Kind of slow, but I expected that - the chipseal certainly didn't help my pace. Yes, I managed to pick a route with no climbing, yet still got to go downhill fast - my kind of ride!Ĭhecked my stats when I got home - I was out for just under 2 hours and rode 27 miles. and there was one pretty steep downhill on the way back. Braking and shifting suddenly became a much more difficult proposition. I have Raynaud's and cold weather does a number on the circulation to my extremities, and I have yet to find the perfect glove - I had on my warmest, Descente Wombats, but they were not doing the trick. What WAS worrying me was that my hands had suddenly gone completely stiff and numb. I decided not to go all the way home on the trail - out and back rides are SO boring - and so turned off about halfway back and took city streets the rest of the way home - it snowed again briefly, but there was very little traffic, so I was not worried. It didn't snow for long, but it sure was pretty while it did - nice, big fluffy flakes. On the way home, the snow started falling fairly heavily, but the ground was far too warm for it to stick. My goal was to go to Gresham and then turn around and come back, but I stopped at Paesano Park, or whatever it's called (where the Barlow Century starts) because it was starting to snow and I was getting a headache from bouncing on the chipseal (my favorite part of the Springwater is when it crosses the city line into Gresham and the pavement turns to nice, smooth asphalt.
Springwater Corridor, a local Rails to Trails project. So I decided to take a solo ride on the flattest course I know, the Plus, I know myself too well - if I rode with a group I would kill myself to keep up, even if my leg were screaming at me to stop. Yes, my years of living in Illinois and Vermont DO make me feel a tad bit superior in that arena, thank you very much.
I considered going out to Hillsboro for the Velo ride, but the forecast was for snow above 500 feet and I didn't feel like driving my car over the SW hills with all the Portland numbskulls who don't know how to drive in snow. I had done 30 minutes on a stationary bike on Thursday with no ill effect, and so figured I was ready to try something short and flat. I may not be ready to ride it more than 30 miles, and those would have to be flat, but at least I won't be forced to sit and stare at it with unrequited longing.Īnyway, today I went out for my first REAL bike ride in 5 weeks. Let's put it this way - by the time I take delivery of the Heliotrope Wonder, I will be ready to ride it. By this time it had started sprinkling again, so it was a good time to end the ride and head home!Īfter a hot bath and a hot cup of tea, I was thawed out enough to make dinner - Roasted Butternut Squash Soup from the Vegan With A Vengeance Cookbook, and whole wheat "no knead" bread. It turned out to be all of about 6 blocks from the cafe. We stopped for hot cocoa and grilled cheese at the Daily Market,Īnd then we went searching for the Hollywood Max stop so Lynne could get back over the hill to home. It links Willamette and Columbia Boulevards, and then continues on past Columbia Boulevard to some really interesting wetlands, and finally to the Smith & Bybee Lakes wetlands.įrom there, we rode along Marine Drive to Kelly Point Park, the westernmost part of the City of Portland, which is at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers.įrom Kelly Point Park, we rode through an industrial wasteland characterized by freight shipping terminals, back through North Portland and then through the Alameda district (Stately Mansions "R" Us) to Hollywood. This one wound through North Portland to a multi-use path called The Peninsula Crossing Trail.
I am still not ready to ride up "real" hills, so I chose another of the flattest routes I could find. Right when Lynne was about to leave her house for mine, it started snowing.Ĥ5 minutes later, my doorbell rang, and there she was, in one of her second-warmest jerseys. Little did we realize that the temps weren't likely to rise much at all. Īnyway, we got a late start because we wanted to let the temps rise high enough so that black ice wouldn't be a problem. Sort of like the country mouse cyclist comes to the big city, she said, after I nearly gave her a heart attack with an abrupt turn through a bicycle pass-through she didn't realize existed. Today Lynne came over to my side of the river for a ride.