OUCH!

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?

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.