Road Cycling - Saturday Morning in Portland - Post Today's Ride Details.

It's the most beautiful weekend so far this year in Oregon - up to 80 degrees and the cycling couldn't be more glorious. That is, if you can get out - which I can't.

So, I live through you. Tell me about your rides this morning - where'd you go, how far and fast, what was the weather like and did anything unusual happen? How was the longest ride yet on that new bike? That kind of stuff.

BTW - Sunday is out too on the double front - no cycling and no final round of the Masters. Single guys contemplating marriage, take note.

55/Rad

It's the most beautiful weekend so far this year in Oregon - up to 80 degrees and the cycling couldn't be more glorious. That is, if you can get out - which I can't.

So, I live through you. Tell me about your rides this morning - where'd you go, how far and fast, what was the weather like and did anything unusual happen? How was the longest ride yet on that new bike? That kind of stuff.

BTW - Sunday is out too on the double front - no cycling and no final round of the Masters. Single guys contemplating marriage, take note.

55/Rad


mine will be a short one to the movies (G) I need a reason to ride like commuting. I need to joint the wheelmans and ride with others. on my own I just don't get much motivation to go somewhere if there is nto something I need to do.

No ride today... but sunday, starting out in gresham gonna do marine drive, and then maybe the I-205>springwater back...probably gonna do 45-50 miles... can't wait :)

I rode along a little stream that flows into the Bay and watched the fish heading upstream for the spring spawn. Then on the way home I got caught in a snow burst. Big heavy flakes for about 20 minutes, then it was stopped just as I pulled into the driveway. And to think it was 80 degrees in Portland.

My wife and I drove over to Coeur d'Alene this morning and rode along the Centennial Trail along the north shore of the lake. What a beautiful day! Only a 10 mile ride, but with a few good hills. A great cycling day.

Had a wonderful ride yesterday in the Columbia Gorge. Started in Lewis and Clark State Park, went through Corbett to Crown Point Vista, and down the Multnomah Falls (and the others) and then back again. It was a 45 mile route from the Road Biking Oregon book (Falcon series, good routes, btw). Great views, low traffic, killer tailwind and downhills the last 9 miles.

Tomorrow, I'll either ride from my driveway (SW Portland) to Mt. Angel down in the valley, or drive down and cycle from there. Easter at the folks house. Should be fun.

Next week I hope to try out the Centennial Trail from Spokane. Swapped out the junko Altus rear derailleur on my Bike Friday for an XT last night, and it's ready for the flight.

Not a bad time for cycling in the Northwest.

[QUOTE=pdxcyclist]Had a wonderful ride yesterday in the Columbia Gorge. Started in Lewis and Clark State Park, went through Corbett to Crown Point Vista, and down the Multnomah Falls (and the others) and then back again.[QUOTE]

I did almost the same ride today. I left from my house in Vancouver rode out near Camas to meet a new riding buddy. Then back to the 205 bridge down Marine dr. thru Troutdale to Crown Point and down the hill to the falls. The ride turned out to be 79 miles. It was such a great day to be out cycling.

Sorry to hear you can't get out and enjoy the weekend 55/Rad. Hopefully next weekend will not be raining.

Not quite as warm in Olympia, WA today (79F). I had to garden in the morning but after scoring a tactical victory over the weeds, I took my Bianchi trofeo out for a short 14 mile ride on the Chehalis Western trail. Surprisingly few other walkers, skaters, riders out. Almost as many bikers as walkers. How fast? At 64 I don't speed much but since this is one of my faster bikes & I was able to crank up to pretty good speed a few times. Highlight of the ride was the young couple I passed each on recumbent & each with a large parrot riding shotgun on their shoulder. One of the parrots was leaning forward intently watching its reflection in the rider's mirror! don

Well, I don't live in Portland but a bit further north. Today, Xythen, ngateguy and I particpated in the Tulip Pedal (http://www.tulipfestival.org/events/event.asp?m_id=90)... a 20 or 40 mile ride around the North Skagit County Tulip Fields. We chose the 40 mile route but got in a few extra miles by riding the dirt roads in the fields themselves. Pictures can be found on my gallery webpages (http://www.neebu.net/~khuon/gallery/tulip_pedal_2004). Of all the ways to see the annual Tulip Festival, doing so by bikes makes the most sense. You should have seen the traffic. The roads there were not designed for that many cars and the congestion and gridlock was horrendous despite the numerous amount of police attempting to provide traffic control. Luckily for us, the traffic cops give cyclists priority over cars. We decided to use MTBs so we could also get into the fields themselves. My roadbike would not have done well on some of those service roads.

I remember the Skagit Valley tulips all too well. We used to be just another car waiting in line to get to one of the bigger, festive filled tulip farms. I have many pictures of my kids running through the beautiful fields of color.

Oregon has tulip farms also - not the "as far as the eye can see" type you have in S.V., but jaw dropping nonetheless.

55/Rad

A couple of buddies and I rode from SE Portland through downtown and up into the West Hills, via Montgomery and Vista. From there, we took Hewitt over to Skyline and then rode Skyline all the way out to Germantown Rd. Dropped back down off the ridge and hammered back along US 30. Stopped on NW 23rd for a cup of coffee and talked cycling for a while. What a great ride! I think I'll take my fixer out Sunday evening for a spin around through Waterfront Park and the Esplanade.

Sorry you couldn't make it out, 55/Rad. The weather wasn't really all that nice...really! ;)