A Week Without Rain - Commuting Still Challenging Route-wise

Never grow tired of watching the wild life along the Willamette on my commutes. They break up the large expanse of water and architectural squareness around me. These Canada Geese were a few of a larger group going south up river, I suspect in search of breakfast, which must be a challenge with our water levels so high there is not much bank for them.

We actually had a full week without significant rain and actually had a couple of pretty awesome sunny days. What a joy to not be all bundled up or sweating in waterproof gear!

What do you think of this access to our bike overflow area? Good thing I was not rolling with panniers. These two trucks could have actually backed in a bit further, but I suppose they are not sure of where the rear of their vehicles are so they stopped short, actually sticking out. Given the space arrangement, this also means they narrow down the approach. Those bars on my bike are only 390mm if that gives you an idea. But, hey, I figure if anyone scratches their vehicles by accident, that's the risk of choosing to park there and not pulling as far into their respective spaces as they can. <chuckles>

This week is also our Rose Festival's Fleet Week where several Navy ships arrive in Portland. Of course with all the fears these days, it also means increased security and closing off areas along our Waterfront Park, making getting in and around across the Willamette a bit challenging. Of course given spring and summer are also Portland's heavy construction times, this just adds to commuting by bike challenges. There are sections of the Eastbank Esplanade and Springwater Corridor that are currently closed (high water and construction, respectively), Morrison Bridge is closed to bike traffic for construction work, parts of the Esplanade are closed due to other construction, Waterfront park is closed to ped/bike traffic, a few portions of ped/bike path are closed on the west side of the Willamette due to high water. Quite challenging to say the least to get in and out of downtown.

Oh, speaking of security, they have a huge floating boom that apparently is marking a no approach zone around the ships, appears to be basically half-way across the river. But more amazing, to me, is seeing the coast guard patrol boats with machine guns cruising up and down the river.

Wow, I had not realized we were in such a hot zone before. I wonder just what would happen if they had to use that thing? Could they control it enough to not actually hit all the hundreds of civilians milling about?

Other than all of that, this week was a good riding week, as I said, because it was spring like temp-wise. The bonus of the week was I actually rode the road bike, which the last time was back in early April. I stopped because the wet grit of commuting was taking a major toll and I would rather use the SUB in crappy weather stuff. I must have the SUB dialed in pretty well because outside of the difference in geometry, the two bikes feel nearly the same ride wise. I am sure the road bike is faster since I am pushing 10 pounds less weigh and all, but, still, to have them feel similar is pretty nice.

I am going to swap the road bike's pedals and try some Time ATAC XS pedals which have a slightly different MTB cleat so I can still use my expensive carbon MTB shoes. I will see if they adjust a bit easier and ride any better than the SPD's I've been using for so long. I think I'll stick to the Power Grip pedals on the SUB, since they allow a broader range of shoes and practicality for the SUB.

The rides with Evan this week were fun and I love watching him ride. He's got a nice fast cadence, I think he is spinning faster than I am. I commented on his good cadence and he said it was probably back when he was learning and forgot to shift. Cute. Today on the last just under a mile stretch he wanted to sprint home, so I said okay and shifted to my big ring (okay, not so big 48T) and we took off. Since I got the jump I actually stayed ahead, though the  last 3 blocks I was significantly running out of air! Any longer of a distance and he would have had me, I was not that far ahead.

Hope everyone else had a good week and got some good riding in.

A Very Peaceful, Lovely Day for Bike Commuting

With the drier days I decided to road test my Pentax DSLR camera. I've gotten a bit lazy and have been just using my pocket digital for most things. I do like the greater control of the DSLR over the pocket digital, I guess it goes back to my film SLR days.

This morning was a really nice ride in, I felt in good spirits and I was early enough that once I reached the Eastbank Esplanade, I just cooled down and glided along, taking pictures as I went.

It could be just me, but this image  has a European feel to me. The boaters were the only traffic on the Willamette this morning and the water was very calm. The Willamette is quite high, but it is also fairly clear and was serenely calm this morning. Quite peaceful.

This afternoon, I "strolled" along the esplanade, enjoying the warm temperature, sunny skies and fresh air. As I am still also trying to fine tune my cleat alignment, I stopped to make an adjustment. People must feed the migrating birds, because this Canada goose just hung near by and looked up occassionally, as if waiting for me to toss a morsel his way. I looked over the railing and saw that he had been working on a banana peel floating in the water. Sad really, some people do not think about what they are doing.

I was a bit surprised this guy just hung around until I saw the banana peel. Not quite your average river food supply. The river is so clear and calm today -- lovely.