. On my left, two vehicles were in the near (outside) lane (lane two in traffic-speak), both were turning right. I didn't see anyone in the far (inside) lane. I looked right, and traffic was still stopped, and the guy in back of me honked at me. I started out into the intersection to turn left, and looked right to make sure traffic was still stopped, returned eyes to forward and heard at least one yell at the same instant and then my front wheel was impacting a car and the bike turned and I went down. Never saw it. Apparently she never saw me either.

The car was a gray Mercedes, and the driver was an older woman who looked to be in her mid to late 50s. After a couple bystanders helped me get over to the curb (I was slightly shaken), I heard one of the bystanders telling her that she couldn't go, that she'd just struck someone. She seemed pretty calm and we really didn't exchange a lot of words after the incident. A few of the bystanders stood around for a couple of minutes to make sure I was alright, and several gave me their name and contact information.

The front wheel of the bike was partially taco'd, and unrideable. The impact had torn the cover of my Ortlieb handlebar bag partially away, and dumped the contents all over the street. The GPS flew out of its cradle and had hit the street, as well as my Kryptonite lock. As near as I can figure, she must have been going at least 20-25 when we collided. I was going maybe 5mph. My right thumb hurt, and I had sore spots on my left arm and left hip where I contacted the pavement, but no broken bones and no road rash. My head never got near the pavement, which was good because I was not wearing a helmet. Why wear a helmet when you're riding less than 10mph on local streets? Well, apparently this would be the why.

One of the bystanders had called 911 and I spoke with the dispatcher and let her know that I didn't need an ambulance, but yes, I still wanted an officer to come out. She (the officer) showed up about 20 minutes later, which I thought was pretty good for an incident with no ambulance call.

The motorist's Mercedes had lost its cowling to the passenger side mirror due to the crash. The motorist wasn't aware of that, and she'd thought I was in the crosswalk at the time of the collision. I did the right thing, and not only informed her that I was not in the crosswalk, and also informed the officer of the same. Legally, I was required to yield to the automobile, since she was on the through street, I was on the side street with a stop sign, and acting as a vehicle and not a pedestrian. I have no idea where the motorist came from - if she was traveling straight down Hawthorne, or is she came out of the side street or the bank parking lot on the other side, or wherever. When I looked left, the road was clear in that lane - I started to cross and looked right to be sure that traffic was still stopped, and then BAM!

My feelings after the incident are a bit conflicted. Certainly I was trying to make a left turn at a BAD intersection. The incident definitely reinforces my opinion that speed limits on roads are too high, and that helmets are a good idea. While I didn't hit my head, if I had, I'd have a serious head injury right now. Had my bike been 2 feet further into the intersection at the time of impact, I'd have bounced off the hood or spun off the front corner of the car - both situations would have been MUCH more serious than what actually happened. I made every effort to be aware of the traffic situation, and I started from a dead stop. I'm not sure what more I could do in the situation other than choosing a different intersection to enter Hawthorne. I can't look left AND right simultaneously,

So, I'm left with an unrideable bike, and I'll be heading to Sellwood Cycle in the morning to replace the wheel. My hand doesn't appear to be serious, and hopefully I won't be getting a call from the motorist or her insurance company. She's probably got a few hundred dollars of damage to her car, and I've got at least $150 damage to the bike, maybe more. Hopefully this is a case of live and let live.

In any case, even though I'm not sure what more I could do, I'm going to try to be more alert when pulling out into traffic - and I'll probably always be wearing my helmet again.

---

Postscript: So, it was $360 damage to the bike, and I was only able to get it fixed due to the generosity of an anonymous group of my friends. The driver put in a claim on her insurance, and State Farm is looking to have me pay for it. Uh... no.

The motorist did not exercise due care when approaching that intersection, and bears some legal responsibility and liability in the incident. Not to mention that since she pays insurance premiums, State Farm has already been paid. Not sure where this is going to go, but I'll be seeking legal assistance if necessary. I'll keep ya'll posted...

---

Post-postscript: My insurance (State Farm - renter's) paid for the damage done to her vehicle ($2,100 - WTF?!?) and I didn't have to pay anything out of pocket. My premium went up $10 per month. Amazing.

New Posts on the Way!

2008-07-14T13:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's time to update the blog and start posting on a regular basis again. No excuse since I'm not at the moment employed.

First of all, I've been rockin' it with the mileage. We are 196 days into 2008, and I've averaged almost 20 miles per day - 3,825.77 miles so far, including the 200+ miles of the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic. At an overall average speed of 9.8 mph, that's 378 hours of saddle time!

This year, there were 9,500 riders in StP, and I have to say that despite the increased numbers (last year was 8,000) this event was much better than the previous 2 years. I've got photos going up on my Flickr account (check the sidebar for the link) in another day or two.

Roads Go Ever, Ever On

2008-04-30T00:14:00.000-07:00

Still racking up the mileage! I've broken 1,000 miles on the new Sutra, and I'm coming up on 2,000 miles for the year - I'm currently at 1,912.72 miles. Yowza!

Mileage:
Gary Fisher Wahoo (mountain bike): 837.79 miles.
Kona Sutra (touring / road bike): 1,058.86 miles.
Huffy Sea Star (20" kids' bike - for Zoobombing): 16.07 miles.

The Basics:
Total Mileage: 1,912.72 miles in 121 days. An average of 15.81 miles per day.
Scheduled Mileage: 1,630 miles. I am 282 miles ahead of schedule.
This Time Last Year: 1,028.24 miles. I am 884 miles ahead of last year. (nearly double)

Total Time on Bike: 193 hours, 25 minutes.
Average Speed Overall: 9.7mph.
Average Ride Length: 1 hour, 22 minutes.

I'm averaging very close to 500 miles per month, and that should accelerate as the weather gets better. Life rocks!

The Silence is Deafening

2008-04-16T00:11:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's been a while since I last posted. I guess it's time for a little update...

Stats for 2008, as of 04/15
Total Mileage: 1,656.49 miles (an average of 15.48 miles per day)
Average Speed: 9.7 mph
Total Time: 167 hours, 50 minutes in the saddle

Mileage by bike
2004 Gary Fisher Wahoo: 800.79 miles
2008 Kona Sutra: 839.63 miles

The mileage on the Sea Star is unchanged - no zoobombing in a while

So, in the last 2 months, I've nearly tripled my mileage - not too shabby. If I keep my current pace, I'll still outdo last year by 300 miles, but I have ambitious plans this riding season once we get out from under the rain. This past weekend, I led 16 other cyclists on a trip to Champoeg State Park for Exchange Cycle Tours. It worked quite well, and as you can see from the pictures, my bike was pretty loaded. See the second pic for a great example of exactly how much you can fit onto a fully loaded touring bike! The Sutra with racks, GPS and mount, and lights weighs 36 pounds. I was carrying about 77 pounds of gear, food, water and bags, for a total load of 113 pounds. Despite the load, I still managed to average 10 mph from Portland to Champoeg, even with a 400' climb through Oregon City sandwiched in the middle of the ride.

The camping trip was great - we had a few mechanicals, but with a few exceptions, everyone had a good time and the trip was completed safely.

That's not to say that it didn't have flaws - besides the mechanicals, we had difficulty communicating along the rider line, the pacing was sometimes too fast for some of the beginners (and no one told me), and I broke two welds on my rear rack before we'd gone 4 miles. (No, it wasn't overloaded - it was within the listed specs for the rack!) So, I guess it's time for an Old Man Mountain rear rack.

The good thing is that my setup has proven itself, and I'm totally ready to do the touring trip through the northern California coast in late May. (Yeehaw!)

-peace

A Bike, a Beer, and a Benefit

2008-02-20T22:11:00.000-08:00

So, first off, mileage: 790 miles for the year. My bike has a stuck link, so I'm going to either get Sellwood Cycle to take care of it for me, or I'll get a new chain. The new bike already has 254 miles on it, and I haven't had it quite 3 weeks yet. Yowza!

Tonight was the Shift meetup, which means a bar, and at least one beer. In my case, two. Better yet, there was a lunar eclipse tonight, so we all sat out in the backyard of the bar watching the freaky moon and talking about the upcoming Raunchy Ride, where we're going to tour 4 strip clubs in the Portland area. Before everyone gets up in arms, let me say that this isn't MY ride, it's my friend Heather who is leading the ride, and there's likely to be as many women on the ride as men.

Oh, and a benefit. My friend and co-ECT conspirator Aaron and I are talking to Bishop Creek Cellars about organizing and making the 2008 Pinot Pedal ride happen. It's probably going to be a bit of work, but I think we can do it in the allotted timeframe. Man, what a busy week this is turning into. The Pinot Pedal is a fundraising benefit to help move the old Sauvie Island bridge to NW Portland and install it as a bike/ped-only bridge over I-405 at NW Flanders. They've already raised the majority of the $5 million needed for the project, but there's still work to be done. I, for one am glad to help out.

So, in addition to the 790 miles I've ridden so far in the first 51 days of this year, I've spent 81 hours and 44 minutes in the saddle. Nearly 520 miles have been on the Wahoo, and almost 255 miles on the Sutra. Yippee!

New Bike!

2008-02-14T00:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, I got a new touring bike - a 2008 Kona Sutra (yes, I'm sure the name was intentional). She's a beautiful bike, and I'm already calling her my trophy girlfriend. (she's younger, prettier, and costs a lot more)

I bought her at Sellwood Cycle Repair at a very reasonable price, and she fits like a glove. Very responsive, well-balanced even under load, and I love the disc brakes. My one complaint is that I can't seem to find anywhere to mount a kickstand. I'll figure something out eventually, I'm sure.

I've already ridden 130 miles on her, including a 48-mile jaunt out to Troutdale and back, and I'll be putting on another 40+ miles this Sunday. I'm just loving it! Anyway, I haven't updated my stats recently, so here they are:

Stats for 2008, as of 02/13
Total Mileage: 632.9 (average of 14.06 miles per day)
Average Speed: 9.6mph
Total Time: 66 hours, 21 minutes in the saddle

Mileage by bike
2004 Gary Fisher Wahoo: 486.23 miles (mountain bike) (pic from Flickr)
2008 Kona Sutra: 130.6 miles (touring bike) (pic from Flickr)
200? Huffy Sea Star: 16.07 miles (20" girl's child's bike - for zoobombing)

I got an impressive bruise from wiping out on Zoobomb about a month ago (which is what happens when you drink and bike, um... or if you bomb the hill at excessive speed on a kids bike with a wheel size half your age) - I think I'm about ready to head back from another go. No, that last picture isn't me, it's Reverend Phil.

Raining Like the Dickens

2008-01-10T00:44:00.000-08:00

So, Tomas asked me to ride with him tonight, while he adjusted things on his new Surly Long Haul Trucker. Ok, I can do that - I need mileage, I've got rain gear, piece of cake, right?

Wow, is it wet... and cold.

It wasn't too bad heading up Interstate, or getting onto Marine Drive, or the path that goes near the airport perimeter fence. Once we were up on the levee along the Columbia, however... Brrrrrrrrr!

Water in the face, breathing mist, 20mph wind straight in our teeth slowing us down, and cold. Boy was I glad I bundled up.

It was a good ride - 25.03 miles, in 39 degree weather with a ESE wind at 20mph. Brisk, baby - that's what it was. With wind chill, it would have been 29 degrees, but that neglects the effect of parts of me being wet - which feels much colder.

What great mileage, though! 9 days into the new year, and I'm already at 167.4 miles. 18 hours and 15 minutes in the saddle.

The Year's Off to a Great Start!

2008-01-06T00:28:00.000-08:00

Well, 5 days in, and I already nearly have 100 miles on the bike. More than half of those miles are on my new hand-built 36-spoke wheel from Sellwood Cycle Repair. Hopefully, that means no more busted spokes (YAY!)

Total mileage for 2007 was 5,170.4 - a lot more than the 3,022 miles I pedalled in 2006. I'm shooting for an even more aggressive number this year - 8,000 miles. I think I have a good shot at pulling it off, especially since I've gone car-free.

In this last year, I got divorced, moved back into Portland and started living on my own, gave the car to my ex, started riding the bike for everything, bought new rain gear, bought a new wheel, new light, and a new tent, and became a member/owner at People's Coop in SE Portland (less than 1 mile from my apartment).

I haven't gone vegetarian yet, but I've gone mostly organic. Over this next year, I'm planning to move to more local food and sustainable practices, reduce my energy use, and stop eating most processed foods and go back to "real" food. Eventually I may go vegetarian, but at the least I'm going to greatly reduce my consumption of meat and animal products. There are a number of reasons for this, and maybe I'll go into it on my soapbox blog.

Anyway, lots of changes have happened, and many more are in store. Here's my details for today:

Today's Ride(s):
Distance: 29.49 miles
Time: 3 hours, 44 minutes (7.9 mph)

2008 Stats:
Distance: 97.65 miles
Total Time in Saddle: 11 hours, 14 minutes
Average Speed: 8.9 mph
Average Mileage: 19.53 miles / day

One Day, There Will Again Be Posts!

2007-11-07T11:31:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates - I've been adjusting to a new job, and life's been too busy for me to devote time to writing blog posts. I hope to rectify that in the near future.

A Sad Day in Portland

2007-10-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

Two cyclists within two weeks, both killed by trucks.

http://bikeportland.org/2007/10/11/cyclist-killed-at-w-burnside-and-14th/
http://bikeportland.org/2007/10/22/kgw-cyclist-dies-after-collision-with-garbage-truck/

Wherever they are, I hope their ride is a pleasant one.

Cycle Oregon, Day One

2007-09-13T19:09:00.001-07:00

Cycle Oregon, Day One
Originally uploaded by Matt.Picio

62 miles - Sisters to La Pine. Well, it went good. You can see from the photo, we had a magnificent view of the Cascades today - Mt. Jefferson, Three-Fingered Jack, the Three Sisters, Black Butte, Mt. Washington, Broken Top and Mt. Bachelor. Great riding.

Yikes - Where's all the Posts?

2007-08-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've been a little remiss in the updates.

First off, I did the Seattle to Portland ride, and it went pretty well. Secondly, I went on Jeff Bernards' Oxbow Park camping trip, and that was fun. Now, we're in the home stretch for that penultimate Oregon event - Cycle Oregon!

I still feel I'm not ready - I haven't done enough hills, and I haven't done any core exercises. The only thing I've got going in my favor is that I just bought 1.25" tires (to replace my 1.4" tires) and I've ridden nearly 3,000 miles already this year. (the marvels of living far, far away from everyone else). In fact, here are the stats:

As of noon, 07 August 2007:
Total Mileage: 2,943.76 miles (average of 13.44 miles per day)
Last Year (This Date): 2,196.76 miles
Scheduled This Year: 3,402 miles (444 miles behind schedule)
Average Speed: 10.7 mph
Total Time on Bike: 276 hours, 54 minutes

At my current rate, I should roll at least 4,906 miles by year end - a goal of 5,000 miles for the year is not out of the question.

The most exciting part is that last year, for the whole year, I rode 3,022 miles. I should pass that before the end of this week, nearly 4 months earlier than last year!

I'm really looking forward to what's coming up!

Milwaukie Hidden Routes Ride

2007-07-12T12:27:00.001-07:00

Every neighborhood in Milwaukie has its secret places...

We're going to explore most of them.

Come on the Milwaukie's Hidden Routes ride and see the nooks,crannies, alleys, and cut-throughs of Milwaukie. We're going to ride nearly every legal shortcut through Milwaukie's neighborhoods. Thisis not a ride for the faint-hearted. Bring a mountain bike, or put wide knobbies on your road bike and bring a patch kit or a spare tube. We're going to see brambles, grass, dirt, gravel, hills, thrills, and hopefully no spills. (90% 0f the ride is paved)

If you've never ridden in Milwaukie, here is the basic topography. Milwaukie is cut in half by Hwy 224 and the Union Pacific Railroad mainline. Biking around Milwaukie (and from Milwaukie to Portland) is further complicated by a number of hills. The main features in "Milwaukie Proper" are "The Plateau" and the 34th Avenue hill (between 224 and Lake Rd).

Especially troublesome is the NE corner of The Plateau, which has only a single road connecting the upper portion with the lower portion.

Well, there are some sneaky ways around that, and up, down and around many of the other areas of Milwaukie as well. Come look and see - I promise the shortcuts will not be boring!

Here's the route map for the ride:

There are a couple of steep descents on this ride, a fair amount oflow hill climbing (at least 4 ascents up to 200' elevation changeeach).

Start time is 6pm, Thursday, July 19th. Repeat performance on Thursday, July 26th, also at 6pm, for those who can't make the first ride or want to ride it again. 16 miles, approximately 2 hours. Start and end at Milwaukie City Hall, 10722 SE Main Street, Milwaukie.

Live far to the north in Portland? No excuse - Milwaukie City Hall sits right next to a Tri-Met transit center. Take buses 31, 32, 33,70, 75 or 99 to get there from downtown Portland or the NE side. 28, 29 and 152 will get you there from the Clackamas Town Center area.

Note: Originally the repeat ride was Wednesday the 25th - it's been moved due to a conflict with another Milwaukie ride on that day.

Halfway Through 2007

2007-07-02T12:14:00.001-07:00

This morning's commute was officially the midpoint of 2007 - 182.5 days. I've managed 2,151.88 miles, which means if I maintain what I've done so far, I can break 4,300 miles for the year. That would be quite a bit more than last year, when I rode just over 3,000 miles.

Seattle to Portland is less than 2 weeks away - and I'm eager to ride!

Clackamas Cycling Adventure

2007-06-03T23:55:00.001-07:00

2 days, 8 hours of cycling, 85 miles. My friend Tomas and I spent the weekend cycling 40 miles up the Clackamas River and into the Mount Hood National Forest. We rode up to Fish Creek and managed to set up camp just as the sun faded. I had a host of new camping gear, most of which was purchased for Cycle Oregon - and I just had to test it out. One of the things that wasn't for CO was my new camp stove, a Coleman F1 ultralight. Great stove - I love it. Of course, I had to see what I could do with it, so packed in my panniers and surrounded with ice were 2 eggs and about 4 slices of bacon cut in thirds so they would fit in my camp cookware. I'll tell you, there's nothing like having real bacon in the morning, and not some boil-in-a-bag camping food.

The ride was great, though the climb up 224 south of Estacada was a bear. Normally, cyclists can take the old highway, Faraday Road, which is closed to car traffic and runs along the PGE reservoir. Unfortunately, in March of this year, a rockslide closed the road. PGE is now fixing it, but they've just started and I can't imagine it taking them less than 8 weeks to clear everything and stabilize the slope and the road. Maybe more, I'm not an engineer so I can only guess.

More later, but for now let me say that I am now over 1,600 miles for the year and I had a blast. Also, I biked to areas up the Clackamas I'd never been to except by car, and except for last year's Mount Hood trip, this was the farthest I'd biked from my domicile.

And now to bed.

Ride Report - End of May 2007

2007-05-31T15:32:00.000-07:00

3rd consecutive day riding after my 6-day hiatus. Feels good, though the muscles are a little tired.

Today
Mileage: 12.71 (this morning)
Top Speed: 25.8 mph (nothing special)
Average Speed: 11.0 mph (took it easy, and still got a good avg. spd.)
Time: 01:09:09
Temperature: 60 degrees F
Weight: 248 pounds

For the Year
151 Days in. 1,513.90 miles (average 10.03 miles per day)
Average speed is 10.7 mph, for a total of 143:59:50 in the saddle (that's almost 6 full days)
Top Speed (downhill): 42.8 mph (May 10th)
Highest Average Speed for 2007 Commute: 13.7 mph (April 27th)
Highest Average Speed ever on Commute: 16.5 mph (from old house on SE Allan in Oak Grove)

Total Mileage, May 31, 2007: 1,513.90 miles
Goal Mileage, May 31, 2007: 2,184.00 miles (I am 681 miles behind my goal)
Prior Mileage, May 31, 2006: 1,231.99 miles (I am 282 miles ahead of last year)

The weather has been nice, though hot in the evening. I'm really ready to have 70 degree days, but I think we're done with that for the season. Pedalpalooza is coming, and I am leading a ride on June 18th.

Halfway to Last Year, a Month Early!

2007-05-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Ok, so when I ride home tonight, I'll break 1,500 miles for the year. Last year, I rode 3,022 miles. To match that, I'd need to ride 1,511 miles by June 30th. Today is May 30th. Hey, not bad! Well, unless you compare it to my goal for this year, and then I suck. ;-)

The goal for this year is 5,800 miles. I'm currently about 670 miles behind where I should be to meet my goal. I need to start putting on some serious mileage if I want to meet it. To be honest, though, I'll be perfectly happy with anything over 4,000 miles, and at my current rate, I should end up with 3,600 for the year - so I only need to put out 10% more effort than I have so far to break that 4,000 mark.

Last night I led a Bike Boulevard ride around Milwaukie. There was a lot of interest at the last TSP bicycle workshop about the concept of Bike Boulevards, which Portland has successfully implemented, and the BTA is pushing heavily for. Milwaukie really doesn't have a lot of good candidate roads, but last night we rode three of the best ones - Monroe, Stanley, and 29th. In each case, they provide a way across the city that parallels a much busier route. Monroe and Stanley are heavy secondary routes in their own right, and could really benefit from some traffic calming, or even a cul-de-sac / passthrough arrangement of some sort. The real question is how the local neighborhoods would feel about it. The ride itself went well, about 7 people showed up, including city planners Katie Mangle and Brett Kelver. The next TSP meeting is coming up soon - Saturday, June 2nd at 10am.

Back to the personal front, I averaged 11.9 mph on the way in to work today, which isn't bad. I'm riding on the new back wheel now - I replaced the old one on Monday. The old (original) back wheel is a stock Matrix 750 rim, and I'd broken 18 of 32 spokes over the last 18 months. Last Thursday, I sucked the chain into the rear wheel and bent (and in some cases gouged) the bottom of 12 spokes on the drivetrain side. I tightened a number of opposing spokes to make the wheel straight enough to ride home on (and feel pretty good about my emergency repair skills). So, away it goes, and the new wheel is mounted and ready to go. The spokes tinged a bit while adjusting, and it seems to be properly stressed in now.

So once again, I'm ready to ride!

Non-Cycling Memorial Day Weekend

2007-05-28T21:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true - sometimes I do things that have nothing to do with the bike. No, I am not in this picture. This is the Egil Skalligrimson Memorial Tournament, which is an SCA event. The SCA is the Society for Creative Anachronism, a 41-year old organization where people emulate pre-17th century personas (a persona is like a character. You create a fictitious person who could have existed in the time period you are interested in, and that becomes your name / persona in the Society) (Yes, I simplified that explanation - you SCAdians can just deal with it).

My name in the SCA, for example, is Hallgrimr Ulfsson. Hallgrimr is a norseman from 10th century Norway - commonly referred to as a Viking. Egils (the Egil Skal. Mem. Tourney) is / was primarily a norse-themed event. (they changed that this year - now it's all periods) So, I spent the weekend camping with a bunch of people in Creswell, Oregon, all dressed in pre-17th century garb and running around with chainmail, swords, axes and all kinds of cool stuff.

It also means I was off the bike for 6 days. *sigh*

Mileage Report - Friday, May 18th

2007-05-18T10:31:00.001-07:00

First of all, let me start out by saying the Bike to Work event put on by PDOT was great, and on top of that, Jay Graves worked on my bike!

See, I have proof! ;-)

There were eggs and toast (I don't know what you call that - they tore out the center of the bread and used that hole to contain the egg while it fried), pedal-powered smoothies, bagels and other goodies. Elly handed out stickers, Jeff Smith from PDOT was at the grill, Roger Geller was there, as was half of Shift and at least a couple members of the BTA. Oh, and Aaron Tarfman, transportation diplomat and member of ECT. I got to stay for most of the event, since I took the day off work. (Yes, I know, kind of defeats the purpose of Bike-to-Work) I took advantage of my day to ride around taking pictures, ostensibly for the Milwaukie TSP Street Design workshop. In practice, though, I think I got more pictures of cool houses & buildings in Historic Irvington and SE Belmont and Hawthorne than I did street features.

The day was great, though, and I spun 58.4 miles on Wednesday. I capped off the day with the Ride of Silence, a memorial for fallen cyclists. We passed 5 (or was it 6) of the ghost bikes in Portland which mark the locations where cyclists were killed by cars. City Commissioner Sam Adams was there, Mayor Tom Potter was not. <Soapbox Moment> I don't know how Tom Potter can say he's a friend of cyclists, and helps the community when he not only initially does not fund the bike master plan update, but also never shows up for community events involving cycling. A one-time showing at the opening of the Three Bridges project does not count. </Soapbox>

The RoS was a little eerie - having hundreds of cyclists riding without noise, without cheering, everyone with a somber expression, wearing black armbands, and only the sound of gears and pedals turning. A dozen or so of Portland's motorcycle officers were our official escort, as we had a parade permit. The route took us down (and blocked) a number of main routes in the city: Alberta, MLK, Fremont, 33rd Avenue, Stark and Belmont. I don't know what everyone in their cars thought of this spectacle of bikers showly riding by with police escort.

It was a serious end to the day, but one I feel very.... priviledged to be a part of. While I didn't know any of the deceased cyclists personally, for a moment I felt one with all cyclists on the ride, worldwide, honoring those who have gone, and commiserating with the loved ones they left behind. The power of those emotions, and the rituals that we build to surround and direct them, is in a word, awe-inspiring.

The Shift meeting afterwards was an appropriate coda, and a good opportunity to unwind.

Wow. reading that makes this next part seem trite.

Mileage as of May 18th:
Total miles: 1,394.56 (average 10.11 miles/day for 138 days)
Average Speed (overall): 10.7 mph
133:05:36 hours total saddle time
Top Speed: 42.8 mph (May 10th, 2007)

Goal Mileage: 2028 miles
Mileage this date last year: 1209.25 miles

Big Rides: 2006 (over 30 miles, single ride)
Feb 12th: 41.46 (Worst Day of the Year Ride)
Feb 19th: 52.16
Mar 05th: 74.58
Mar 19th: 101.00
Jun 15th: 85.03
Jul 02nd: 107.07
Jul 15th: 103.25 (Seattle to Portland)
Jul 16th: 103.25 (Seattle to Portland)
Aug 27th: 113.13 (Rode from Milwaukie to Timberline and back)
Sep 12th: 34.78
Oct 08th: 78.42 (Harvest Century)
Nov 12th: 30.63

Big Rides: 2006 (over 30 miles, single ride)
Jan 07th: 34.36
Mar 25th: 55.01
May 01st: 32.43
May 05th: 40.03
May 29th: 31.85 (Added May 31st)

Hmm.... my rides are a bit smaller this year - going to have to correct that forthwith. I have ridden 12 of the last 14 days, though. February and April were my weak points this year, with a 12-day and 14-day gap, respectively.

Back to the grind.

Midnight Mystery Ride - May 11th

2007-05-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

Last night was the ever-popular and always fascinating Midnight Mystery Ride. As always, the ride started at midnight (duh) at one of Portland's fine drinking establishments. This month, the destination was Hayden Island, and I made it to the destination area but did not stick around for the festivities - since I live in Clackamas County, it's a LOOOONG ride home.

In fact, since I had to stop by work and finish a couple of things before heading home, it was longer than normal: 20 miles from the office to the ride location and back to the office, and I got back to the office at around 2:30am. It was well after 4am when I was finished and ready to go, and I was so wiped that I knew I wouldn't make it home. So, I crashed on the couch in the break room until 6am and then took my bike on Tri-Met until I got within a mile of my place.

The ride itself was great - lots of people I knew, a bigger crowd than normal, and an entertaining ride through the back alleys of N / NE Portland for a mile or more, all while watching a pair of tallbikes and a hundred plus riders try to negotiate choke points, avoid chains, fences, broken glass and busted pavement. I almost took a fall near Delta Park when I got into the gravel at the road edge on a turn, and once or twice I had riders cut right across my path really darned close. That happens, though - you've got to be prepared for it.

This is my fourth MMR, and one of the reasons why I love Portland. Sure, Amsterdam has 40% of its working people commuting by bike, but we have this incredible hodgepodge of cycling culture, and all the weirdness that ensues. It's part of what makes Portland such a vibrant place to live. I think it's great.

The start point, Amnesia, was pretty cool, and had tons of bike parking (they obviously know the score - cater to bikes and you sell a lot of beer). Barflymag says they have live bluegrass on Fridays, but apparently that stops before 11:30pm, or there just wasn't anyone there that night. The porter they had on tap was pretty good - I'll probably head back over there at some point to try the food.

Anyway, thank you Team Midnight for the Midnight Mystery Ride!

New Top Speed!

2007-05-10T12:56:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I needed to run some personal errands this morning, and went into work late. Since I was over near Clackamas Mall anyway, I rode up Bob Schumacher Drive to the intersection with Idleman, SE 97th Avenue and Otty Rd. (That sounds complicated, but it's not - it's a regular intersection, but each of the two roads has a different name on each leg)

Otty Road is almost ridiculously steep. Not quite as steep as Thiessen, but close. Now, Otty road has a bike lane part of the way, and has a 40mph speed limit. Oregon law permits you to leave the bike lane to avoid hazardous conditions. Riding at high speed to me qualifies as hazardous, so I rode in the middle of the car lane, and for good reason - I could keep up with traffic. I hit 42.8 mph on my way down Otty Road, and unfortunately had to stop for the red light next to Mall-Wart (sorry, Wal-Mart - same thing). So, I'm kind of celebrating, because I also broke 1,200 miles for the year. Anyway, here's the stats:

Today:
Mileage: 12.21 miles
Top Speed: 42.8 mph
Average Speed: 11.0 mph
Time on Bike: 01:06:47

2007 To-Date:
Mileage: 1,204.32 miles
Top Speed for Year: 42.8 mph (Otty Rd. downhill, Thursday, May 10th)
Total Days: 130
Mileage per Day: 9.26
Overall Average Speed: 10.7 mph
Total Time on Bike: 114:17:31

Goal Mileage by Today: 1,920 miles (715 miles behind schedule)
Mileage This Date, 2006: 1,151.11 miles (53.2 miles more in 2007 than in 2006)

What I need to do now is to start cranking up the mileage to make up for the gap. My schedule assumes riding to work 4 days per week, so every week I ride all 5 days I gain another 25 miles. At that rate, it will take me 28 weeks to make up the difference, which is basically all year. So, I need to work in some long training rides on the weekend to make up the difference.

'Later!

Ride Report - Wednesday, May 9th 2007

2007-05-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

Today:
Mileage: 12.61 miles
Average Speed: 11.0 mph
Time: 01:08:41 (in motion)
Temperature: 44 degrees F
Weight: 246.5 pounds

Year (2007): 129 days
Total Mileage: 1,179.36 miles
Overall Average Speed: 10.7 mph
Top Speed for the Year: 41.6 mph (Otty Road downhill - May 8th am)
Total Time: 111:59:57
Average Distance per Day: 9.14 miles
Mileage Goal (today): 1,908 miles
Mileage Goal (entire year): 5,820.6 miles
Mileage this date, 2006: 1,128.61 miles

Notes: Well, I did not ride RACC like I'd planned. I also didn't ride the Monster Cookie Metric Century. So, I'm nowhere near my mileage goal, and instead of being down 400-500 miles, I'm now down almost 730 miles. So, I've got a ways to catch up. Last night I left work late, and while riding home I got some good pictures of the dragonboaters. Not much longer until Rose Festival, when we get to see the dragonboats in action. I think I'm going to head downtown for that this year. I just need to remember to take sunscreen with me. Also coming up is Pedalpalooza, Portland's plethora of bicycle fun.

I'm hoping I can make enough of those events to build up some mileage. I'm also trying to use the bike rather than the car for as many things as I can. Technically I don't own a car anyway. I mean, my name is on the title, but I rarely if ever use it. Which brings me to some notes for an article I'm going to write and post either on this blog or another (new) soapbox blog:

Appropriate Transport:

0 - 1/2 miles: Walk
1/2 - 5 miles: Bicycles
5 - 25 miles: Bicycle / Car (depending on how much time you have)
25 - 100 miles: Car (or bike if you have all day, and the stamina to do it)
100 - 300 miles: Car (or Bike if you have LOTS of time, and lodging)
300 + miles: Train, Plane, Car (depending on time and other factors)

I'd prefer people replace "car" with something more fuel efficient. Motorcycles and scooters have less efficient engines, but they move a lot smaller mass, so many of them get better gas mileage. Do we really need 4,000 pound vehicles that seat six? Not for most people. maybe as many as 1/4 of everyone in greater Portland could get by 95% of the time with a 1 or 2-seat vehicle with a 100-150 mile range. We could easily build electric cars to do that.

More when I've though about it a while.

Milwaukie TSP Bike / Ped Meeting #2

2007-05-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday, May 5th was the 2nd bicycle / pedestrian workshop for the Milwaukie Transportation System Plan update. This workshop is part of a series of meetings hosted by the City of Milwaukie and facilitated by Jeanne Lawson Associates to allow the public unprecedented input into the planning and decision-making process regarding the future of Milwaukie's transportation network. DKS Associates, a national transportation planning firm, has been hired by the city to provide design and planning services to supplement and support the city's staff.

Brett Kelver opened the meeting with an overview of what the workshop is trying to accomplish - this was the second of two planned workshops. In the first workshop, the participants identified current conditions and identified a number of areas where improvements would be beneficial. The planners then took that information, and along with the original 1997 TSP they compiled a list of operational and capital projects to be listed in the new TSP. In this second meeting, the job of the participants was to prioritize those projects and provide feedback on anything that might be "missing".

Ryan Marquardt then reviewed the evaluation criteria for evaluating projects, which covered the following areas:

Connectivity - To transit, the Springwater Trail, activity centers (schools, parks, commercial areas), and neighborhoods. Also focusing on "filling in the gaps" in the existing pedways / bikeways.
Safety - Addresses locations with higher rates of pedestrian / bicycle accidents

Existing Facilities - Addresses facilities that are currently substandard or in need of repair.

Commuting - Improves or enhances commuting corridors.

Maintenance - How difficult will the project be to maintain?

Overall Scope - Determine whether it is a long-term or short-term solution, and how well the project connects / coincides with other jurisdictions.

Brett then went over the Operational Projects:

Signage for the treatment plant trail (Kellogg Trail)
Signange for the Springwater Corridor Trail
Signage for Sparrow Street (Island Station neighborhood)
Signage for neighborhood bike routes
Re-striping projects (bike lanes)
Sweeping out bike lanes
Street-grate replacement (of existing badly-designed grates)
Street-grate design
Safe crossings for the Trolley Trail
Milwaukie bike map
Enforcement
Education
Multi-jurisdictional coordination

A lot of lively discussion ensued, mostly focused around items 3, 5, 11 and 12. The Island Station neighborhood was well-represented at the meeting, and it was determined that the issues facing cycling and River road on the hill up from and down to McLoughlin had concerns beyond simply signage, and that the project should be moved to the capital projects list. Ditto for the Trolley Trail. The participants generally agreed that the bike map that the City of Portland's Transportation Department put together was a great thing. (PDOT made a Milwaukie Bike Map thanks to a grant from Metro which covered extending the Smart Trips program to the Milwaukie portion of the Ardenwald / Johnson Creek neighborhood).

Additionally, "Encouragement" was added to the Operational Projects - programs involving community rides and other ways to encourage people to get out in the city on their bikes.

The discussion was followed by a vote. Each participant received a set of small circular labels (5 total) and was instructed to vote on the projects they thought were most important. Voting with more than 1 label per project was allowed.

After the voting was complete, it was evident that the participants overwhelmingly supported bike route signage, sweeping of bike lanes and education. Participants also supported (to a lesser extent) street-grate design, multi-jurisdiction coordination, the bike map (printing and distributing), signage for the trails and re-striping the existing lanes.

Alan Snook from DKS Associates then went over the capital projects, and introduced a map of the proposed changes to the bikeway system. Various points on the map were designated as capital projects, which were divided into Intersection Improvements, Bikeway Improvements, and Off-street Trail Improvements. Additionally, the 2 projects moved from the Operational Projects list were added, and during the course of discussion a few additional projects were also added. The final list that the participants voted on contained the following projects:

Intersection Improvements

A - Hwy 224 @ SE 17th Ave.
B - SE 17th Ave. @ SE McLoughlin Blvd. (99E)
C - SE Adams St. @ SE 21st Ave. (Railroad Crossing)
D - SE Johnson Creek Blvd. @ Springwater Trail
E - SE Johnson Creek Blvd. @ SE Linwood Ave.
F - SE Linwood Ave. @ SE King Rd.
G - SE Linwood Ave. @ SE Monroe St.
H - SE Linwood Ave. @ SE Harmony Rd.

Bikeway Improvements

I - SE 17th Ave. from SE Waverly Dr. to Harrison St.
J - SE Harrison St. from McLoughlin (99E) to SE 21st Ave.
K - SE Lake Rd. from SE Main St. to SE Guilford Dr.
L - SE Oatfield Rd. from SE Guilford Ct. to SE Lake Rd.
M - SE Harrison St. from Hwy 224 to SE 42nd Ave.
N - SE 37th Ave. from SE Harrison St. to Hwy 224.
O - SE Railroad Ave. from SE 37th Ave. to SE Linwood Ave.
P - SE 43rd Ave. from SE King Rd. to SE Filbert St.
Q - SE Linwood Ave. from SE Queen Rd. to SE Johnson Creek Blvd.
R - SE Linwood Ave. from SE Juniper St. to SE Harmony Rd.
S - SE Rusk Rd. from SE Lake Rd. to North Clackamas Park.

Off-street Trail Improvements

T - Springwater Corridor Trail from Three Bridges area to SE 82nd Ave.
U - Milwaukie Riverfront to Treatment Plant.

Added Projects

V - Sparrow & River Rd. - to connect to treatment plant trail.
W - "Big-picture" multi-jurisdictional coordination (e.g. regional bikeway system, etc.)
X - Trolley Trail design / planning / signage
Y - Bike Boulevards / Designated path location
Z - Railroad to International Way connection
AA - Intersection: International Way / Lake
AB - Intersection: Oak / 224

The participants then voted (10 stickers each this time, to reflect the greater number of projects), and a few items stood out well above the rest.

First off, the participants were overwhelmingly in favor of bike boulevards / designated bike paths. There was also a strong desire for improvements to the intersections of SE 17th with Hwy 224 and McLoughlin / SE Harrison. My issues with that second intersection require a post all to itself, which I'll try to put up in the next couple of days. Also given extra weight were projects V, W, and AB.

Other projects that the participants preferred were D, I, J, O, T and Z.

The remaining projects received 3 labels or less each, and projects C, R and S did not receive any votes.

Also discussed were the possibility of more exclusive multi-use paths, especially along the Willamette, and increasing connectivity by using alleyways / greenways between the "dead end" connectors in subdivisions. Milwaukie contains a number of hidden alleyways and accesses that are available to be utilized by bikes and pedestrians.

A couple of participants pointed to Portland's use of "dots" for directing bike traffic, and their new network of bicycle signage. Emily Gardner of the BTA (who was present as a meeting participant) expounded on this issue and others.

Due to the large number of issues raised during the meeting, and concern that all issues would be able to be addressed, it was determined that a third bike / ped workshop should be scheduled. Katie Mangle, Planning Director for the City of Milwaukie, also asked if the participants thought that the city needed a bicycle advisory committee, and a number of meeting participants thought that would be a great idea.

Further info coming when I have it.

------

After the meeting, I led a ride through a portion of Milwaukie to illustrate some of the issues present in the current transportation network. The ride included (among others) transportation diplomat Aaron Tarfman, Brett Kelver and Ryan Marquardt from the planning department, and Del Scharffenberg, a member of the Clackamas County Pedestrian / Bikeway Advisory Committee. We covered the major problem intersections along McLoughlin and SE 17th, the Three Bridges project, one of Milwaukie's "hidden" alleyways, and low and medium traffic residential and connector streets. I had planned a longer route, but misjudged the time required to cover all the locations I had planned.

Overall, the ride went well. It's difficult to understand the issues regarding Mcloughlin and the southern commute unless you actually ride it. Likewise, the problems with the SE 17th / McLoughlin / Harrison intersection are much more effectively communicated when you can witness them firsthand. I'm planning to do another 2-3 rides, each focusing on a different area of the city. We'll see how that goes.

Breakfast on the Bridge! Oh, and a ride!

2007-04-27T12:05:00.000-07:00

Today's Stats:
Mileage: 12.68 miles
Top Speed: 29.1 mph
Average Speed: 13.7 mph (YAY)
Time in Saddle: 55 minutes, 36 seconds
Weight this Morning: 248 (Not so Yay)

Year-to-Date Stats:
Days: 117
Miles Ridden: 1,017.07 (an average of 8.69 miles per day)
Overall Average Speed: 10.7 mph
Top Speed: 35.8 mph (March 28th)
Fastest Average Speed To/From Work: 13.7 mph (today!) / 11.4 mph (Mar 21 / Apr 26)
Total Time in Saddle: 96 hours, 14 minutes
Goal Mileage, April 27th: 1,637 miles
2006 Mileage, April 27th: 1,060.81

Argh! I'm behind again! Not surprising, since I've been off the bike for two weeks! Not entirely by choice - my back wheel was totally hosed, and I was going to try to fix it myself, and loused it up. So, I begged Tomas to fix it for me, which he graciously did. So now it's rideable again, and the back wheel no longer makes those annoying spoke-popping and tensioning noises. Hopefully that means I won't lose any more spokes for a while. I mean, I'm replacing that wheel anyway, but probably not for another month or two.

Today I took a long, boring video with my digital camera, starting from my residence and going all the way to my bike locker downtown. I let it run the entire hour and 8 minutes - 55 minutes on the bike (plus a few minutes stopped at lights), and the whole 8-10 minutes I was at Breakfast on the Bridge today. I missed last month's, so it was good to stop by for a short bit.

I now have all the camping gear I need for Cycle Oregon, and now I just have a list of items I need to get for the bike - new cassette, new chain, brake pads, and bike clothing. I'm still stoked about going, and I really hope I can make it every day.

On the "activist" front, I've expressed my displeasure publicly to Mayor Tom Potter over his proposed budget, specifically the removal of funding for the Platinum Bicycle Master Plan Update. My email (comment #6) generated a couple of flattering comments on its own. I guess 8 years in the military and 10 years in the corporate world is worth something. I hope it helps. There were over 300 separate comments submitted to the Mayor's office, so one would think that they might look at that one again. I will be on the Master Plan Update Ride (#4) on Tuesday in North Portland, both to show my support and to learn more about conditions in that part of the city. I know a bit from previous rides, but I expect I'll learn things I had no clue about (just like on every other ride I've done in Portland). Also, I have another upcoming Milwaukie TSP Update meeting on Wednesday, and the 2nd (and final?) TSP Bike/Ped meeting on May 5th. I don't know what's happening with "Umbrella" at the moment - we're ready to work up our 1023 once we have the final info we need.

Well, that's it for now - back to work.

Ride Report - April 11, 2007

2007-04-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

Today's Stats:
Mileage: 12.34 miles (19.86 km)
Top Speed: 27.6 mph (44.4 km/h)(12.3 m/s)
Average Speed: 11.7 mph (18.8 km/h)(5.2 m/s)
Time in Saddle: 1 Hour, 3 minutes, 16 seconds
Weight this morning: 245.5 lbs (111.6 kg)

Year-to-Date Stats:
Days: 101
Miles Ridden: 929.69 miles
Overall Average Speed: 11.0 mph
Top Speed: 35.8 mph (March 28)
Total Time in Saddle: 88 Hours, 0 minutes, 38 seconds
Goal Mileage, April 11: 1409 miles
Mileage, April 11, 2006: 879.45 miles

So, I'm currently 50 miles ahead of last year, but 480 miles behind where I "should" be. This weekend is the "Pre-Season Century" in Bend. I'd love to go, but I can't right now. I *might* do the Monster Cookie Metric Century on the 29th, but in all likelihood my first supported century of the year will be either Ride Around Clark County on May 5th, or the Pioneer Century on June 2nd.

Just Another Day in Portland

2007-04-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

Another day, another police sting

I approve of following the law. In fact, I encourage it. I stop at every stop sign unless it is unsafe to do so.*

*ok, there is ONE stop sign I roll through - SE Umatilla and the Oregon Pacific RR. I look both ways for trains first. That intersection sees 1-2 trains per day maybe 3 days out of the week.

I think bicycles should obey all traffic control devices (the law permits going through a red light when it won't change - like when the loop detectors don't "see" the bike), obey signs, markings, warnings, etc. Speeding is rarely an issue for bikes, except on long or steep downhill grades - yes, I believe bikes should obey that. No, I don't always practice it, but I'm willing to accept the consequences of my actions. I ALWAYS slow down around children and animals - they are too unpredictable, and the risk of a collision is too great.

Ok, so we've established that I think all bikes should obey the law. This morning is ridiculous, however - by reports from cyclists, there were 5-6 motorcycle officers at Ladd's Circle issuing tickets to cyclists who failed to stop for the stop signs on the traffic circle. Let's ignore the fact that traffic circles by their very nature work best without stop signs (something Portland hasn't figured out yet). Why 6 motorcycles? Why here? Ladd's is one of the safest areas in the city, traffic-wise. Reportedly, some neighbors complained about all the cyclists running the stop signs at the traffic circle. Fine, send *A* motorcycle cop, NOT 6.

That's 5 officers who normally perform traffic duties, who aren't busting speeders, or camped out at one of the 10 deadliest intersections in Portland. Shouldn't one of these guys be watching for people who run the red light at SE 82nd and Powell? Or how about busting speeders on Sandy? Illegal turns on red? Or patrolling east 122nd Ave, which has 5 of the top 10 crash sites in the last 5 years?

Someone in charge at the PPD isn't using his or her resources effectively, and in a city that doesn't have a large enough public safety budget and can't hire enough cops to fill vacancies, that's NOT acceptable.

Ok, soapbox time over.

Yowza - I need to be biking!

2007-04-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, still not getting out and about enough.

Currently averaging about 9 miles per day. This morning, I rode my standard 12.3 miles into work, in a little under 65 minutes. Average speed 11.4 mph, top speed 28.1 mph. The weather was nice, if a bit cold, and the ride is was smooth and easy for the most part.

Yesterday I got my tent, footprint and camp pad. Another (ouch) $300 spent. The good news is that this equipment will work fine for the various events I plan on doing this year. Yay! Reusable for a good number of years as long as I take care of the equipment.

The next Milwaukie TSP Update meeting (bike / ped workshop, that is) is coming up on May 5th at Milwaukie City Hall.

Back on the Bike - In April!

2007-04-04T10:41:00.000-07:00

Ok, took 6 days off the bike. Didn't plan on it, 3 of those days were due to Gamestorm. Until I get a trailer, it's difficult to cart 80 lbs. of stuff back and forth from Clackamas to the airport.

So, now that I'm back on the bike, here are the stats:

This Morning:
12.50 miles @ 10.4 mph average
01:12:13 ride time, top speed of 26.2 mph
Weight: 245.5 lbs.

Overall:
94 days into the year
879.07 total miles (868.48 this time last year) - average 9.35 miles / day
83:13:00 total time in the saddle
Average speed 11.0 mph

Ok, so I'm not really losing any weight. I need to start measuring myself again, so I can see if this lack of weight loss is really because I'm replacing fat with muscle. (I hope so) Muscle tissue weighs twice as much as fat, so if you're building muscle you can sometimes drop waist sizes without dropping weight. Either that, or I need to start eating less.

The ride in today was leisurely. I enjoyed it, but I had to take a break at the midpoint because I was so sleepy. I most definitely need to get to bed earlier.

That's it for now - maybe more later.

Milwaukie TSP Bike / Ped Meeting #1

2007-03-27T11:53:00.000-07:00

The Milwaukie TSP (Transportation System Plan) Update Bicycle and Pedestrian Workshop meeting was held from 10am to 12pm, Saturday, March 24th at Milwaukie City Hall in the City Council chamber. Here is an overview of that meeting:

Katie Mangle, planning director for the City of Milwaukie, started off with an overview of the process. The bike/Ped workshop for the TSP update consists of two (possibly 3 if required) meetings. The first meeting (March 24th) is to identify current problem areas in the city, errors in the provided maps of bicycle facilities and pedestrian sidewalks, and areas for improvement. The second meeting (probably in late April, TBA) will list proposed solutions developed by City staff and DKS Associates, the transportation firm hired by the city to help them through the process.

Katie also presented the Draft TSP Goals:

Balanced transportation system that provides travel choices
Reduce length of trips; manage congestion
Safety
Enhance Milwaukie's livability
Promote economic vitality
Develop context-sensitive design standards
Sustainability (environmental, economic, social)
Coordinate with other jurisdictions & be consistent with the city's Comprehensive Plan
Efficiently use available funds/monies to implement recommended projects

There were approximately 20 members of the public in attendance, who were nearly equally split between pedestrian and bike concerns. The group split into 2 working groups - I attended the bicycle portion. After 90 minutes of discussion, the two groups reassembled to summarize the information.

I delivered a list of map errors to Alan Snook, the transportation planner from DKS Associates who is working with the city. Overall, the map of existing bike facilities (bike lanes, shared lanes) was reasonably accurate, with some disagreement over the designation of north Linwood as "shared lane" and the omission of the relatively unknown multi-use path along the river behind the sewage treatment plant.

Brett Kelver, Assistant Planner for the city, facilitated. Brett is handling the bike side of things, and Ryan Marquardt (also Assistant Planner for the city) is focusing more on the pedestrian side.

Members of the public around the table took turns describing the bike issues currently in the city. The following items were discussed:

No signage for the trail behind the sewage plant- Bike lanes on lower Linwood poor quality pavement, full of debris
Curbs separating Linwood bike lanes prevent sweepers from cleaning the lanes
Crossings of Johnson Creek Blvd. are problematic and hazardous
Lake Road: one side is not bike-friendly
No good east-west connections in southern Milwaukie
Railroad Avenue totally unsuited for bikes, hazardous
The 1997 plan only addressed a few problems, most still exist
Lake at RR / Harmony / Linwood intersection: paint on bike lanes worn off
Upper Linwood does not have continuous paved shoulders
Storm drain at Linwood & King right in bike path on turn
Homeowner placing "For Sale" sign in the bike lane
Drivers not respecting bike lanes, parking in them, etc (esp. King / JCB / River Rd / Linwood)
No enforcement of bike lanes - PD needs to ticket more
SE 17th has lots of gravel & debris, bike lanes not continuous
SE 17th & McLoughlin: loop detectors not sensitive enough, bike lane outboard of right-turn lane
SE 17th & McLoughlin: sharp corner, cars drive into bike lane rather than taking it wide
SE 17th & McLoughlin: crosswalk button more than 10 feet from bike lane behind safety fence
SE 17th at 224: northbound cars off 224 do not stop
Springwater Trail - bumpy, debris, pothole in Tideman Park, bad surface quality
RR crossing at 21st & Adams dangerous, road surface bumpy
Stop sign lying on ground at Springwater and Precision Castparts Corp. parking lot driveway
Need better signage on Springwater Trail
Pedestrian ramp from 3 Bridges to McLoughlin poorly designed, sharp corners make bicycling dangerous
Need to coordinate with Portland for the areas that straddle the city / county line
JCB: If bike lane line worn off, cars veer into bike lane and crowd bikes out
Sellwood bridge (outside study area, but impacting the study area) needs bike issues addressed
Upper Lake Rd (east) has lots of debris
Need to repaint (restripe) bike lanes on Linwood, Harmony, King
Bike hit by car on JCB west of 42nd Avenue
Need more education and enforcement re: bike lanes
Low-speed, low-use roads better solution than bike lanes - people don't feel comfortable on King / Lake
Bike lanes are rarely clean and usually full of gravel and debris
River Rd descent problematic for bikes, especially those trying to turn left (west) into Island neighborhood
Need safe routes to schools, and between schools and parks
Concern over future Trolley Trail, and connections between it, Riverfront Park, and McLoughlin

There was also discussion about the good things in Milwaukie, mostly centered around the 3 Bridges project.

When the group reassembled, the bicycle and pedestrian points were summarized. There was little overlap between the two groups, and no stated major conflicts between them.

Kaite Mangle then outlined the process that was expected to happen over the next couple months. The planners will take the comments from this meeting, create a list of proposed solutions / projects for the city to incorporate into the TSP, and get public comment on them at the second meeting. After that meeting, there will be an open house in late spring / early summer for additional public comment, and then the main advisory committee for the project will take those recommendations and create a plan to submit to the Milwaukie City Council for final approval.

Haulin to work

2007-03-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I got in a bit quicker than normal today. I usually average about 11-12 mph on the way in to work. Today, however, it was 13.6 mph! Still not my record (16.5), but it's not likely I'll repeat that, since I don't have as much downhill as at the old place, and I usually ride into the wind at least part of the way. The 16.5 day was with a fierce tailwind the whole way. Oh, and on bald, thinner tires that were overinflated. Downhill. Both ways. Yeah, you know the drill.

Today:
Mileage: 12.8 miles
Top Speed: 28.8 mph
Average Speed: 13.6 mph
Time: 00:56:41
Weather: Mostly Dry, 43 degrees F

Year-to-Date:
Mileage: 829.58 miles (9.65 miles per day)
Average Speed: 10.7 mph
Total Time in Saddle: 78:35:30
Best Average Speed: 13.6 mph
Best Top Speed: 35.3 mph

Mileage Last Year on this Date: 824.97 miles

This weekend is Gamestorm, so it's not likely I'll get in any major rides, but you never know. I'm not running any games on Sunday, so that's always an option. I've done a 55-mile ride, so it's time to knock it up a notch - maybe 75-80 miles. We'll see.

This morning's ride felt good, and it was good to stress everything out just a bit. It's been a while since I really pushed myself the whole ride. Now it's time to think about pushing myself a little more often, maybe do some interval training. Also, it's time to think about a couple of the supported rides. The Monster Cookie Metric Century is coming up, as is RACC - Ride Around Clark County. Either of those would be nice to do, get riding with other cyclists.

I'd love to do more supported rides, but it gets expensive - anywhere from $15-$80 per ride. I mean, they're fully supported and all, hence the cost, but if you do more than a couple, it adds up quick. I'm already spending much too much this year as it is, with Cycle Oregon coming up. It's just so awesome that I'm going to do CO this year. The route is fantastic, it's the 20th year, so there will be all manner of special at this particular ride. It's going to be great. Yowza!

It HAS Begun (in the Mortal Combat voice)

2007-03-26T11:30:00.000-07:00

Training has officially begun - I rode 55 miles yesterday, all within Portland / Milwaukie. About 1/3 of the way through the ride, I ran into the riders from Exchange Cycle Tours, and joined them on their ride to Kelly Point Park. What a great day for a ride!

The Usual:
Distance: 55 miles
Top Speed: ??? (the GPS says 87.7 mph, but I know that's not right)
Total Time in Motion: 05:01:22

Route: 97th & Lawnfield to I-205 bike path to Causey. Followed to Monroe, to Stanley, to King. King to 49th, then meander through the sub to 42nd and back to 55th to the Springwater Trail, then west into Sellwood. Follow the Springwater on the Willamette to the Hawthorne Bridge, then to SW 4th to Big Pink. Head back out around the tower to Broadway, and over the Broadway bridge to Interstate. Up Interstate to Marine Drive and Kelly Point Park. Then back out Marine Drive all the way to the I-205 bike path. Then south to home.

For the Year:
804.55 miles (9.47 miles per day, on average)
10.7 mph overall average speed
76:21:31 total time in the saddle
85 days into the year

At the rate I've been cycling, I'll cover 3,455 miles this year. Which means I need to step it up a notch, because I'm intending to ride at least 5,000 miles this year. This time last year, I was at 825 miles for the year. According to my schedule, I'm supposed to be at 1,169 miles right now. I'm down 344 miles, which is somewhat less than optimal. OTOH, a few weeks ago I was 500 miles down, so I'm pretty confident I will meet or exceed my scheduled mileage in another month.

Now if I can just start getting out to the gym, I'll have it made.

Still Spinnin'

2007-03-20T11:44:00.000-07:00

Rode all over Milwaukie on Saturday - update on that to follow this evening. Good ride in this morning - it was wet, but not raining much, so my shoes didn't get half as dirty as they could have. Kind of windy, though. 12.34 miles on the way in - it's interesting how the GPS reads different every day depending on how long it takes to acquire the satellites and whether or not it loses signal along the way. Generally it reads between 12.3 and 12.4 miles each way if I take my most direct route.

679.38 miles this year, with a total time of 65 hours and 5 minutes in the saddle. I'm currently averaging 8.6 miles per day, which is almost as much as last year (8.91). At the rate I'm riding so far, even if I don't do any major rides this year I'll still ride more than 3,000 miles. I'm planning to do StP and CO, so that means I should be riding at least 4,000 miles this year, not counting my training rides.

Bikeportland.org posted an update on Dawn Slawta, the woman who collided with a car on February 7th of this year. She was in a coma, but apparently is now conscious and on the road to recovery. I hope she recovers quickly and fully. She's very lucky she wasn't killed - reportedly both Dawn and the motorist (Mark Grover) were inebriated (the Portland Mercury says they were both over the legal limit) and Dawn was not wearing a helmet or using lights (this collision was at night). To his credit, the motorist stayed at the scene and cooperated with the police. It's a sad statement about society that I feel the need to congratulate people who comply with the law, but I respect the fact that he did the right and responsible thing.

I've can't understand why anyone (over 12) would want to ride without a helmet, and especially in this day and age, why anyone would voluntarily ride without lights. This is just a general comment - I don't know the particulars of Dawn's situation, and it's easy to generalize if you aren't/weren't there. I've ridden without lights before, because when your battery dies at 2am and Tri-Met is no longer running, you have to get home somehow. Walking through, say.... North Portland at 2am (or Lents) is not an option for many people, especially for most women. I mean, I'm a 6', 250 lb. guy, I'm reasonably safe. Not so much for the 5'2" woman, and I know a number of them who bike.

Ride Report - March 13, 2007

2007-03-13T10:03:00.000-07:00

This morning:
12.39 miles
12.1 mph average, 31.7 mph maximum
1:01:14 riding time
43 degrees F, dry pavement, dark/twilight

2007 Total-to-date:
554.14 miles (7.70 miles/day average)
10.6 mph overall average
53:15:50 total riding time

Felt good to be on the bike today. Had a burger and a couple of beers with Steph last night, talked about all kinds of stuff, and about StP and Cycle Oregon. Feels good to ride in general - maybe because I'm getting used to the new equipment, maybe just because the weather is getting marginally nicer again. Either way, feels good.

Ridin' Steady

2007-03-09T09:37:00.000-08:00

Been a while since I posted, time for an update....

I haven't been riding as much as I'd like to these last few weeks, but I am back on the bike, and I've ridden 4 of the 5 days this week. I'm trying to make up my massive sleep deficit, and trying to reduce my caffeine intake. Well, I'm not succeeding that well on either count, but having a couple cups of coffee did make it easier to ride home the other day. The important things are that I'm still under 250 lbs and I'm riding again.

I'm now at 504 miles for the year, which is better than last year. I haven't ridden anything over 40 miles yet, but that'll probably change this weekend. The big change is that I now have clipless pedals and "proper" biking shoes. I didn't think I'd ever become "clipped in", but I find that I'd like any advantage I can get for my upcoming suicide ride (Cycle Oregon).

You know, I don't think I talked about that earlier in the blog - I'm doing Cycle Oregon this year, a 7-day fully supported ride, 481 miles long with 28,000' of elevation gain. Yes, I'm apparently insane. They say you should have goals, and yes, I apparently took that seriously. So, I decided to spend $800 of my hard-earned tax refund (ok, we decided - the spousal unit approved it) to try to kill myself riding up some of the most beautiful land God put on this green Earth. I'm really looking forward to it, and I know it'll be the ride of a lifetime and something I'll never forget. At 2,000 riders, it'll be somewhat smaller than Seattle to Portland, which has 9,000 riders, but still a pretty populous ride.

So, the stats:

This morning:
12.42 miles
12.3 mph average, 30.1 mph maximum
1:00:38 riding time
45 degrees F, wet pavement, overcast skies, no precipitation

2007 Total-to-date:
504.42 miles (7.42 miles/day average)
10.5 mph overall average
48:54:46 total riding time

Mechanical/Equipment changes:
New clipless pedals
New cycling shoes
New rain jacket
New saddle
New brake pads (rear)
New 1.5" reinforced road tires
Replaced broken spoke
Replaced frayed rear shift cable
Bike completely broken down, cleaned, and lubed

I will likely need a new wheelset, chain and cassette before Cycle Oregon. My bike is a 2004 Gary Fisher Wahoo, and currently has about 4,000 miles on it. I previously replaced the bottom bracket, chain rings and crankset, and I've gone through 2 sets of brake pads and a chain since purchasing it.

2004: ~100 miles
2005: ~400 miles
2006: 3022.03 miles
2007: 504.42 miles so far

This morning felt really good to bike. I did something I haven't done before - I rode with headphones. I kept them low enough that I could hear everything around me, and that seems to work ok. I even heard the Prius come up behind me on SE Umatilla, and those things don't make much noise. I didn't hear one of the cyclists come up behind me on the Springwater, but he didn't "on your left" me and I wouldn't have heard him normally anyway. I'm not sure if I'm comfortable enough with having headphones on to continue doing so, but it was nice riding today with my music. I probably freaked out the other cyclist, though, since when he passed me I was singing about eating people's brains (Jonathan Coulton's song Re: Your Brains, which is about a pack of zombies. Hillarious, click the link and take a listen).

Anyway, that's it for now...

The Late Long Haul

2007-02-13T12:33:00.000-08:00

Well, the weekend only went sort of as planned. I made the MMR, but missed out on Meghan's bike move - I had to work longer than expected on Saturday, and was a little tired from the MMR. Riding 30+ miles to get a trailer, ride to the move, do the move, ride to the after-move party, ride to return the trailer, and ride home is do-able, but not when I got home at 5am and had only 3 hours of sleep.

Sorry Meghan - I'll do better next time, or skip the MMR.

The St. Velotine's Breakfast on the Bridge today was cool - I didn't get to stay long, just long enough to talk to Jonathan, Shawn, Steph (the "other" Steph) and Kirsty. Oh, and to drink a half-cup of coffee (that's the whole reason for stopping in the first place) ;-)

I'm now up to 332.7 miles for the year, with 32.4 hours on the bike. 245.5 pounds - at the moment I'm losing 2 pounds per week, but we'll see if that holds up after the next month. I hope so, if I can keep that up, I could be down to 190 by the time of Cycle Oregon.

200 miles

2007-02-08T13:32:00.000-08:00

Well, I've got ~~205~~ 292 miles so far for 2007. Next up, Meghan's bike move on Saturday!
Changed the mileage, found out my spreadsheet was only adding the first twenty rows - oops.

OUCH!

2007-01-30T08:12:00.000-08:00

Well, I guess every year I need to have an accident on the bike, to remind myself that I'm still human or something. Today was that day - my first ever bike/bike collision. The funny thing is, I was just telling Steph the other day that I've never had a bike on bike crash. Well, I can't say that anymore.

I was riding westbound on the Springwater Trail, after passing Tideman Johnson nature area (which has been gutted by the sewer project - I hope it recovers this year), and had a good tail wind going. So, I decided to open it up a bit, and cracked it to about 27-28 mph. I was crossing the first of the three bridges over McLoughlin and Johnson Creek, catching up to a cyclist ahead of me and preparing to overtake and pass him on the left. All of a sudden, he started drifting to the center of the trail - so I drifted further left. He was slowing for the turn onto the ramp down to McLoughlin, which has a really sharp approach. I didn't really realize it at the time, and in any case I was now overtaking him by at least 20 mph and couldn't go any further left without going over the steep embankment. So I passed him on the right. Unfortunately, this was the instant when he made his right turn, and we had a spectacular glancing collision which I tried to avoid by braking - no such luck. I did, however manage to lock the front wheel and go end over the handlebars.

The bikes are ok. The other rider is uninjured. I'm ok but a bit shaken up, having had a 20mph crash with steep embankments on either side and a sharp drop to a busy road only 15 feet past where I landed. I'm alive! I remember my last thought before the crash was "uh oh - this is gonna hurt". Fortunately it was a very mild crash, and not at all like the one I had last year in February where I wiped out at the Salmon Fountain in Tom McCall Waterfront Park. The other rider and I pointed out our missteps to each other, made sure we were both ok, and apologized to each other, and went on our way. Man, cyclists are so much more polite than drivers. Then again, neither of us was seriously hurt and both bikes were virtually undamaged. Maybe totally undamaged - I haven't had the chance to closely examine my Wahoo, but she appears to be ok and nothing was out of alignment. I rode another 6 miles to work with no issues.

Details:

Crash Location: 45 degrees, 27 minutes, 34.6 seconds N latitude, 122 degrees, 38 seconds, 30.8 seconds W longitude. Roughly near the intersection of SE Clatsop and McLoughlin, about 10m east of the east end of the Springwater bridge over McLoughlin.

Crash Time and Direction: Approximately 7am, January 30th, 2007. I was overtaking the other rider, both of us were westbound on the trail.

Conditions: Dark but not full night. Visibility clear to about 20', diffuse out to about 100'. No clouds, dry pavement, no precipitation. Roadway was a paved chipseal path approximately 8' across, with about 2-3' of grassy shoulder on each side, flanked by a steep (45 degree or more) embankment dropping more than 20' to either side.

Safety Equipment: He had operating lights and a helmet, but no rear mirror. I had operating lights, helmet, bell and mirror. I used the bell as audible warning of my impending pass.

Cause(s) of Crash: There were 4 factors that caused the crash. First, I was riding very fast - closure speed was approximately 20mph. Second, the other rider crossed the centerline and moved all the way to the left of the lane without checking behind him for other cyclists. Third, the other rider did not signal his intent to turn right, nor that he was slowing down. (At this point there was enough light for me to make out hand signals) Fourth, and the immediate cause of the crash, I passed on the right.

Notes: By the time I realized that the other rider was going to continue drifting all the way left and leave me with no room to pass, my options had narrowed to A: Maximum braking (unsafe), B: Continue left onto the grassy shoulder (unsafe, and likely to put me over and down the embankment), or C: Pass on the right. I chose C, and had I reached him 1 second earlier, I would have passed him without contact, though I would have scared the heck out of him. He and I both broke cardinal rules of cycling, which is the real cause of the crash, but it would have been better had I been riding slower.

---

As far as 2007 riding is going, I've managed almost 200 miles in January. Not great, but pretty respectable considering the average temperature of my rides the last 3 weeks has been 38 degrees. Overall average speed 10.3 mph, 14 rides in 29 days, for a total of about 6.5 miles per day. My weight got back up to 256lbs in late December, but I'm back under 250. I've lost some definition in my thighs, quads & calves, so it's definitely time for me to get back on the bike regularly.

Anyway, that's my morning, hope everyone else's is better!

Oh, and what happened to me? I have an impressive black spot under my left middle finger, some light road rash on my lower right leg, and a couple of bruises - left ankle, right elbow, right hip, right shoulder.

Compared to last year's hand injury, that's alright. :-D

So, where's the update?

2007-01-18T12:29:00.000-08:00

Well, with the weather lately, it's been a little difficult to motivate myself to ride. Not that I have an aversion to cold (I am originally from Michigan, after all), nor to snow (again, Michigan),but I am allergic to falling. Granted, snow is softer than pavement, but I still don't like to fall and now that the snow is packed and melting, it's slipperier than ever. I don't ride a fixie, so I can't use zipties to make myself some cool snow tires. So, I'm waiting for the snow to mostly melt off. Hopefully, I'll be back 2-wheeling it again tomorrow.

Kirsty's Aquatic Bike Move

2007-01-07T18:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, no photos - it was too blasted wet. This was a long ride for me. I left my place and rode 10 miles to Tomas' apartment near Mt. Tabor. Then we rode from there to North Portland to pick up a trailer from one of the Shifties, and then rode to NW Portland to Kirsty's OLD place. Then the work started. Well, after doughnuts. We loaded up, and there ended up being a lot more people than anyone really expected. Then usual crowd - Timo, Ken, Steph, Kirsty, Brian, Emily, Steve, and those of us who don't seem to be at every Shift event. ;-) Tomas, Sonia (who I met today), and myself. Oh, and I know I'm forgetting one or two others. It rained from just before I got to Tomas' place until just after we got to Kirsty's, and sprinkled a bit afterward. I stopped raining completely before we'd finished the move, and then everyone retired to the local pub in SE Portland.

I had a long, dark ride home, but since I had a spare set of gloves, my hands were dry and the uphill effort warmed me up fairly quick.

Total mileage: 34.36 miles
Total time on the bike: 3 hours 42 minutes
Weight this morning: 247 pounds

Since I haven't been riding, my weight crept back up, and I'm starting to lose some muscle tone. I've got 83 miles so far this month, though, and I rode 24 miles in the last 2 weeks of December, so I'm on the recovery road.

Ringing in the New Year!

2007-01-02T18:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, I could have sworn that I'd posted something over the past 2 months, but I guess not. Life swallowed me up for a while, but fortunately it spit me back out and I landed on my bike.

Here's the stats for 2006:
Total Mileage: 3,022.03 (that works out to 8.91 miles per day - I biked for 339 days last year)
Average Speed, all rides averaged: 11.7 MPH
Total time in the Saddle: 259 hrs 43 min (whew)

I moved in December, and now my 11 mile commute has become a 12.5 mile commute. In addition, it usually takes 10-30 minutes longer to bus in than to bike in. (Biking home is about the same time, or 10 minutes less if my ride is going good) My final rides of the year were riding in to work from the new place, on December 18th and 19th.

Woohoo!

The Scary Helmet Ride

2006-10-27T15:37:00.000-07:00

Just in time for Halloween, it's the Scary Helmet Ride!

(click on the pic for full-size route map)

You are invited to join me for a Halloween ride through Ladd's addition, Belmont and Laurelhurst. We'll start and end at Lucky Lab brew pub on Hawthorne & SE 9th, and ride a little more than 5 miles through quiet neighborhoods and (in theory) scare the 'lil children (in a kind-hearted way of course).

Bring a SCARY helmet, or dress up, and bring some goodies to share with everyone. The ride leaves Lucky Lab at 6pm!

Welcome to the Late Great Update

2006-10-12T10:40:00.000-07:00

Wow, over a month since I updated - what's up with that?

Stats:
Total Days since I "found myself" again: 258
Miles per day: 11.17
Total Miles: 2,880.63 at an average speed of 11.7 mph
Total Time in the Saddle: 247 hours 0 minutes

Weekend:
I rode the Harvest Century. The results were mixed, maybe I should say I survived the Harvest Century.

I tried to ride the 102 mile route, but I didn't get started until about 20 minutes after the course opened, I rode slower than expected,and I got a flat about 35 miles into the ride. So I decided to take the 75 mile route instead. I started having some shifting problems right after the Canby Ferry, and had the guys from Performance who were doing mechanical support look at the bike. I had another broken spoke and a bent chainring (the outer one). The wrenches bent the chainring back as close to straight as they could, and replaced the busted spoke with one of the spares that I carry all the time now, and topped off the air in my rear tire, since I'd only pumped the tube up to about 30psi.

That tube lasted another 10 miles, then got punctured. I heard it happen. So I changed that tube, this time in the rain (it started raining about an hour before this). I had my Tyvek StP jacket, so I was partly dry. I'd gotten the tube changed (I can do this in about 15 minutes now) and was pumping up the tire when the SAG wagon arrived with a floor pump. A couple minutes later I was back on the road. I trained for another 90 minutes or so before finally stopping when I pulled in at the final rest stop.

About 1 mile from Champoeg state park, the second tube started getting mushy. I pulled over and pumped it up, and felt air coming out of the same weak spot in the tire as the previous tube - must have punctured this one on the gravel bits littering the shoulder. Since I had no spare tubes, and patching it would have taken forever, I pumped it upto about 30psi and rode until it went flat again. Pump, ride, flat,repeat. 4 times and I was back at the start. Damn straight I bought the T-Shirt.

So, that was my weekend. The kicker is that I have brand new tires I bought at Performance on Saturday, but I didn't put them on the bike because you never make changes right before the century. (that's the conventional wisdom) Next time I'll do it anyway.

Tomorrow marks 2,500!

2006-09-07T13:30:00.000-07:00

So, sometime tomorrow, probably about the time I get to the Hawthorne bridge, I will mark 2,500 miles for the year. Woohoo! I'm looking forward to it.

I should get in some decent mileage this weekend, since I'm volunteering for the Shift parking at the Salmon Nation event at the Ecotrust building on Saturday, going to the Shift-nic on Sunday, and doing the Midnight Mystery Ride on Friday. Woohoo again!

Current Status

2006-09-06T13:37:00.000-07:00

Total Mileage, 2006: 2,450.23
211 hours and 14 minutes riding
222 days since I started riding regularly (average 11.04 miles / day)
Current Weight: 242.5 lbs.
Overall average speed: 11.6 mph

My average speed peaked August 3rd at 13.39 mph. I keep a weighted average, which lets me see my fitness progress, at least until I start to reach the limitations of my tires and gear ratio. My current average is 11.98 mph, which is mostly due to the week I didn't ride during GenCon and this last week, when I took a 5-day break after riding up to Mt. Hood.

Well, at least my recoveries are getting quicker!

This blog has been more a log of my progress than anything else, and probably immensely boring to the odd traveler that ends up here. I think I have maybe 3 regular visitors. *grins*

Well, back to the ole' grind. Heading to the Shift! to Bikes meeting tonight at ACME (not at Urban Grind this time) at 7pm. Report coming later.

Clackamas County Ped / Bike Committee Mtg

2006-09-06T11:16:00.000-07:00

Ok, get ready for a mouthful. Last night, I went to the Clackamas County Pedestrian and Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting at the Sunnyside Service Center in unincorporated Clackamas County south of the mall. (whew)

This was an interesting experience, and I'm glad I went. Some highlights:

The PWTC (Portland Wheelman Touring Club) is looking to donate some bike racks. Nice ones, not cheesy - to be placed in public parks. They've already got a donation lined up for Crown Point, and they're looking for places in Clackamas County as well.

The Mount Hood villages endorsed the idea of bike lanes on Salmon River Rd and Welches Rd.

Steve Durrant from Alta Planning presented the current proposed alignment of the bike paths along and intesecting ODOT's Sunrise Corridor project. This was the centerpiece item of the meeting. Basically, ODOT is going to build a new freeway - the "missing link" of Hwy 224, from the existing Milwaukie Expressway to the current 224/212 road at about SE 152nd. This will include flyovers from I-205, and will entail new bike paths / bike lanes in the project area, and a realignment of the existing I-205 bike path (as well as completion of the "missing link" from the I-205 / 224 / 82nd Ave interchange south to Clackamas Hwy (212/224).

For those of us in the Oatfield / Thiessen / Webster area, Alta is studying a number of local bikeway connections to Johnson from the I-205 bike path. (Click on pic for larger image) There are 4 options. Option A is a new road to the north, striped with bike lanes. It's pretty much a given, so I've omitted it. (it's the road between K-Mart and Lowe's - it'll connect to 82nd on the east) Option B has right-of-way issues with the properties to the south. Option C has little in ROW issues, but is fairly high traffic due to the apartment complex adjacent to the road. Option D has no traffic issues, but is owned by the school district and on school property - building a path would be contingent on the cooperation and approval of the school board. Alta requested the board's input into these options, and the board expressed a preference for Option D, or Option C if D were not available.

The board also recommended the extension of the proposed bike route parallel to the new highway to the eastern project boundary, identifying it as a bicycle transportation corridor. In my opinion, I think this is a good and logical choice. With the expansion of the Urban Growth Boundary to include Happy Valley and Damascus, the number of bike commuters from that area will grow, especially with the projected completion of the Clackamas Mall light rail terminal sometime in 2009.

An open house for the public is scheduled to occur during the next meeting of the Clack Co. Ped / Bike Advisory Committee in November. (should be November 7th)

Next up were John Mermin and Amy Rose from Metro. Metro is in the process of updating the Regional Transportation Plan, and John and Amy are responsible for identifying stakeholders and areas of concern for the bike and pedestrian aspects of that plan, respectively. Noted were the changes that have occured in Clackamas County since the last RTP was produced, and the identification of problem intersections, like SE 17th and McLoughlin or Lake Rd and McLoughlin, both in Milwaukie. (there were other intersections identified, NOT just those two) One idea that came up in the discussion was the need for some sort of ombudsman for maintenance issues, especially given the mishmash of jurisdictions when calling for road maintenance. (i.e. city / county / state)

Thelma Hagenmiller updated the committee on the progress being made on the Trolley Trail. The contour survey is now complete along the whole length of the trail, and a segment of the current unpaved portion between Creighton and Arista that was previously unaccessable is now open. A public meeting regarding the trail is scheduled at the Oak Grove School on October 18th.

This was my first community meeting, and I was able to provide some limited input from my experience as an area resident and a bicycle commuter. I look forward to more such meetings in the future.

Mount Hood or Bust...

2006-08-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Rode from Oak Grove (south of Milwaukie) to Government Camp and back last Sunday, details to come...

(Sept 6) Well, ok.... photos and details to come, when I get around to it.

Breakfast on the Bridge

2006-08-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

This morning, I managed to stop by Breakfast on the Bridges, a monthly event run by SHIFT! to Bikes. Shift is an awesome organization - a loose, informal group of people who just want to share the joy of cycling and encourage people to do it more. BotB on the Hawthorne Bridge had the beautiful and personable Kirsty Hall present, along with the ever-present coffee and pastries. I've managed to stop for 5 or 6 BotB events this year, and met some wonderful people. BotB is on the last Friday of every month, from about 7am to about 9am. If you get a chance, try it out!

Ride Details
11.15 miles
Top Speed: 34.8 mph (Oatfield downhill)
12.6 mph average speed

Cumulative 2006
2,272 miles at an average 11.6 mph
195 hours, 35 minutes in the saddle

Tonight I'm going to the Critical Mass ride - my first. It's the anniversary of Katrina, which was a wake-up call for a lot of people. Oil is on the way out, and fossil fuels help cause global warming. Tonight's CM ride will focus in part on that.

As a side note, sometime next week Tropical Depression Five should become Hurricane Ernesto (it should reach TS strength tonight). A lot of projections show it skirting the south end of Cuba and heading into the Gulf, so it'll be interesting to see where it goes. Katrina & Rita shut down nearly 20% of Gulf oil & gas production last year, and with half of Alaskan oil unavailable, a similar disruption this year could cause a massive increase in the price of gasoline. Makes me glad I ride a bike.

Progress Report

2006-08-24T09:23:00.000-07:00

Well, originally I wanted to ride 6,500 miles this year. It was ambitious, perhaps overly so, and I expected that events would likely prevent it.

I was right, but I still should rack up a respectable 4,200 miles for the year, and I have at least one formal century left in the year (and likely an informal one this weekend).

So far this year, I've ridden 2,250 miles at an average speed of 11.6 mph. In the 209 days since I started riding regularly, I've averaged 10.77 miles per day and spent a total of 194 hours in the saddle.

Before this year, I'd never ridden more than 50 miles. This year, I've ridden 50, 74, 85, 101, 107, and 204.5 miles (the last being over 2 days - Seattle to Portland). Unfortunately I missed the bridge pedal this year, since GenCon in Indianapolis was the same weekend.

This Sunday, I plan to ride to Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood and back, after being inspired by Aaron Tarfman's account here. It's going to be a LONG ride - probably 130 miles when all is said and done, since I'm starting from my house. I expect the best part will be the 40mph+ ride down Highway 26 from Government Camp to Welches. Hopefully I'll make it ok - there's 6,000' of climb from Milwaukie to Timbeline, not counting any ups and downs. Hell, there's 1,000' of climb just from Govenment Camp to Timberline. If I can do this, it's a MAJOR accomplishment.

So, that's about it. Aside from my riding, I've been looking at what I want to do with this blog. I'd like to have something here besides ride reports - some reason for people other than the 5 or so who actually care about what I write here to stop and look around. There are already so many good cycling sites and blogs out there (see the sidebar of this blog for the short list) and unless I fill a particular niche, I'll basically just be parroting bigger, better sites. So, we'll see.

-M

Ride Report - Tuesday

2006-07-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

Details:
10.98 miles @ 13.3 mph
Top Speed 35.4 mph
49 minutes, 32 seconds on the bike

Cumulative:
2100.38 miles at an average speed of 11.4 mph
182 hours, 0 minutes total time on the bike
179 days since I became an all-weather cyclist - average 11.73 miles per day

Notes:
Haven't blogged my mileage much lately. Did 8 miles the day after StP, and then 22 miles on Tuesday and 25 on Wednesday. Rode 2.5 miles on Thursday, 22 on Friday and 4 miles on Sunday. Another 22 miles yesterday and that brings us to this morning. I feel pretty good about the fact that I've ridden almost every day since the StP ride. Last I weighed myself I was down to 239.5 pounds. I'm going to weigh myself again tomorrow morning and see where I stand.

StP Commentary

2006-07-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

I'm tired
But not as tired as you'd think from all the riding I did. I actually made it into work pretty quick today - though some guy on SE 17th and McLoughlin edged over the bike lane divider by a full foot while I was almost alongside him. I yelled "hey!" and he tried to say something I couldn't hear (his windows were down enough to hear me - my voice carries well). Now he's probably annoyed with cyclists, all because he didn't realize he was in my lane, or worse, thought he belonged there. SE 17th at that spot has a really sharp turn, and vehicles frequently "cut the corner" on it and edge over the line. It's the absolute worst point along my entire commute.

So - StP 2006. Awesome ride, and I got a mention in Jonathan Maus' blog, which totally rocks. The weather was awesome, and most of the ride was terrific. At mile 45, there was "The Hill", which wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be - just long. It's about the same grade as McLoughlin between Milwaukie and Oak Grove, which is much easier than north Oatfield, Concord, Jennings or Thiessen. Or Roethe or Naef, for that matter. Other than that, there were only a couple of hills that were any real effort - most of the climbing seemed to be saved for day two, which I think is cruel and unusual punishment for a first time StP rider.

Day one had good weather, and the ride along Lake Washington was quite nice. The parks and homes out there are pretty, and away from the freeway one can forget how much of a pain in the butt Seattle traffic is. I don't like Seattle. I love parts of Seattle, but overall the city reminds me too much of Detroit or Chicago, just with hills. I left Detroit for a reason - too big, and soulless. Well, most of Seattle has a soul, and they have the PacNW attitude, which is cool, but there's still too many people, which is why I think Portland is cooler and why I'll miss the Portland of today 20 years from now when we're Seattle's size. (by then, Seattle will be Detroit's size, and have all kinds of problems they've avoided until now) After leaving Seattle, we rode through Renton and Kent, which could have been Auburn Hills or Rochester Hills, MI, or Chesapeake, VA, or any other city with no real downtown and full of office parks and distribution centers. Good riding, well-kept roads with little traffic on a weekend. Some of the rail crossings were kind of bad, and the one right before REI Headquarters (the first pit stop) was the scene of a really bad accident. Whoever that guy was, I hope he's ok. It looks like he hit the tracks wrong and went head over wheels and landed on his face. They had a mask on him, and his face was caked with blood all over. The helmet was still on him when the ambulance arrived, so I'm sure they were worried about head / neck injuries. Future bac crossings were well marked and most had carpet laid over them on the side to help bikes transition them. (Note to railfans - these were all spurs, no mainlines or secondaries, so rail traffic wasn't an issue) The rest of the day was spent transiting the edge of Fort Lewis and navigating some of the western Washington backcountry. We were overflown by 3 Blackhawk helicopters, and then the reservists were firing artillery for an hour somewhere in the middle of the base. Way cool, and not a sound I was expecting. We almost had an incident when a group of riders ahead of us stopped suddenly without warning - Tomas, Lee and I were in a paceline and another group of 4 riders were drafting directly behind me. Fortunately we all slowed and avoided the mixup without incident. We got into Centralia sometime before 6pm, about 11 hours after we'd left the start.

Day two started off really cold, and I was very glad I had the Tyvek jacket that came as part of our registration package. I snapped the obligatory early morning picture of my shadow, then settled into a good cadence and got some of the sores out of my muscles. We hit a whole host of small towns: Napavine, Winlock, Vader. All rolling hills the whole way after the first 10 miles or so. Tomas and I had breakfast (second breakfast?) in Chehalis (before the aforementioned small towns) and the pancakes really helped us out. I'd forgotten my sunglasses in the hotel room, so the wife had them with her when she headed back to Portland to meet us. Lee had a couple of pinched nerves from day one, and wasn't able to join us, so it was just Tomas and I. My patience was tested by this one 12-year old kid that would speed up if I was passing him. He did this on an uphill with a sharp right at the top, and I had to slow down on the uphill to turn behind him instead of cutting him off. Later, I was coming up behind him again at a steady pace, and when I went left to pass, he sped up again. Ok - that's it. Time to show this little punk who's boss. I got left and started passing him, and when he sped up, I put everything I had into it - 35+ mph on a slight downhill and at least 27 mph on the subsequent uphill grade. I ran out of energy when I'd opened up the distance to 1/4 mile or so, and throttled back to a slower pace than I'd started out with. He passed us about 5-10 minutes later, with an obnoxiously cheery "hi", but I felt pretty good because an overweight 37-year old beat the pants off a skinny, healthy, unlimited energy 12-year old, even if only for a few minutes.

The character of the ride changed after crossing into Oregon. No one honked at the cyclists (other than a friendly tap "beep" to say "hi") in Washington, but as soon as we crossed into Oregon, there were angry beeps when we were riding south on Hwy 30. One guy was laying on the horn every few seconds, because riders hundreds of yard ahead of him were taking the lane in order to pass the slower riders on the bike lane. That's frustrating - taking the lane in that situation is totally legal - ORS814.430(2) specifically permits it. There wasn't even any real traffic in the left lane - he could have gotten over rather than getting pissy with a few hundred cyclists on the road. I realize that all those cyclists are inconvenient, but the ride only happens once a year, and the date isn't really hidden. All the news outlets say something about it beforehand. And we weren't the only group slowing things down on Sunday - there was a big music festival going on in St. Helens while we were riding through. The main reason it bothers me is that a large event like that attracts a lot of inexperienced riders - the very people that the cars have no tolerance for. As traffic rises and drive times lengthen, road rage becomes ever more prevalent. We (all of us) really need to do whatever we can to discourage road rage, and to encourage patience in each other.

And that's my soapbox moment - should be on my other blog, I guess.

Ride Report - Seattle to Portland

2006-07-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

Details:
204.5 miles @ 14.2 mph
Top Speed 38 mph
14 hours, 24 minutes, 5 seconds on the bike (over a 2-day period)

Cumulative:
1,984.85 miles at an average speed of 11.4 mph
172 hours, 40 minutes total time on the bike

Notes: I did it - I rode the entire way from Seattle to Portland, from University of Washington in Seattle to Centralia College on day one, and from Centralia College to Holladay Park in Portland. It was quite the experience, and I really enjoyed it. Now, I'm tired. Everything's sore, everything hurts a bit, and I'm tired now. I also broke 3 spokes on the ride, though I never got a flat. Fortunately, I had a spare spoke with me, and I got a couple others from one of the supporting bike shops - they didn't even charge me for the spokes. Tomas gave me a hand with the first busted spoke - I did the second on my own, and the third happened a mile from the finish line, so I still need to fix it. Tomas thinks I need to have the wheel rebuilt, and I think he may be right on that one.

Anyway, yay me!

Ride Report - Tuesday

2006-07-11T11:03:00.000-07:00

Details:
10.98 miles @ 13.1 mph
Top Speed ~32 mph (spurious GPS reading said 51 mph)
50 minutes, 13 seconds on the bike

Cumulative:
1,740.07 miles at an average speed of 11.4 mph
154 hours, 43 minutes total time on the bike

Notes:
Yesterday I rode surface streets home rather than the Springwater Corridor, mostly because I was already eating bugs pedalling past OMSI and didn't relish the volume of gnats likely to be in Oaks Bottom. This morning I basically reversed that path, though I stayed off 17th / Milwaukie as much as possible due to morning traffic. The ride went well, and I'm feeling pretty good. Yesterday morning was my first time on the bike in 8 days, since my 107 mile ride with Tomas and Lee. Mostly that was due to being at New Horizons for my final MCSE class, and needing to have my laptop with me.

This weekend is the Seattle to Portland ride, and I am both very confident about the ride and realizing that it's probably going to wipe me out for at least a couple of days. If not actually worried about "the Hill" at mile 45 on day 1 - I'm concerned about how my shoulders and neck are going to feel on day 2. They tend to get really tense when I ride, especially if I do a lot of uphill.

Looking forward to it, though. Now 165 days since I started riding. Looks like my milage for the year will probably end up around 3,500 - 4,000. Not the 6,500 I'd hoped for, but respectable nonetheless.

Ride Report - Sunday

2006-07-03T10:13:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 107.07 miles
Top Speed: 34.3 mph (estimated - GPS said top speed 126 mph, I don't think so)
Average Speed: 12.3 mph
Time on Bike: 8 hours, 43 minutes, 56 seconds
Temperature: 59 degrees F, rising to 90 and then falling back to 72 by ride end.
Weather: Dry without a cloud in the sky most of the day.

Matt Details:
Weight: 242 lbs.
Feels: Legs and back a little sore. Tired.
Total 2006 Mileage: 1,707.98 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 152 hours, 10 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 10.88

Notes:
Tomas, Lee and I rode out past Forest Grove and back. I started from my house, and rode the bike to Tomas' place where he examined and then tightened my cassette (I don't have the tools required for that yet). We then managed to get out on the road and ride downtown, crossing the Hawthorne Bridge and heading up to Broadway and out to Barbur Blvd. Barbur's a nice road, with a wide bike lane, but where it dumps you onto Capitol Highway there is a long, steep climb.

It was a long ride, but worth it. Next stop, Seattle to Portland in 2 weeks!

Ride Report - Thursday Morning

2006-06-22T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 10.50 miles
Top Speed: 29.1 mph
Average Speed: 12.8 mph
Time on Bike: 49 minutes, 10 seconds
Temperature: 56 degrees F
Weather: Dry and mostly clear

Matt Details:
Weight: 244 lbs.
Feels: Good.
Total 2006 Mileage: 1,500.62 miles (WOo-Hoo!)
Total Time in the Saddle: 134 hours, 47 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 10.28

Notes:
Well, I finally broke 1,500 miles for the year! It helped that I had an 85-mile bike ride last Thursday. Man, did I get some sun that day - the weather was cloudy, but that doesn't stop all the UV. I'm still waiting on the peel - the last few days it's itched pretty bad.

I am registered for the Seattle to Portland Ride on July 15-16. 200 miles in 2 days - I don't know if I can pull that off, but I sure am going to try. So far, my longest ride ever is 103 miles (this past March), but before this year I'd never ridden more than 50 miles before. I think I can make it, and I'm looking forward to it.

Ride Report - Wednesday Morning

2006-06-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.06 miles
Top Speed: 31.0 mph
Average Speed: 12.8 mph
Time on Bike: 51 minutes, 50 seconds
Temperature: 58 degrees F
Weather: Light Rain

Matt Details:
Feels: A little tired, and somewhat saddle-sore
Total 2006 Mileage: 1,290.51 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 117 hours, 2 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 9.35

Notes:
Yesterday I rode 11.93 miles home. It threatened to rain but never followed through. The shifting problem turned out to be messed-up shift cables, so Tomas and I drove down to River City Bicycles with the old cables (front and rear) and had them cut new housings. $14 later, we went back to the house and replaced the cables. (Note: When I say "we", I mean Tomas did most of the work and I mainly watched and learned for the next time. Of course, I had messed with the set screws the day before when trying to fix the problem, and threw the alignment of the derailleur off with respect to the cogs. Anyway, it's fixed now and I'm back on MY bike - Yay!

Ride Report - Tuesday

2006-06-13T11:28:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 12.69 miles
Top Speed: 35.2 mph
Average Speed: 12.6 mph
Time on Bike: 1 hour, 15 seconds
Temperature: 60 degrees F
Weather: Dry

Matt Details:
Feels: Good
Total 2006 Mileage: 1,267.52 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 114 hours, 58 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 9.25

Notes:
My bike is having rear derailleur problems, so I'm borrowing the wife's bike until I get mine sorted out (hopefully tonight). I'm planning to ride in the Gorge on Thursday - one of the Pedalpalooza rides. I'm planning to stay in the saddle for a while - I've been woefully negligent in that regard, and haven't made the last 3 Breakfast on the Bridges. I'd like to actually be known by some of Portland's biking community, even if it's just "hey, there's that fat guy!" (Of course, I'd also like the biking to make me "not fat")

Supposed to be rain today, so I may have a wet ride home with no fenders, which also means I'll have to wipe down the wife's ride when I get home.

Ride Report - Thursday Morning

2006-05-11T08:55:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.66 miles
Top Speed: 35.4 mph
Average Speed: 13.7 mph
Time on Bike: 50 minutes, 59 seconds
Temperature: 54 degrees F
Weather: Dry

Matt Details:
Feels: Good
Total 2006 Mileage: 1,173.36 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 106 hours, 58 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 11.28

Notes:
Nothing notable today.

Ride Report - Wednesday Morning

2006-05-10T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 10.90 miles
Top Speed: 32.1 mph
Average Speed: 15.1 mph (new best)
Time on Bike: 43 minutes, 11 seconds
Temperature: 47 degrees F
Weather: Dry

Matt Details:
Feels: Feel good. no problems with the knee until the end of the ride
Total 2006 Mileage: 1,151.11 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 105 hours, 16 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 11.18

Notes:
It's now been 103 days since I started riding. During that time, I've seen my average cycling speed increase from 10.2 mph to 12.2 mph (I keep a running average based on the last 10 rides). The muscles in my legs have gotten pretty hard - now if I can just get rid of the fat around them, I'll be alright. My weight is down to 243 - I won't get excited though until I drop below 234, which was my lowest weight when I was hiking all the time in 2002. It's hard to believe that it's been 4 years since I took that class with the Mazamas. I summitted St. Helens and Broken Top that year, and haven't done anything really big since. I don't quite feel like I gave up, but I wish I was hiking more. Time has become an issue, and I'm not 30 minutes from the Gorge anymore, so I can't do the summer jaunts up Waukeena that I did in the summer of 2002 (not to mention gas then was half the price it is now).

I think cycle touring is going to eventually be my thing, once I get properly outfitted. Might need a new bike for that. :-D

Oh, and I forgot - some woman tried to run me over with her SUV this morning on SE Caruthers near the Portland Opera. I was going straight in the bike lane and stopped for the stop sign at Water Ave, and she stopped next to me at the same time. I started to go and she tried to turn across me, then stopped and gave me an odd expression like she was surprised that I had continued. Not only that, but she didn't even use a turn signal.

I swear, drivers are getting worse.

Ride Report - Tuesday Afternoon

2006-05-09T16:14:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.60 miles
Top Speed: Unknown (GPS says 38.1, but I know it wasn't that fast)
Average Speed: 14.4 mph (new best)
Time on Bike: 48 minutes, 30 seconds
Temperature: 65 degrees F rising to 67 by ride end
Weather: Dry

Matt Details:
Feels: Feel good - a good tired
Total 2006 Mileage: 1,140.21 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 104 hours, 32 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 11.18

Notes:
Took McLoughlin up on the way home, which means I took a shallower hill than Oatfield. This plus a tailwind got me home a full 2 mph faster than my previous best, and actually faster than my fastest speed in to work. This is my first time on the bike since Friday (which I didn't blog here). Hopefully I'm back to cycling daily. Right now I really need to be on the bike, for a lot of reasons.

2006-04-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 22.96 miles
Top Speed: 31.1 mph
Average Speed: 11.9 mph
Time on Bike: 1 hour, 55 minutes, 35 seconds
Temperature: 52 degrees F dropping to 48 by ride end
Weather: Dry & Wet depending on whether it got rained on. It never rained on me during the trip home, though.

Matt Details:
Feels: Kind of tired - worked my muscles good. Going to be sore tomorrow.
Total 2006 Mileage: 999.43 (1,000 miles - WooHoo!) Ok, not quite - but tomorrow morning!
Total Time in the Saddle: 92 hours, 42 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 12.49

Notes:
A long ride home - I took the route less hilly, and that made all the difference. Seriously, though - I'm not taking this route again. It was fun, and actually quite scenic. The problem, though is that traffic is pretty heavy and a long section of the route has no shoulder, so it's reasonably dangerous with cars and the occasional truck whizzing by at 45 mph.

The ride went well, though, and I feel pretty good considering. I'm going to try a couple other ways back later in the week.

Ride Report - Monday Morning

2006-04-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 15.38 miles
Top Speed: 28.3 mph
Average Speed: 11.6 mph
Time on Bike: 1 hour, 19 minutes, 24 seconds
Temperature: 44 degrees F
Weather: Wet, then dry after riding the bus

Matt Details:
Weight: Unknown (didn't weigh this morning)
Feels: Felt good after the ride, took it easy
Total 2006 Mileage: 976.47
Total Time in the Saddle: 90 hours, 47 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 12.21

Notes:
Rode downtown from the house and caught the #56 bus from downtown out to Washington Square Mall. Rode the bike from there across the freeway and hit McDonald's for breakfast. (bad Matt) Rode back downhill to New Horizons and parked the bike. Weather was pretty good. I don't feel too bad eating at McDonald's this morning because I got in 15+ miles, so I burned about 600 calories this morning. That'll put me at about 3,400 calories for the day if I don't ride home.

I'm considering riding 22 miles home via Tualatin-West Linn-Oregon City-Gladstone. That'd be fun, but it will take 2-1/2 hours to ride. It's 22 miles total distance with at least 1 extended hill climb. Another option is 14 miles almost due east and across the Sellwood Bridge, but that takes me across the southern part of the Western Hills, a ridge that runs west of downtown Portland. It's only a 400' climb this far south rather than a 700-800' climb, but that's a little more than I'd planned on doing. Total elevation gain riding home from work is about 500' in 11 miles, or around 50' per mile. (Actually, it's negligible for the first 9 miles, and 400' in the last 2 miles) If I take the 14 mile route to the house, I do all my normal climb from work, plus an extra 400', for a total of 900' over 14 miles. Ick. I'd rather do the 22 mile run, and have only 2 gradual climbs at West Linn and the bottom end of Oatfield.

Ride Report - Friday, April 14th

2006-04-14T14:45:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.07 miles
Top Speed: 28.1 mph
Average Speed: 12.1 mph
Time on Bike: 54 minutes, 56 seconds
Temperature: 51 degrees F
Weather: Wet, rained for first 2 miles

Matt Details:
Weight: 245 pounds (still)
Feels: Felt good after the ride, knees still ache a little
Total 2006 Mileage: 950.22
Total Time in the Saddle: 88 hours, 22 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 12.34

Notes:
My back tire has had a slow leak for the last few weeks, and this morning I discovered why when going down the Oatfield hill. I'd put 60 psi into the back tire before leaving, and while turning the sharp corner of the Oatfield drop, the back end started to shimmy. I immediately slowed and stopped at the end of the bridge over Kellogg Creek, and saw (and felt) the flat. I pulled the tire and tube off, and found a piece of glass embedded in the tire, pushed all the way through to the inside of the tire. It's probably been there this whole time, widening the puncture it made in the tube. This morning finally killed it. So I spent 35 minutes changing a tube in the mud, which isn't as bad as it sounds. It had stopped raining just a minute of two before, so I was able to de-layer down to a T-shirt and keep cool while working. That's one drawback to being fat - you actually have to strip to a T-shirt in 50 degree temperatures to keep cool.

So, that's my first real flat of the year. 30 minutes later, I was riding over the Hawthorne bridge and Bike Gallery had set up a little maintenance stop on the west (downtown) end of the bridge with free coffee and muffins. So of course I stopped, and they were kind enough to top off the air in my tires. So other than getting in a lot later than I'd like, it was a good ride in!

Yay!

2006-04-13T16:58:00.000-07:00

Breakfast on the Bridges, the Movie! Look about 2.5 minutes in for a surprise cameo.

Thursday Morning - Aargh! Forgot my keys!

2006-04-13T09:18:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 15.22 miles
Top Speed: 33.2 mph
Average Speed: 11.8 mph
Time on Bike: 1 hr, 17 min, 31 sec
Temperature: 47-48 degrees F
Weather: Dry and cloudy

Matt Details:
Weight: 245 pounds (still)
Feels: Felt good after the ride, knees starting to ache a little
Total 2006 Mileage: 927.94
Total Time in the Saddle: 86 hours, 16 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 12.21

Notes:
I forgot my keys this morning but didn't know it until I was standing in front of the bike locker downtown. Luckily, Tomas came to the rescue and provided my bike with a place to stay for the day. Otherwise, I was going to put on another 22 miles this morning.

Must. Remember. Keys.

Tuesday Rides (To Work / To Home)

2006-04-12T06:38:00.000-07:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 10.97 / 11.08 miles
Top Speed: 31.0 / 31.3 mph
Average Speed: 12.5 / 10.9 mph
Time on Bike: 52 min, 44 sec / 1 hr, 59 sec
Temperature: 45 / 62 degrees F
Weather: Wet / Dry

Springwater Trail:
36 cyclists, 18 joggers, 1 rollerblader, 2 guys with fishing poles
(This is on the way home. 60+ temperatures start to bring everyone out)

Matt Details:
Weight: 245 pounds (need to ride more)
Feels: Felt good after the ride
Total 2006 Mileage: 890.53 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 83 hours, 18 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 11.87

Notes:
My last entry was the 23rd. I didn't do a training ride the following weekend due to Gamestorm. I rode 2 days the next week (Thursday the 30th and Friday the 31st) and showed up for Breakfast on the Bridges (Thanks, SHIFT! To Bikes). The weekend after that I spent with the ladies watching Lost all weekend. Last week, I was at New Horizons all week after work. My wife picked me up each night, and I had to take the bus out there, so I opted not to ride to make it easier on her on the trips back. Once I get a car rack for the bike, this won't be an issue. So, I haven't ridden for 11 days. On the plus side, everything has healed up. On the minus side, I'm already losing a bit of muscle tone. So, yesterday I got back on the bike. I put in the normal 22 miles yesterday, and I feel pretty good. I made average time in and excellent time back. On the way back, I even took Oatfield one gear higher than normal, which makes me feel pretty good - there's still improvement going on, despite the long break.

Next week I again have classes at New Horizons. I'm looking forward to it, and I plan to ride again. It means getting home comparatively late, but that's the price you pay for opting to bike. I need to crank the mileage back up above 16 miles per day. Eventually, I should average out to 20 miles per day or more. (20 mpd is my normal commute every day plus a 30-mile ride on Sunday)

Ok, time to hit the bike and hoof it to work - later, y'all.

Ride Report - Thursday Morning

2006-03-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.04 miles
Top Speed: 35.7 mph
Average Speed: 14.3 mph (new personal record)
Time on Bike: 46 min, 12 sec (new personal best)
Temperature: 48-49 degrees F
Weather: Dry

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles 10, Joggers 4 (sounds like sports scores)

Matt Details:
Weight: 246 pounds (need to ride more)
Feels: Felt good after the ride
Total 2006 Mileage: 812.42 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 76 hours, 21 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 14.77

Monday I felt sore. Tuesday I felt more sore. Wednesday I felt fine but just didn't want to ride in, so I didn't - I took the bus. Today, though - I had to ride in to work.

One Long Ride

2006-03-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, so the ride went well.

Tomas and I rode 101 miles yesterday, from Champoeg State Park in Aurora to Independence, Oregon, a small city southwest of Salem, the state's capitol.

We started riding at 7:30am yesterday and got to Salem, the state capitol 4 hours later. After stopping at a bike shop so Tomas could get his crankset adjusted, we stopped for lunch at "Best Little Roadhouse". The food was good, and reasonably priced. The only disadvantage to parking a bike at a place like that is having to remove the camera, GPS, headlights, battery pack and rear bag from the bike when locking it up. (and, of course, putting them all back on afterward) We then continued on south to Independence, and got there at about 2pm. (an hour after leaving Salem) By 3:20pm we were back in Salem and stopped by the state capitol building to snap a couple of pictures. Then we headed back up to Aurora partially by a different route than we took down - a little shorter and flatter. We got back to our starting point at about 7pm, 20 minutes or so after sunset and just before it started really getting dark. Total time on the bike pedalling was about 8 hours and 40 minutes, for an average speed of 11.7mph. During the course of the ride we had 2,400' of elevation gain, bouncing up and down between 100' and 500' above sea level.

Highlights on the trip out were crossing the Willamette on the Wheatland Ferry, riding through a good chunk of Oregon's wine country, and seeing a couple of giant nurseries. Highlights on the way back were the state capitol, some railroad stuff that only I have an interest in, and the interesting creeks that thread through Salem next to houses and apartments. A highlight on both legs was the town of Saint Paul, population 322. Saint Paul is home to an annual rodeo known statewide. It has a bank, a tiny post office, a Catholic Church (Saint Paul Catholic Church, of course), a hardware store and a John Deere dealership. That's about it.

As near as I can figure, I burned about 6,800 calories yesterday. I had with me a big box of Mike & Ike's jellybeans (pure sugar, no fat - fat slows digestion), most of a loaf of italian bread and a couple of Powerbars in my bag - about 2,500 calories of food. That plus lunch is about 3,500-4,000 calories for the day, which means I burned somewhere around 3,000 calories more than I ate. Every 3,500 calories equals a pound of body fat, so I should have lost almost a pound yesterday.

A Last minute Change in Plans

2006-03-17T13:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, so no Highway 30 this time out. Instead, we go here:

The Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway, the first such bikeway in the State of Oregon.

http://www.oregon.gov/OPRD/PARKS/BIKE/WVSB_entire_route.shtml

All the way down to Independence, Oregon and back. Should be fun, and not as much loud traffic.

Health Report - March 2006

2006-03-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

My weight this morning was 245.5 pounds.

That's actually not that bad. Two days ago it was 244, but there's always some variation. Also, I didn't ride yesterday or today. When I ride, I burn more calories than I take in, and I burn more calories than my body can provide from fat stores - about 50% from fat, 50% from glycogen. (that's an estimate - I may actually burn a bit more glycogen than I think) Each gram of glycogen is 4 calories, same as carbohydrates. (Glycogen is chained glucose - pure sugar) Each gram of glycogen also binds 3 grams of water, which is retained in the body. The body stores about 2,000 calories of glycogen, which is 500g of glycogen and 1,500g of water. That's 2kg total, or about 4.4 pounds. Depending on how much I've burned, and how much food and water is in my digestive system, my weight varies up and down on a daily basis. So what matters is the long-term trend.

As far as weight control goes, I'm not doing horrible at the moment. Last year at this time, I was recovering from back surgery. Through inactivity and poor diet, I went up to 260 pounds. In the 10 months of the year after the surgery, I lost 10 pounds, or about a pound a month. That put me at 250 pounds at the end of January. In the last 7 weeks, I've lost 5-6 pounds, or about a pound a week. If I maintain that rate, I should be down to my ideal weight of 170 pounds somewhere around June of next year. I'm hoping to accelerate the weight loss to 2 pounds per week and be at my ideal weight somewhere around Christmas or New Year's Day.

I went to my doctor's office today, so the lab could draw my blood. The last couple times I checked, both my cholesterol and my triglycerides were high. With the recent change in our living situation, I'm eating a lot better than I ever have. Coupled with the consistent exercise, I'm hoping my numbers have come way down. I've been lucky so far - liver and kidneys work fine, blood sugar is fine, I still have all my internal organs. Before a couple of years ago, I'd never even broken a bone. I've had a couple of cycling accidents over the last year, but nothing serious. Except for my weight, I'm in good health, especially for a guy entering his late 30's. It's been almost 10 years since I stopped being immortal - the warranty has run out on all my parts, and I'm trying to take a lot better care of myself.

So, last week I rode 3 of 5 days to work and back. This week, only 2 of 5 days. On Sunday, Tomas and I are going to try to ride 105 miles out to the decommissioned Trojan nuclear plant and back - should be a helluva ride. I'm planning to leave at 6am, and get back by 7pm. That's a lot of time in the saddle, and I hope I make the entire distance. (I don't have to - I can cut 20 miles off the end if necessary by taking the bus home) If I can do this distance, then I have nothing to worry about with the upcoming "Reach the Beach" in May (103 miles).

So we'll see - 100 mile ride, blood test results for cholesterol and triglycerides - we'll see how healthy I am.

Ride Report - Tuesday Morning

2006-03-15T14:26:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.10 miles
Top Speed: Unknown (GPS read 53mph)
Average Speed: 12.9 mph
Time on Bike: 51 min, 26 sec
Temperature: 40 degrees F
Weather: Wet, but no rain

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 9, Joggers 3

Matt Details:
Weight: 244 lbs
Feels: A little more tired, and some soreness in the legs and around the knees
Total 2006 Mileage: 689.5
Total Time in the Saddle: 65 hours, 48 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 10.6

Rode to Tomas' last night, adjusted and lubed the bike. I have some kind of weird issue with the back brakes - one side is sticking, and I don't know why. It's most irritating. Brakes and shifters are now adjusted, and the ride to Tomas' plus the ride home via I-205 trail was 18 miles. I should have brought my new brake pads with me, but I left them in the bike locker by mistake. The front brakes on the bike are nearly gone, and the rear pads, which I replaced a few weeks ago are already half worn through. Of course, I'm riding more consistently this year, and the brake pads wear quicker in wet conditions. I'll be happy when summer gets here, and the ride stays dry.

Then again, at that point it starts getting hot.

On a side note, I had to calculate my average speed, and failed to get the top speed, because the GPS had some inaccurate readings this morning. Even though I rode the same 11.1 - 11.2 mile route I've been riding the last week or two (I've added about 1/4 mile to my ride at Kellogg Creek to get up the hill to Lake road a bit easier), my GPS this morning said I rode 12.9 miles at an average speed of 15 mph, with a top speed of 53 mph. While I'd love to say that's all true, it's not - my top speed was no more than 30, and the spurious mileage is what produced the high average speed, since the GPS always gets the time in motion correct. (within a few seconds)

Ride Report - Monday Morning

2006-03-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.10 miles
Top Speed: 27.9 mph
Average Speed: 12.0 mph
Time on Bike: 55 min, 38 sec
Temperature: 40 degrees F
Weather: Last half of ride had very light rain

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 7
Joggers: 3
Cats: 2

Matt Details:
Weight: 244 lbs
Feels: The good kind of tired
Total 2006 Mileage: 660.33 miles
Total Time in the Saddle: 63 hours, 5 minutes
Average Miles per Day: 10.6

Well, I took last Thursday and Friday off riding, and took the bus into work. I also skipped my weekend training ride, to spend the weekend with the ladies. It was nice, and my legs needed the rest. I tried to ride yesterday, but couldn't shift. I made the mistake of putting the bike away wet last Wednesday when I came home, and the deraileurs and brakes are a little tight - they need to be cleaned, lubed and adjusted. I cleaned the bike off last night as best I could, and rode in this morning. My brakes really need to be adjusted. So I'm going over to Tomas' this evening so he can work on my bike and show me how to do it myself.

The plan for this week is to ride to and from work all week, then do 105 miles on Sunday, riding out to the decommissioned Trojan Nuclear Power Plant and back. I went from 54 miles to 74 miles without any issues, so it's time to see what a full century does to my body. I'll feel very justified getting a big chocolate ice cream on the way home.

A Tale of Two Bridges

2006-03-08T12:30:00.000-08:00

What a difference 65 years makes.

This is the Interstate Bridge, where I-5 crosses the Columbia River between Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington. The East span is the original bridge, constructed in 1917. That makes it 89 years old. It was designed in the era of the Model T Ford, a 1200-lb car with a 22hp engine. The matching span to the west of it was actually built more than 40 years later, in 1958. This bridge is fairly narrow for cars and trucks, but carries 3 lanes of traffic in either direction. Unless they have to raise the lift span for water traffic, in which case everything comes to a screeching halt.

It's not so friendly for bicycles.

We get to contend with this - a very narrow sidewalk added as an afterthought. If the width wasn't bad enough, it can get pretty windy while over the river, with the wind threatening to blow you into the rail or into the bridge supports (this almost happened to Tomas a month ago). Also, there's a bit of a hill, where barges and shorter ships can pass under the bridge without having to wait for the lift span. When going down the other side, one can pick up a fair amount of speed. Imagine negotiating this sidewalk at speed, and seeing it narrow with metal signals, gates and electrical control boxes at the lift span (avoiding these is why I have no pictures of them)

Ok, fast forward 65 years after the first bridge was completed, to 1982. Here's the bicyclist's new friend - the Glenn Jackson Bridge. Ugly as sin, but it has this really cool bike lane down the middle of the bridge! Here, look:

Here's the ramp on the Vancouver side, running up from the bike path next to SR-14 to the bridge level. Is that not cool?

The Vancouver side is at about 200' elevation, the Portland side is about 40' elevation, and the entire bridge is over 2 miles long. On a good day (without a headwind) you can cruise down in at 30 miles an hour or more while cars whiz by on either side at 55-75 mph.

Again, very cool.

Here's what it looks like from up on the bridge. Cars everywhere, but the bikes (and the occasional pedestrian) protected by solid concrete and steel. I love riding it, unless I have a serious headwind like I did last Sunday when I took these pics. I never got above 15 mph. Still, it's a really cool bridge.

At the end, the bike lane dips down into a trench between the bridge halves again, and ends in a solid wall.

Whoops!

Well, Ok - they give you a chance to take a hard 90 left rather than tumble over the fence and down onto Airport Way.

And did I mention the view? There wasn't one last Sunday, which is probably why I almost forgot, but you can see the airport, all up and down the Columbia, and a beautiful unobstructed view of Mt. Hood.

Which of course is why I like this bridge.

Ride Report - Wednesday Morning

2006-03-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 10.91 miles
Top Speed: 30.2 mph
Average Speed: 12.4 mph
Time on Bike: 00:52:37
Temperature: 42-43 degrees F
Weather: Raining (light)

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 5
Joggers: 3
Cats: 5

Matt Details:
Weight: Unknown - didn't step on scale this morning.
Feels: Legs are a bit tired, but ok.
Total 2006 Mileage: 638.47
Total Time in the Saddle: 61 hrs, 2 min.
Average Miles per Day: 15.96
Calories Consumed Tuesday: 2,850
Calories Burned Tuesday: 3,400 (approximate)

The ride went well, though I was warm at the end. I was cold in the house this morning and didn't want to be cold riding, so I wore an extra layer - shirt, sweatshirt, raingear on top; shorts, thermals and rain gear below. With the balaclava and gloves I stayed mostly toasty, especially on my two climbs. I normally climb 170' and drop 510' on the way in. On the way home, of course, these numbers are reversed. I got up to 30 mph on Oatfield, which is good for the rain - I don't go faster because I take the hairpin corner pretty slow (a wipeout there would be bad).

It's supposed to rain all day, so it'll be a wet commute home.

Highlights from Ride - Milwaukie

2006-03-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

Milwaukie, Oregon is the home of Dark Horse Comics, the third largest comic book company in the United States. This is their headquarters in Milwaukie.

Dark Horse was founded in the 1980's and takes it name from the fact that comics in those days were dominated by the two giants, Marvel and DC. It's funny - Marvel and DC have been bought and sold and the only original comics companies left are the independents, of which Dark Horse and Image are the largest.

This is Things From Another World - one of a chain of comics stores in the Portland area. There aren't as many of them as there once were - I think 3 are left in Portland, but they were the start of Dark Horse Comics - Mike Richardson, a PSU grad founded the chain, and when he got dissatisfied with the quality of comics out there, he started Dark Horse. DH was a pretty small company until they started going after and getting the big media licenses - Aliens, Predator, etc. Then came the critically acclaimed comics that put DH on the map, like Concrete, Hellboy and Sin City. Now DH is the big company, and TFAW is a subsidiary. Anyway, this is the Milwaukie store, which has lots of cool stuff and reminds me a lot of Dave's Comics in Royal Oak, Michigan (which closed in December 2000).

This is downtown Milwaukie. Pretty peaceful, isn't it? Another slice of small town Americana. Not much here, especially considering Milwaukie has 20,000 residents. Most of the city extends out to the northeast, and in fact the main police station is out that way and no longer downtown where City Hall is.

My wife and I used to live in this area, a few blocks away behind Milwaukie High School (Go Mustangs!).

That's about it - I ride through this town every day. Other than the geekiness factor of living near the 3rd largest comics company, there's not too much exciting about it. Milwaukie has a few issues: opposing the Mal-Wart that they want to build in Eastmoreland (which may hurt downtown), building a new multi-use development near the library, rebuilding Hwy 99E which runs about a block west of all these pictures, debating whether to have their own fire department and thinking about annexing more of unincorporated Clackamas County (which doesn't want to be annexed). Oh, and fighting the proposed new Tri-Met transit center along Kellogg Lake (they may have succeded - the latest plans I've seen from Tri-Met show the center on the north end of Milwaukie in the Industrial area)

Ride Report - Tuesday Morning

2006-03-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.17 miles
Top Speed: unknown
Average Speed: 12.3 mph
Time on Bike: 00:54:23
Temperature: 44 degrees F

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 0* (see text)
Joggers: 0
Cats: 3

Matt Details:
Weight: Did not measure this morning
Feels: Legs are still a bit tired. Muscles felt a little sore from Sunday's ride.

It was very light on the Springwater trail today - I saw one guy walking 2 small dogs (I don't count walkers) and 3 of the 4-5 cats that frequent the food bowls under the Ross Island Bridge. I sort of saw a bike. What I mean by that is I usually only count people that pass me on the trail or that I pass. About 1/4 mile from the north end of the trail I spotted a bike in my mirror starting to overtake me. By the end of the trail, he had not overtaken me, so he technically doesn't count.

Still feeling a bit sore from Sunday's ride - it was almost 75 miles after all. I haven't decided yet whether to do 60 miles this weekend or 90. Take it easy, or make sure I can do a century. I'm still looking at riding the Pre-Season Century from Bend to Prineville and back. I'm a little wary because I don't know how long the course support will be in place, and I'm still pretty slow. It's flat, and with the wind on the way out but against the wind on the way back. Add in the "anything goes" weather and you get an interesting ride.

One Long Ride

2006-03-06T12:15:00.000-08:00

74.5 Miles on a Sunday. Click on the pic for an enlarged view of the route. I started from home in Oak Grove and headed on my normal route towards work, through Milwaukie, Sellwood, and up the Springwater Trail. on the Esplanade, I continued up to the Steel Bridge and instead of crossing to the west side of the river, I went up the ramp and over the UP tracks to Rose Quarter. Then up Interstate Avenue into North Portland and the Kenton neighborhood, through Delta Park and across the Columbia to Jantzen Beach. I crossed the I-5 bridge to Vancouver, then parallelled SR-14 down to the Glenn Jackson bridge (I-205) and across to Portland. I continued down the I-205 bikepath with a short detour to 7-11 at SE Stark and 92nd to meet Tomas. Tomas got a flat while waiting for me, and had forgotten spare tubes, so I continued on. (He was about a mile from his new apartment, and was only going to ride with me a few miles - if I'd gone with him to Performance Bicycle and waited while he took care of the flat, it would have taken us at least 45 minutes)

When the I-205 path met the Springwater Trail, I turned east and headed out to Boring. I got to Boring at 6:15pm and 55 miles on the GPS. The sun had set, so I turned on the trusty Trail Rat and headed back through Gresham. It took me about an hour to ride the 12 miles back to the I-205 trail (2 miles of the trail from Gresham to Boring are unpaved), and I headed south to Hwy 224. A quick jaunt over the 82nd Ave bridge and a turn onto SE Johnson and I was basically home. I timed it pretty good - the Trail Rat's battery died just as I was ascending the final hill on the way home.

Because I had to detour through Vancouver to find batteries for the camera, my 70 mile training ride had nearly 5 miles tacked onto it, but it went well and I didn't have to wuss out and call for a pickup to get home. I *did* walk my bike up the final hill, partially because I didn't take Thiessen and the road I did take turned out to be even steeper. The ride went well - no flats, new places I hadn't been before, a total time of almost 7 hours in the saddle, and I even saw a pair of deer in Gresham. In fact, here's the total of animals I saw:

Deer: 2
Horses: 3
Cats: 5
Dogs: 7
DLOs: 4 (Dog-Like Objects) (really, can you consider a Pomeranian to be a *dog*?)
Rabbits: 11

Most of the rabbits came out after dark - they weren't expecting a nearly-silent "not-car" to come speeding by with a bright light. I also saw numerous birds and heard a couple thousand frogs on the way back. (In fact, in one spot I think half the couple thousand frogs were all in the same 1/4 mile stretch - a cacophany of frogs)

Next weekend, I may try for 90, or do any easy 60. In two weeks I want to try to ride the Pre-Season Century in Bend (Bend to Prineville and back). I don't know how well that'll work since I'm still pretty slow.

Ride Report - Friday Morning

2006-03-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.63 miles *see text*
Top Speed: 32.2 mph (down the Oatfield Hill - WHEE! Got video)
Average Speed: 32.2 mph
Time on Bike: 01:03:26 *see text*
Temperature: 34-37 degrees F (warming up rapidly)

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 10
Joggers: 1
Cats: 1

Matt Details:
Weight: 246 lbs.
Feels: Tired. My muscles are getting sore.

I made it down to Oatfield, and almost halfway to Concord before I realized that I'd forgotten my keys. So I had to ride back, uphill, which added to my mileage and messed up my time.

Otherwise, despite being a bit cold it was a beautiful day to ride. I'm using the pictures to make a "Ride to Work" post.

Ride Report - Thursday Evening, March 3rd

2006-03-02T21:39:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: about 12 miles
Top Speed: unknown
Average Speed: about 8.5 mph
Time on Bike: at least 1.5 hours
Temperature: 50 degrees dropping down to 46 degrees F

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 10
Joggers: 2
Rollerskaters: 1
Cats: 1

This was the last commute home with Tomas - he moves out tomorrow and I am going to New Horizons tonight before going home. Rough ride. We stopped at River City Bicycles so Tomas could pick up a new cassette (his old one had too many teeth). This was for his road bike, he was riding the mountain bike. On 17th on the way home, Tomas dropped a couple gears really quick to get more pedalling power, and broke the chain, banging his knee on the pedal and nearly wiping out in the process. After making sure he was ok, I gave him my transit pass and kept riding home (he was only 1/4 mile from the transit center). When I got to my home street, the bus he was supposed to be on passed me without stopping. Cellphone time. I called him up, and the bus had left without him all of a sudden. (This happens sometimes with Tri-Met - the driver leaves the bus off, goes and does something, comes back, gets in the bus, starts it up and takes off. They're supposed to wait 2-3 minutes after starting the bus)

So, I ended up riding the last bit to the house, getting Tomas' car and taking it down to meet him at G.I. Joe's and taking him back to the house. So, with all this, what should have been a 90 minute trip home ended up being 150 minutes. Ugh.

Ride Report - Thursday Morning March 2nd

2006-03-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 10.84 miles
Top Speed: 32.1 mph (screaming down Oatfield on the hill)
Average Speed: 13.0 mph (a new best)
Time on Bike: 00:50:09 (a new best)
Temperature: 45 degrees F

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 5
Joggers: 2
Cats: 2

We had a 14 mph tailwind this morning, which is why Tomas and I made such good time. Tomas is moving this weekend, so next week is the start of my loner rides into work - bummer. OTOH, I don't have to feel guilty about holding Tomas up if I'm running late.

My legs are sore today - don't know if it's due to working so hard, glycogen depletion or lack of sleep. So I'm trying to address all three, and I've toned down my effort on the climbs.

Ride Report - Wednesday Evening

2006-03-01T19:24:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 10.95 miles
Top Speed: 28.2 mph
Average Speed: 9.6 mph
Time on Bike: 00:59:28
Temperature: 55 degrees F

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 19
Joggers: 5
Cats: 0

A dry ride home, but boy, am I tired. I'm going to bed early tonight and hopefully getting some good rest.

Year-to-Date Stats

2006-03-01T11:35:00.000-08:00

As of 9am, March 1st, 2006:

Total Mileage: 461.76 miles
Average Speed: 10.5 mph
Total Time, Average Ride: 01:14:12
Total Time on Bike: 44:31:24
Estimated Total Vertical Climb, all rides: 18,000' (+/- 1,000')

Total number of rides: 38 (listed as 37 in my spreadsheet - I forgot to separate out the ride to REI yesterday)
Shortest Ride: 2.38 miles
Longest Ride: 52.16 miles
Normal Commute: 10.9 miles one-way
High Temperature: 54 degrees F
Low Temperature: 26 degrees F (about 18-19 with wind chill)

All in all, not bad. If I keep up my current schedule, I'll have more than 6,000 miles for the year when I'm done.

Ride Report - Wednesday Morning

2006-03-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 10.89 miles
Top Speed: 27.4 mph
Average Speed: 11 mph
Time on Bike: 00:59:28
Temperature: 41 degrees F

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 5
Joggers: 2
Cats: 2

No Tomas - he has the day off work. I need to get used to it anyway - once he moves out to his new apartment, I won't have a riding buddy in the mornings. I stole the batteries out of the stereo remote (which we almost never use) for my GPS, since the AA's in there were dead and we don't have any in the house. Which means I'll know if my wife is reading my blog because she'll say something to me about that. :-D

My muscles are tired, from overwork, from not enough sleep, etc. I'm pretty sure I'll be turning in early tonight. I'm back off caffeine since the weekend, except for the very occasional piece of chocolate (mostly protein bars, when I eat them).

The Ride Home, Part 2

2006-02-28T20:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here's the promised part 2. When we left off, I was crossing the Hawthorne Bridge. This picture here shows me after crossing the bridge and heading towards OMSI - the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. OMSI is built into an old PGE powerplant.

That bridge is the Marquam Bridge, where I-5 crosses from the east side of the Willamette River to the west side. The bridge is double-decked - the lower deck is I-5 South, the upper deck is I-5 North. The line of people walking across the path are a bunch of rowers. On most days with nice weather like this (even if this day was a bit cold), you can usually see at least one rowing team out on the river.

OMSI is also home to the USS Blueback (SS-581), the last diesel submarine in the US Navy before it was decommissioned in 1991. The submarine was given to the museum in 1994 and is a permanent exhibit.

The Blueback was the submarine used in the film "The Hunt for Red October" for certain scenes with the USS Dallas, including the "emergency blow" scene where the submarine comes up out of the water.

I turned the camera a bit to get the pic of the submarine. You have to watch out in this area because during the nicer parts of the year there can be a lot of kids in this area.

After OMSI is the home of the Portland Opera. This building used to be the television station KPTV (Channel 12) until about a year ago. I didn't even know the TV station was moving - just all of a sudden it was gone, and the Portland Opera had moved in.

Right after the Opera the sidewalk makes a sharp left turn near the Portland Spirit dock and dumps you into a cul-de-sac in an industrial area near the railroad tracks. This is the first of several "gaps" in the Springwater Corridor, which starts at the Eastbank Esplanade (basically at the Hawthorne Bridge) and ends in Boring.

No, I'm not making that up - Boring, Oregon. It's a small town 4-5 miles out past Gresham. The path continues as a bike line on the road from the Opera's offices towards the railroad tracks of the Oregon Pacific Railroad. Just before the tracks, I turn right towards the Ross Island Sand & Gravel cement plant.

You won't see it here, but there is a sign proclaiming the start of the Springwater Trail. (You can actually see one of the posts holding up the sign in the next photo. The sign always reminds me of the sign for Jurassic Park.

I've never liked riding by the cement plant (off to the right of this photo). It's smelly, it's noisy, and there's frequently grit in the air and stuff spraying over the path. The path runs between the plant and the railroad tracks. Fortunately the plant only extends 100 yards or so. way off in the distance here is the Ross Island Bridge, where Powell crosses the Willamette.

One nice thing about the Springwater Trail through this area is that the road surface is brand new and smooth. Since our winters are so much milder than my former home state of Michigan, it also has no potholes.

Here's what most of the Springwater Trail looks like - long, straight, and NO CARS. No crossings to have to worry about. Great views of the river, too. This is the segment where Tomas sometimes breaks off in a sprint. After this point, the trail turns through a gentle "S" curve past the operations of Ross Island Sand & Gravel.

Once past Ross Island S&G, the wetlands start. If you come through later than this, after the sun sets, the noise of all the frogs can get almost deafening.

Ok - here I am, in my dorky riding outfit. I don't have a spare $500 to drop on cycling clothes right now, so I have an eclectic mix of equipment.

I'm wearing my balaclava, because it's cold out. Also my bike helmet and my climbing headlamp. You can't see the rest of it, but I'm also wearing thermal underwear, a T-shirt, a sweatshirt and a fleece vest, plus sweat shorts and sweat pants. Remember, it's something like 30 degrees out, and in the 20s with wind chill.

Yeah, even 250 pounds doesn't insulate well.

Sunset over the Willamette as old Sol starts to sink below the ridge of the western hills. Along the river in the background are a bunch of houses on the water. There are a number of waterbourne housing communities on both the Willamette and the Columbia. I don't know exactly why people buy these with the risk of a repeat of the 1996 floods and the drought from a few years ago lowering the river level to the point where the houses almost settled on the river bottom. (which, BTW is bad - it can crack the centerbeam of the house, or the keel or whatever they call it on those)

We're well past the Oaks Bottom Wildlife Refuge trail at this point, and approaching Oaks Amusement Park, now 100 years old and the last remaining of 7 original amusement parks around the city.

At this point the trail starts to slope gently upward, and my speed which until now has averaged about 13-14 mph drops down to 10 or less over about a 1/4 mile. We're now almost 3 miles from the start of the Springwater Trail at the cement plant. Oaks park is where Portland's steam locomotives were kept before restoration.

Ahead is the Sellwood Bridge, the southernmost of Portland's bridges across the Willamette River. The Sellwood is a really old bridge in poor condition. Recently truck traffic was restricted and the busses had to be re-routed. The bridge has too many cracks, and ODOT is debating whether to reconstruct it or build a new one. The Sellwood Bridge was built in 1925, and links Portland's Sellwood neighborhood with southwest Portland (the John's Landing area) and Lake Oswego (a prosperous Portland suburb). After passing under the bridge, the trail path abruptly ends and dumps us into the Sellwood neighborhood.

And through the neighborhood demonstration project on SE 8th and onto this stretch of street.

This street trackage is where I had my recent accident, a week or so before this photo was taken when it was dark and raining. Where the tracks curve left is the road I take out to 17th. When I had to cross the tracks again I was at too shallow an angle and fell. Fortunately it was cold and raining at the time, so I had three layers of clothes, including my rain gear, and leather gloves. I was slightly bruised, but no cuts, scrapes or abrasions.

Here is where the old trolley car barn was located. It's now being turned into condominiums. I keep riding down this lightly trafficked street until I get to SE 17th Avenue. Turning left on 17th I cross the railroad tracks and head past the warehouses of north Milwaukie.

I wanted to show a couple pictures of downtown Milwaukie, but it was getting too late in the day and my pictures were getting blurrier. On 17th we lose all the altitude we gained in Sellwood. The Springwater trail averages about 40' above sea level. In Sellwood, we climb up to about 120'. On 17th we then drop back down to 40' again and end up at this intersection:

SE 17th and McLoughlin.

At this point, 17th is 2 lanes and makes a sharp turn from south to east. We're now facing east and I'm waiting my turn to cross. The right lane is right turn only - I am in the left lane, which goes either left or straight. Once the oncoming traffic gets its red light I'll have my green. From here it's a short ride through Milwaukie to Lake Road, which runs uphill again, gaining 60' or so before the intersection with Oatfield.

On Oatfield, the road drops sharply down to Kellogg Creek (about 35' above sea level) and then goes sharply (a 10% grade) up 150' to where it meets with Park Ave. I don't like crossing Park because there's always a lot of traffic there and I'm always moving at a very low speed and usually out of breath. One day I'll be in better shape and it hopefully won't bother me as much.

After Park the road levels out and continues on a couple of miles past Courtney, Oak Grove, Concord and Theissen. After that, is....

Home. Kind of blurry, but there you are.

Ride Report - Tuesday Evening

2006-02-28T20:37:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 11.07 miles
Top Speed: 21.4 mph
Average Speed: 9.4 mph
Time on Bike: 01:10:40
Temperature: 46

Springwater Trail:
Bicycles: 13
Joggers: 4
Cats: None

Well, I was wrong about the rain - it wasn't done. Right after I walked out of my building, it started dripping. By the time I met Tomas at Waterfront Park, it was starting to actually rain. We mounted the new front fenders on the bikes and headed home.

You can tell that the weather here in Portland is getting better - there are more people out and about in the evening. The Springwater Trail section along the river had 13 cyclists and 4 joggers, compared to 10 and 2 the day before and 0 last week when we had that cold snap.

Anyway, of course it stopped raining about 20 minutes after we got back to the house. That's Portland for you.

Ride Report - Tuesday, February 28th

2006-02-28T18:53:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Distance: 12.38 miles (including a lunchtime trip to REI
Top Speed: 21.9 mph (flying down Oatfield at the hill)
Average Speed: 11.4 mph
Time on Bike: 01:05:05
Temperature: 46 degrees F

On the Springwater Trail:
Bicyclists: 3
Joggers: 2
Cats: 0

Notes: Lots of rain. A steady rain, in Michigan it would be considered heavy drizzle or light rain. About 2/10 of an inch in the 1 hour I was riding. Again it was kind of messy - the fenders I bought yesterday at REI didn't fit either my bike or Tomas' bike, so back they went. I had to wear my hiking backpack with me to work, because it's the only thing large enough to hold the fenders and keep them from getting all muddy on the trip downtown (REI doesn't like to take back muddy merchandise - go figure). My Vaude backpack has an integral raincover, which today was invaluable. Riding home will be easier - it looks like the rain is done for the day, at least until sunset.

I know I still need to finish my "ride home" series of pictures - hopefully I'll do that today or tomorrow.

2006-02-27T11:55:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Mileage: 11.02
Top Speed: 27.9 mph (flying down Oatfield at the hill)
Time on Bike: 00:57:15
Temperature: 40 degrees F

On the Springwater Trail:
Bicyclists: 5
Joggers: 0
Cats: 4

Pretty normal commute in, except Tomas got a flat and had to spend 15 minutes changing it. I hung by rather than continuing on, and was a few minutes late for work.

Ride Report - Thursday Feb 23rd

2006-02-23T18:02:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Mileage: 11.20
Top Speed: 31.8mph (flying down Oatfield at the hill)
Time on Bike: 00:56:03
Temperature: 45 degrees F

On the Springwater Trail:
Bicyclists: 5
Joggers: 2
Cats: 3

For future reference: on my commuter rides, I count the number of joggers and cyclists I pass (or who pass me) on the Springwater Trail - specifically the 3 mile long section that runs next to the Oregon Pacific Railroad tracks.
Near the north end, somone has placed about a half dozen food dishes next to the railroad tracks, almost directly underneath the Ross Island Bridge (Powell). At first, there was a black cat that came and ate the food. Now, there are five, and four of them look to be kids of the first one. All five are black as coal. The other week I saw all five of them, and I was worried that the recent cold snap might have taken them. Today I saw three, so I'll have to see if they're still around. It's sad that someone is feeding these wild cats (Portlanders are BIG on cats), because there are already too many strays and when they're caught they are inevitably put down.

2006-02-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

Ride Details:
Mileage: 10.97
Top Speed: 31.5 mph (flying down Oatfield at the hill)
Average Speed: 12.6 mph
Time on Bike: 00:52:17
Temperature: 43 degrees F

On the Springwater Trail:
Bicyclists: 2
Joggers: 4
Cats: 0

A Typical Ride Home

2006-02-14T12:27:00.000-08:00

I've been riding for more than 2 weeks now, and thought I'd post a few pics of a typical ride home for me.
Here's an overview map of the first few pictures.

#1: Leaving Bike Locker
#2: Heading East on Burnside
#3: Heading East on Ash
#4: Entering Tom McCall Waterfront Park

BTW, Google Earth is a wonderful tool for doing stuff like this.

This is the view right after I leave my bike locker in downtown Portland. My building is back behind me, and I'm headed west. I'm about to turn right onto Broadway and travel one block before turning onto Burnside and heading towards the river.

Mary's Club is straight ahead in this picture, it's one of 3 or 4 strip clubs in downtown Portland (there's one right across the street from my building in what used to be a Cuban restaurant) Portland has the highest per-capita number of bookstores, coffee shops, and X-rated establishments in the US, which pretty much describes Portlanders: eat, drink (we also have over 200 microbrews), read and have sex.

I've just turned off Broadway and onto Burnside. The building ahead and to the right is the Unico US Bancorp Tower, where I work. It doesn't look like much from this position, but it's actually 42 stories tall. I work on 15, which is actually the 14th floor because the building has no floor 13.

Burnside is one of the busiest streets in Portland, and the intersection I'm about to go through is one of the 3 most dangerous in the city for pedestrians. (It's not so bad for bicycles)

I usually ride about 3-4 blocks down this road and then go right a couple blocks before

continuing east to Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Ok, in this third picture, I'm on SW Ash, heading east towards the Willamette River, which is only a few blocks away. We're about 20' above sea level here at best. The City of Portland rests at sea level at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. The Willamette remains at sea level up past downtown and the Columbia sits at sea level for more than 90 miles from Astoria all the way up past Troutdale into the mouth of the Columbia River Gorge. The rest of the city not adjacent to the rivers ranges from 20' above sea level in the downtown areas to 1,100' in the western hills near downtown and the volcanic hills to the east like Mount Scott.

Picture #4 - I'm entering Waterfront Park now, and directly ahead of me is the Willamette River (pronounced Will-LAMB-it). On the other side is Portland's Eastside warehouse district, which is sort of undergoing a revitalization right now. If there weren't clouds in the distance on the right, you'd be able to see the peak of Mount Hood, Oregon's highest mountain at 11,240'.

Ok, so once I get into the park, I turn right (south) and start heading down to the Hawthorne Bridge so I can get across the river. Portland is called the city of bridges, and for good reason: just by car alone, you can cross the Willamette on the St. John's Bridge, the Fremont Bridge, the Broadway Bridge, The Steel Bridge, the Burnside Bridge, the Morrison Bridge, the Hawthorne Bridge, the Marquam Bridge, the Ross Island Bridge or the Sellwood Bridge.

Here I am riding through the park, with the Morrison bridge coming up ahead. I ride under the Morrison Bridge and cross at the Hawthorne near the south end of the park.

This is a rare view of the park - green grass and no obstructions. It only lasts until May 1st. On or around May 2nd, a zillion trucks come in and set up tents, rides and other items for Portland's annual Cinco de Mayo fest. After that, the grass is trampled into mud. Every 2 weeks after that, someone sets up for another big event, from early May all the way to Labor Day. By that time, any remaining grass is brown or dead, and the city re-seeds everything. By late October we've gotten rain again and the grass seed usually grows back out.

Here I am at the Hawthorne bridge. I'm now about 20' above the park after having successfully navigating a circular on-ramp up to the bike lane. A few years ago, they rebuilt the sidewalks on the sides of the Hawthorne Bridge and made them much more pedestrian and bike-friendly.

Once I get some pictures of my improvised camera mount, I'll put them up on the blog. Basically, a screw and a couple of nuts, washers and a wingnut are holding the camera on my handlebars, allowing me to take all these pictures while riding.

Part Two coming up later!

-MPP

Cycling Again!

2006-02-10T11:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I used to be a fair-weather cyclist. That is, I started riding again, but only in nice weather and only in the daylight. I started back up again last year in late spring and rode through the summer until September. After that, I kind of tweaked my back again and only rode in a couple more times in September and October before calling it a year. I thought that would be it until after April or so of this year, when it was light enough for me to ride to and from work.

I thought wrong.

I've been wanting to ride the bike, and get back to losing weight. I had gotten up to 260 last year before I started riding. I'd dropped down to around 238-240 by the time I stopped, and promptly worked my way back up to 250 as of a couple of weeks ago. Something needed to be done, so something I did - I started riding again 2 weeks ago. Tomas dragged me out in the early morning to ride into work and stop for Breakfast on the Bridges, which is a monthly thing put on by the local bike commuting advocacy group "SHIFT to Bikes!". We then went to the "I Share the Road" rally put on by the City of Portland. Somone even caught Tomas and I in this picture. (I'm the guy in the back in the center of the photo wearing the gray rain jacket. Tomas is to my right, wearing a proper reflective yellow rain jacket. Another picture with us is here, where you see our backs (I have a blue crate mounted to the back of my bike).

So, I took a couple rides to and fro in the rain, starting exactly 2 weeks ago. I rode 3 days last week, and 4 days this week. Last week was cold and rain, this week was cold and dry, though the last day or so added high winds to the mix, and the temperature is warming up. It may be nearly 60 degrees when I ride home tonight. I'm borrowing the rain gear I'm using, and Tomas gave me a light for my bike (a REAL light, to see rather than be seen).

So, in 14 days I've ridden 168 miles at an average speed of 10.4 mph. That's a total of 16 hours and 20 minutes in the saddle, at an average of one hour and one minute per trip.

Not bad, for a guy who's over 34% bodyfat.

The real question is: can I meet my riding goals for the year? I plan to do a couple of Centurys (a century, for you non-cyclists, is a 100-mile ride) this year, and those plus the training rides plus my commute should allow me to rack up about 6,500 miles on the bike this year.

Ooh-Rah! (as the USMC says)
Us former Navy guys would say "Sierra Hotel".

New Blog

2006-02-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

Ok - new blog. I've destroyed the old ones, either because I wasn't updating them or because they had identifying information that I didn't want other people to have. So, here's the new blog - dedicated to my travels on foot and on bike. Maybe I'll throw in the occasional other item from time to time.