Breakfast on the Bridges

A great way to start a Friday. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=je4hzlw5K8g , VERY Portland!

I attended this month's and the camera crew must have gotten there after I left. I didn't get a late to work slip.

Ronde PDX - http://www.rondepdx.com/

I did the Ronde PDX ride yesterday. Was nervous getting ready. Left Sellwood about 9:15AM after a quick stop at the Ugly Mug. Caught up with the Sellwood Club and was ready to ride at 10 AM at NW 31st/Industrial. After >7,000 feet of climbing and nearly as many calories on a 5+ hour ride, we made it to Council Crest.

I went out like a lion and finished like a lamb with about 7 miles to go. I was surprised they took us over trails and some that didn't seem like a very good idea on my carbon fiber skinny tire steed.

Couldn't make the SW College hill climb, but did manage to finish the one with 23% grades. I don't even remember the name of the street because I don't ever want to go back there. Okay it was Brynwood. As Drew said, we should go back and slay the dragon which was SW College... he didn't make it either.

In my defense (for being called a whiner) and not obeying Rule 5 (harden up), I did spread barkdust and was really sore.

Funny post on the ride from Old Nevermore

Here's a video of the ride: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cbvQqssD_jI

Lexington Street Block Party

Why on earth didn't we do this the first year we were here! We finally got around to having a Block Party. We had a great time with our keg, the band, and games for the kids that we didn't play because they were too busy enjoying having full range of the street. It was such a great way to spend the Saturday.

Peter's First Century

Yes, 100 miles by bike. I was pretty excited for the challenge and didn't take my camera, but luckily this person did.

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=775635&code=69503206a037f2de8a5d29c2e10a8c82

Grand Floral Parade

This Saturday, we rode in the parade with the Mayor's contingent of biking staff. The announcers didn't really call us staff probably because that might sound like we were "on the job" as opposed to just there having a good time. We rolled in and the first float we came across was this one from the Vancouver/Washougal folks and their princesses. It was pretty neat and the girls really liked it. There were lady bugs on it and that definitely caught her eye. We arrived with enough time to get sunscreen on and decorate our bikes with red ribbon and flowers provided by the organizers. The girls got a kick out of the flowers on their bikes, although Abby didn't like the rose that attached to her helmet (it was poky).
Susan is noticeably absent in the pictures because she was at the beach with Sheila enjoying some time away. The 4 mile ride was pretty slow going with lots of stops for the trains and the performances of the various bands that were in front of us. All in all a good experience, one I hadn't done for almost 20 years.

The Alaska Airlines / Horizon Air float was pretty neat, it had the Made in Oregon, White Stag sign as well as the Portland sign that signifies the Theater on Broadway.

Bike Commute to Abby's School on Sellwood Boulevard

I couldn't believe it on Monday as I was taking Abby to school in the morning, I was being screamed at on Sellwood Boulevard while biking side by side with her. The person in the car was yelling to get out of her way and to "teach my kid to do something productive" and to "get out of the lane" (there's no lane "there" to go into).

I am not sure what my point is other than to share with you that this is part of the reality of what cyclists have to deal with. I had another experience on SE Stark Street awhile back where a person in their car honked and sped by Abby and I (while she was on the tag along) when we were going the speed limit (downhill)!

If it weren't for the politics being in the right place while I work for the City, I wouldn't be fortunate enough to work on making our bicycle infrastructure better every day. Some of my staff have suggested that we are discriminating against modes other than bicycles. To that I counter that there are so many facilities that are the reverse, that we need to work toward balancing the infrastructure.

I am hopeful to make all of the members of our community enticed to try to put themselves on a bike to experience life on two wheels.

With that being the goal, I would hope to have fewer experiences like the one we did this morning.

Filmed by Bike 2010

Neighbor Mike was on the Filmed By Bike Jury, so we had another reason to go to the show.
It's a great excuse to get out with our friend, biking over to the Clinton Street Theater.
This year was a little more difficult then last year, as Susan was still recouping from the broken elbow. I was fighting a sinus infection... Friday was a good day in my rollercoaster of sinus headaches, so I ended up biking Susan there with her sitting on the back of the Xtracycle. Sadly, this is probably as close as she would get me to her motorcyclin' roots.
So, FBB had a slightly expanded street party this year, complete with a number of bike dance troupes and what not. The evening was beautiful and the crowds were packed in there pretty good enjoying the offerings of Fat Tire Amber Ale. Surprised that there isn't someone locally that's as committed, but I guess that's business.
The Clinton is a good venue and the closure of the street makes the night complete. The films were enjoyable, I wouldn't say they were as good as last year, because last year was really funny and I really left impressed, but perhaps the memories haven't sank in like good comedy tends to. There were a couple of really good spots on the FBB site including the viral hit Performance, but also some thought provoking ones from StreetFilms on Copenhagen and this little one by Carl from the BTA. New Belgium's offering of I'm on a Bike
was good and there was a parody of Hitler that made fun of the local bike culture. A little celebration of Portland's wierdness was included in Everyman's Bagpipe Unicycle Trip.

When we came out of the event after the films, the DJ was playing Bollywood music pretty hard. I ended up catching up with a few friends while the tunes were blaring, so it was nice to connect all the people and the scene.

Just found Neighbor Mike's video from last year of FBB here. It was definitely a much rowdier scene this year, complete with lots more dancing, drinking, and debauchery.

Morning Commute for the Kids with Susan's Broken Elbow

Susan's broken elbow has presented challenges to our initiative to be car free in our daily lives. Abigail has often been riding with neighbor Mike because she drives to pick her up after school. The xtracycle is a great tool for getting the kids there quickly and they seem to be proliferating throughout Portland as the bakfiets alternative.
I have been taking up the slack some days to get Amelia to school, riding the cruiser with the trail-a-bike. She sings to me as I take her to school and since it is only three days a week, I try to take her when I don't have morning meetings at the signal shop. It's been nice to get more time with the morning routine and nice that I am not travelling.

De Ronde Van Oeste

The website is http://www.rondepdx.com/ and apparently the ride isn't going to happen this year. With 8,000 feet of climbing in 48 miles it sounds like a grueling ride that would be a lot of fun.

Great article on Portland Travel via Bike

Portland Travel by Bike is a great article sharing the Portland Cycling scene with folks that might overlook a destination such as this place we call home.

Portland Hotel Recommendations

I got a request for recommendations, so I thought I would blog my response which I thought was well reasoned and hip :)

The Ace Hotel is very cool and right in the middle of everything downtown. Very eclectic and fun. The Jupiter Hotel is across the river and the hippest hotel in town.

McMenamins operates several hotels that are reclaimed from previous uses (poor farm, school building, etc) and all have breweries included in the same building. They feature options for European style lodging and would be less expensive (shared bathrooms are an option).

Bicycle Boulevard on Spokane Street

 
Portland's push toward the 25% of trips made by bike took a small step forward in the Sellwood neighborhood with the opening of the Spokane Street Bike Boulevard. The grand opening was on a rainy day and was kicked off with some words from the Neighborhood Association president and Mayor Sam. Amelia rode the trail a bike which was a good experience for her, so we had a great time.
  We celebrated with a bike ride through the neighborhood and a review f the project. The only problem was the project was quite complete because we had some significant weather over the past few weeks, which made it hard for the crews to get to the streets.
  It was nice to see Sue Keil, the head of PBOT and to hear Sam talk about the great ideas we have. After the ride, we had treats at the Sellwood Community Center and participated in a raffle. Abby won a new bike from Sellwood Cycle Repair, so that topped off the fun for the day.

Tour De Lab

 
This is the ride that got Susan excited about road riding. She participated last year and the terrain was challenging for anyone that hadn't prepared with some training rides. This year, she was ready with her Trek Madone and the training we did for Tour de Blast. Still, it was a good ride with effectively three 400' climbs in the 30 miles of the route. We also added the trip from home to the Lucky Lab's NW pub on 19th/Quimby.
 
The tour visits all three of Lucky Lab's three locations, hopefully they get a fourth pub so they can make the ride a little longer next year. In this economy, it might take for a few more years.
The view from Council Crest was especially sweet, considering that was the top spot on the route and it was mostly downhill from here. The route took us down SW Vista, which was past the school I went to prior to middle school (Ainsworth).
 
We did the ride with Tina Farley, her friend Chris (pictured), and Chris' friend. The ride was well attended and the Lucky Labs were'nt meant to hold that many people at one time, but they did okay and we weren't there that long.  

Portland Bridge Pedal

 
One of the best events in Portland because of the combination of local products (Widmer Root Beer, Nossa Familia coffee, and bike mechanics galore - too bad there wasn't Voodoo Doughnuts or Burgerville), bikes, and bridges. The Oregonian is one of the sponsors and calls the ride "Perfectly Portland".
It is a great ride and it is great to see that many families out on the streets. There was a great article about the event in the O this past week.
 
Marcy and her kids stayed the night at our place so we were on our way from Sellwood to downtown when Chris called saying they were at the meeting point! We met up with MK, Tym, Henry, Dad, Chris, Del, and Deb and we were off. It was a beautiful day for the ride and we were happy to have the opportunity to be carfree on the Interstate Freeway bridges. We completed the 6 Bridge Ride and I rode the bakfiets. Susan questioned whether I was going to have trouble and while I didn't think I would, her asking me a couple of times made me second guess myself. All told it was a 25-mile trip which makes me wonder what a bakfiet mile is equivalent to in road bike miles. The hill up from the Oaks Bottom to our house was a beast, I was really dragging because I hadn't eaten anything on the ride. Abby did great on the ride on the trail-a-bike and I was surprised that Ameila and Matthew didn't complain any during the ride about sitting too much in the bakfiets.
The ride went pretty smoothly, it has been customary in recent history to have something disrupting bicycle flow through key spots or turns and while there was reportedly a train near the end that disrupted folks considerably, we didn't experience any of the backups that has traditionally plagued the ride.
One mistake on my part was not charging the batteries to the cameras, I took some photos, but the cameras did not make it past the Marquam and I normally enjoy taking more throughout the event.
 

The Night Ride

In a day full of bicycling, we ended it with the Night Ride. The first part of the day was spent on a scavenger hunt put on by Pix Patissire on Bastille Day which was entitled a Gastronomical Tour of Portland. More on that later when I have the list of 30 things that we had to acquire for the event (know what epi is?, how about an absinthe spoon), yeah it was a little more difficult then we expected.
 
So we started and finished at Union Station in Downtown Portland. Last year there were more than 2,000 riders, I don't think they had that many this time, but it was a good time had by those that did participate. The route was a little sketchy because it took us on the Columbia Slough path which is not well lit at all and there were some rough patches on some of the routes along the way that made me question whether they wanted someone to flip over the handlebars like I did in 2004 on the ride. Not the best experience on a ride.
 
The ride did have a cool Filmed By Bike showing in North Portland at one of the parks, and they looped some of the tamer movies from past FBB shows together. One in particular was an animation short that looked like it was a stuffed doll and the 6-year old had a visit with a friend that could ride her bike and this 6-year old couldn't without training wheels. When the advanced riding friend helped take off the training wheels it made the timid girl not want to ride her bike for a long time. Sounds a bit familiar, although Abby rode her bike without any help for the first time last week. I got some video of that, which was really great to see. We haven't been worried about it and Susan and I were wondering if something just switched on in Abby related to physical activity, because she seems to be running a lot faster than I remember too.
 
So another successful ride on our season of bikes!

Multnomah County Bike Fair

We dropped the kids off with Grandma and Grandpa so we could attend the Multnomah County Bike Fair. This year was the first time, there was a kids tent but alas a mixture of overly progressive folks, with 12 kegs of beer on a hot day is probably not the best environment for kids.  
Patrick McMahon joined us and was brave enough to bring both kids, so I guess we missed out.  
The event was good overall except for the chicken jousting, where on the first heat we saw a participant (the one with a straw helmet on) go down with a skull fracture. This made the event seem misguided in the worst way, but the rest of the activities on the tennis courts were tame considering the crowd and some of the participants.
 
It was another excuse to bike around the City going on different routes, so all in all we enjoyed the unseasonably warm day in our fine City.
 

Sunday Parkways NoPo - 1st of 3 in 2009

I love Portland. The bike events in the summer can not be beat by any community. It used to be that there were a few here and there, now there are so many that you have to make tough choices.
We chose to do Sunday Parkways the day after Tour De Blast, which was a bit questionable, but Susan and I decided that it might be a good idea to get our legs moving again, so we didn't just bike from Dad's house in Overlook, we biked from Sellwood to the event stopping to pick up the folks for the ride.

We got a bit of a late start and it was fun to see so many people on the way there. We ran into Greg Raisman who works at the City and he wanted to show us the new park that's going in next to Beach School, part of my old stomping grounds.

We took it slow with the girls (Abby on the trail a bike and Mia in the Bakfiet), but still got to Pennisula Park to see the Sprockettes. Abby said she wanted to be a bike dancer and that one of the girls was dangerous because she was standing on an upside down bike.

We ate a quick bite to eat and then ran into some friends (Jamie and Annie Parks and Carl Sundstrom). It was good to see Carl and we kept bumping into him throughout the ride.

Susan remarked at how many people I ran into on the ride. I saw Ellen Vanderslice, Mia Birk, April Bertelsen, and a few others from the transportation world. Susan also spent a little time talking the our friends at the Bike Gallery, it's fun to hear her talk about her bike and how much she loves it. (That's the third birthday in a row we've bought her a bike... and she thinks I have too many :)

On the way home, I asked the girls to pose for a picture before we headed back home. It was a combination of my favorite things... my family, biking, and Portland. It's a wonderful world.

Urban Assault Ride

Yeah! I am a winner! I entered a contest for the Urban Assault Ride, which is a fun event put on by New Belgium Brewing. Neighbor Mike and I participated.
http://www.bikegallery.com/blog/2009/we-have-an-urban-assault-ride-haiku-contest-winner/

It was an event that combined a quiz at the start that gave clues about one secret checkpoint and required a multiple choice questionnaire that dictated your start time.

I have to admit, at the start I was pretty excited, not that I believed we could win, but there was this air of competition surrounding the kickoff that made it a fun experience. From Pionweer Square, we raced over the Hawthorne Bridge to Plan B (a bar that required a ring toss), with a quick stop at River City Bicycles, followed by a longer trip up to Whole Foods on NE Fremont (the first secret check point). The trip continued through Laurelhurst Park, Sunnyside School, Downtown Bike Gallery (the super secret spot), and finally Fat Tire Farm which is in NW Portland. When we completed that checkpoint, the guy said he hadn't seen many people with all their beads, so I thought we might have a shot at winning as we raced the three miles back to Pioneer Square for the big wheel/slip and slide finale. Alas, we should have chosen the opposite direction of travel hitting Fat Tire Farm first then Whole Foods, because we came in #5 in the men's category and 11th overall out of 120 teams.

All in all, a good event because we were drinking beers at 11 AM (weird!) in Pioneer Square and enjoying the early weather (it was mid 80s on the day!).

I will definitely do this next year.

A Great February Saturday

Abby proclaimed that the Groundhog was wrong from day one and I am beginning to believe her. It was a glorious day in Sellwood. Mid fifties, sunny as Portland gets and no wind.

Jim Phillips, one of my Facebook Friends said it best when he typed: days like today remind him why we love living in the Northwest.

Abby and Mia had a full day, we had Natalie over for a quick art project. They started out making hearts, and then Natalie wanted poofy hearts, so I cut one out and used the cut out to make a three dimensional creation that was actually somewhat poofy. We got a little crazy with the glitter and that made quite a mess in the dining room. All in all, it was a good project that ended up being hung in the trees.

Neighbor Mike and I plotted for the coming summer, thinking through the planting season, he wants to do raised beds on their side yard and I still haven't decided how to make use of the full composter. I still need to get another one so we can continue the fun, as the first one is nearly full of good stuff that's not quite ready for prime time.

I still view this blog as as journal of sort and have to wonder if someone is really reading this and if so, why would they really care about these sorts of things in my life. I guess as a journal I enjoy documenting things in my life, mainly for me, so if you're still reading this please get a life and stop reading this tiresome posting.

There was some construction going on three houses down, which was nice to see. The house sold four months ago and the scuttlebut was that the folks that bought it weren't the ones that were living there. I met the owner today and they have gutted the garage and done a major facelift to follow up on the roof replacement that they did shortly after buying the place. The couple that owns that is also buying the property to the east and is going to live in that house and rent? the one next door, which is sort of an interesting concept. They bought the lot that is one and a half lots wide, so they actually have the ability to put another house in between, which wouldn't look all that bad. At least we're not in flag lot land.

I sneaked in a bike ride today, which had to be done with the weather. It was a really nice ride and one that I actually did without stopping and getting distracted. It was just under and hour and my average speed was 14 mph, not bad for February and with some decent hills (up to Woodstock).

Back to the girls' day.... Abby had a play date with Annija and I would be remiss if I didn't suggest that Amelia had the play date too. Annija is very sweet and she seems to enjoy Amelia as much as Abby's company. The play date sort of exploded when Natalie came over and the Ron & Cathy's grandkids all joined us (Aiden, Austin, and Alissa). It was quite a specactle... six kids that started with A! They had umbrellas out on the lawn making forts and playing various fun games. I did some weeded and enjoyed the sun.

Well, it's upstairs for me.

Snow Storm in Portland

 

I remember getting a call from Susan while I was in Vancouver BC and chuckling that the news outlets were hyping a winter storm for the following week and this time it wasn't hype. We have a good three inches on the ground and took Amelia out to play. Abby was over in Bend for a birthday party for Grace, so it was just us three around the house.

 

Amelia enjoyed the snow overall, but we need to get her snow boots. After about 30 minutes, she starts complaining about her feet being cold. What a wimp!