Bike Commute Challenge, Sunday Parkways, and More

September has continued our amazing summer weather! September also kicked off the Bicycle Transportation Alliance's (BTA) Bike Commute Challenge month. Our work team was off to a fun start and we have been enjoying not just the official competition, but we are also having a fun team competition using "jersey" awards. We have the GC yellow jersey, new rider white jersey, sprinter's jersey, mountain polka dot jersey and we have weekly stage winners (1st to 3rd) and awards for those doing 100% commute rates. My self and one other are co-captains so we have excused ourselves from the awards.

To add to the recognition we have a "wall of fame" where we post each week's results for every one's view. What do you think?

I have realized I have not taken as many still photos recently because I have been playing around with my POV video camera. Also, I am learning about video editing and cutting and stuff. Some of my shareable stuff is here - My Vimeo Videos. (Of course, I have plugged my video site before - haha).

To help encourage my photography (that's my story and I am sticking to it) I upgraded my old Pentax *ist D to a K5. Wow, so much more to learn, including the DSLR's video capability. Truly, so much change to photography through technology. I still fondly remember my pro-slide film days, though and am still convinced there is not a medium that shoots at the same depth and color.

The lead-in photo up above is from my point and shoot and is a stitch of 3 individual shots. I took this of the Portland skyline across the Willamette River along the Eastbank Esplanade on one of my morning commutes. I have been roaming on Flikr and Vimeo and picking ideas on different shooting styles and techniques, so I am looking forward to some experimentation while learning my new camera - yippee!

The final Portland Sunday Parkways 2011 started with a drenching! I headed to the event from home and shortly after leaving the downpour started and lasted over 5 minutes. Glad it was at least mildly warm! The sun peaked out here so it was still enjoyable and I can now say I have one year where I rode all of the year's events.

I love the mural at The Community Cycling Center - so bright, fun, cheerful. What fun if all commercial buildings had something like that! Here's more photos I took, My Flikr Sunday Parkways NE Pictures.

With the rainy season upon us I am busy getting out the wet gear and I am planning out getting the SUB and my son's bike winterized. Seems like a while now since the last time I had to plan out for rain, but at least I know what to do since I started all this commuting smack dab in the middle of our winter wetness. The days are getting shorter, I do miss the daylight.

Well, happy riding to you all!