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.

Ride Report - Thursday Morning

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

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

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.

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

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

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!