Breakfast on the Bridges

Riding in this morning with Evan I was not real sure about what weather we would have for our afternoon ride. Definitely cloudy and whether it was my anticipation or what, but I thought I felt rain drops a few times.

You know how I have often written about how when I wave or nod there is no response from the other person? Well, I found myself nearly falling guilty to being one of those non-responsives. After parting from Evan, I was on my way to work. I stopped at a red light and was just sitting there. I heard a voice, then again. I awoke from my red light stuper in time to realize there was another cyclist behind and she was saying good morning. I turned and apologized and returned the greeting. Ya know, that really lifted my spirits, especially because I was not even the one that initiated the contact. Nice.

I had heard about the Breakfast on the Bridges, but it had sort of gotten pushed to the way back of my mind. As I neared the down ramps to the Steel Bridge I stopped to take a downtown picture (yep, that is it at the top of this page). From the upper part of the ramps I also noticed a lot of people just before the bridge way. I wonder what is going on? A class? A group of friends? As I rode down and near I saw the sign, oh sweet, Breakfast on the Bridges - free coffee and pastries!

I don't do coffee, but I do do pastries. So, I stopped and greeted my hosts and enjoyed a doughnut while listening to the conversations going on. It was really nice to slow down and to visit with people. I will definitely remember this treat on the last Friday of each month. And the really cool thing is I don't have to alter my commute route at all!

The return trip home was warmer and sunnier than the morning ride. I am so glad I have the bike ride to look forward to. I really needed it this afternoon as I am having some personnel struggles at work with a new team member. I guess it is more like frustrations, so the pleasantness of riding was a therapeutic treat. Joining up with Evan we cruised on our way. We did stop at Bike Gallery to get new brake pads and a new helmet for Evan. The salesperson helping us commented on our bikes - he liked the old steel. I told him mine was a new purchase from Bike Gallery in 1993. He actually remembered when they did carry Bridgestones. I am not so sure that he noticed that the drop bars were not original on a MB-5, but that's okay, he was pretty young.

Okay, something I have not done is to take a picture of how I use to get between home and work and school. Here is I-84 at NE 74th at 3:50pm. I just missed a slow down moment where the cars were not really moving much. Still, I am much happier riding the bike on our commutes.

Well today was the last commute of April and, it turns out, is the highest mileage month with 290 miles.

Sun Greeted Us in the Morning; Mr Rain Kept Us Company in the Afternoon

A nice ride in with Evan this morning. We rode casually and chatted. At one place, there were some wet leaves on the ground and we were coming up to a red light. Evan put the brakes on and his rear locked up. I watched and yelled out, "Nice skid!" He chuckled and asked, "Why does it do that?" He meant why does the rear come around. I said I did not know, it just does. We had a good laugh. I told him he did a great job of controlling the skid. I also told him we use to do that when we were kids. We also got in trouble for wearing out our tires.

I have to say that having a riding companion does make the time and distance go by so much faster. I suppose it is because I'm even less thinking about how much farther to go. Parting ways at school, I continued on my way to work.

Definitely seeing more cyclists out these days. Seems like at least one other cyclist whenever I stop at a red light. I'm getting the hang of the few tricky spots on my different routes, which is nice. I have also found those few alternate routes when my regular route is blocked from things like trains. This is a good thing since there was a train crossing the Steel Bridge when I got there.

Our nice dry ride in the morning was evened out with a rainy ride in the afternoon. I left work and rode to Evan's school, then waited for him to come out. Even in the rain we had a good ride and talked about this and that. May is the local Walk & Bike to School month event. Evan is pretty excited since he is already biking and walking to school every day. We calculated out that he will have 108 miles combined walking and biking for May. He's pretty proud of that.

Returning to Enjoying the Journey of the Commute

Getting fun riding in to work. Different people in different states of starting their days. In the neighborhoods, people out for a morning jog, walking their dog, a few more starting their bike commuting days. On the river, the river patrol is out, fishermen making their way to their, hopefully, lucky fishing holes and the rowers are out to get as much flat water as they can.

Yep, while it sometimes feels more like late Winter, life in the city is sprouting from the warm comfort of inside to join the trees and plants and migratory creatures out in the fresh air. Experiencing the transition of winter to spring by bike has been a cool, fun experience. If I were still driving everyday there would be so much I would not notice, so much would pass me by and I would pass by it. I am sure any newness of the drive to the new office would have long ago melted away to monotony and "am I there, yets?"

Every picture I have taken the light is different, the mood is different, a bit more color one day, or the clouds are so immense or so wispy. Only on the bike, moving at the speed of life, as they say, am I able to be drawn to these subtle changes; and only because I choose to be where I am rather than focusing, as I would be car, on just getting there. Yep, commuting by bike has brought me back to journey.

As I happily began entering today's commute into my commuting log I discovered that I had already reached the 1000 mile mark as I was missing last Thursday's entry. Wah, and oh, well, knowing I was hitting a 1000 miles was still uplifting and feeling mighty cool. Plus, I feel good that I have stuck to my commitment to bike commute. I feel more awake, I have lost some weight and I should be able to keep up with Evan for a while, yet - hehe.

More Happy People - More Perfecting

Going into the weekend, Friday, the commute was wet and grey. With Evan, our commute is another extension and mode of our time, our connection. We chat. We also whine sometimes. The way I see it,  since we have made a commitment to bike commuting and we have been riding since January, we have the right to whine some.

So, the whine is, "I am so tired of riding in the rain!" Evan agreed. I mean, really, would some dry really hurt?

Of course, then come Monday, we get our sunny day ride! While at a stop I asked Evan, "Do you feel faster when it is nice out?" He just smiled.

I think I noticed more people smiling today. Certainly more people out, cannot really blame them either. This grey, wet stuff has kept people hibernating a bit longer this year.

This was a morning I definitely could have just kept riding, taking in just how wonderful this sunny weather is. Must be the Leo in me.

Today, I had to make a slight detour from my Harrison/Lincoln hill climb to stop at a couple of stores on Division St. Through Ladd's Addition I rode over to SE Clinton. Now, I have not ridden on Clinton for a long time, definitely way before I started riding daily for commuting. My memory was even Clinton had its climbs. Was I ever surprised at how much less climbing there was compared to Harrison/Lincoln, especially now that I have more miles on my legs and lungs. Nice, I now know if I am feeling overly tired I can take Clinton for relief. I still like my Harrison/Lincoln route, it is more direct and I just like that neighborhood riding better.

Over the weekend while doing some bike maintenance, both Evan's and mine, I made some aesthetic and performance improvements on the SUB. Since moving my shift levers, the cable routing has annoyed me a bit. The cables just looked dorky, to me. I am all about aesthetics as long as safety and function are not compromised.

First, I fixed the adjuster rings that had formed notches which prevented some adjustment. A bit of filing and then smoothing on a sharpening stone fixed that up. Now I could actually adjust the brake pad alignment - more happy, happy.

I also learned more about getting the most out of my center-pull brakes - thanks Sheldon Brown! So far they feel much better stopping wise in relation to how hard I pull on the levers.

Since I am happy, happy about the new shift lever position, I decided it was time to clean up the too long cable housings. So I shortened them up and I think it is a much cleaner look.

Now the cables do not run way out past the light. The other change, you will notice, is I have updated how I mount the headlight. The Ram mount I was using just always seemed bulky looking. Since the stem is pretty crowded with the shifters, I did a little redesign to help clean up the look a bit. I was looking for a solution that was clean, simple and sturdy. I also wanted to be able to use the factory handlebar mount for the light, in case I would like to put it on the road bike occassionally. To do this new mounting was why I made my detour stops this afternoon.

The mount is made up of my original clamp on the stem, 2 pieces of flat aluminum, a short piece of 3/4" aluminum tubing and two rubber bar end plugs. This has less vibration than the Ram mount, is more easily adjusted and also looks good aesthetically.

The SUB has given me a wonderful project to design, create, be innovative and make a fun riding, nice looking everyday commuter bike. Art in the everyday.

Brrrr - What Happened to Spring?

Lately, the temps, once again, feel on the cold side, more winter like than spring. We are suppose to be getting more rain, and Sunday overnight we did get some. Fortunately for my commute in bound was dry, though to be sure I rain weared up. (The picture here was taken on my way home and the clouds really caught my attention. Downtown seemed really small against the clouds.)

The SUB did great! The new position of the shifters was very successful and has been the best of all my experimentations. Since riding the SUB over a month ago, I did need some adjustment - my two bikes ride so differently. I felt a little slow, but I suppose that is to be expected given the SUB weighs over 5 pounds more and the tires have significantly more rolling resistance than my teeny skinny road bike. The cool thing was I found I was using the higher gears - that certainly boosted the confidence that all this riding has been paying off.

After making some mental notes of needed minor adjustments to my fit on the SUB, I settled in to "on on the bike" mode. The morning air while cool, felt good, and worked into my pedal rhythm, almost like cruise control. Speaking of rhythm, not only is the muscle memory coming back, I find the connection with the bike quite euphoric. The feeling I have as I shift oh so much here, a itty bit there as I "float" around the obstacles, road islands and turn left or right. In those moments, the bike is truly an extension and less a vehicle of transportation. I practice the lessons of nature as I have watched streams and rivers flow naturally, adapting, shifting to the landscape, weaving here and there effortlessly, endlessly.

All too soon, I arrive at my destination as time is the one thing not on my mind when on the bike. Maybe that is one of joys for me. At work, driving, at home trying to get so much done time is always on my mind, time is in control. On the bike, time disappears, even when I need to be somewhere at a given time, once I am rolling time is gone. For the first time, my travel times are amazingly consistent, quite unlike when I am trying to get somewhere by car. Car travel is also under the control of time - is it rush hour, how many red lights before I get through the intersection, did I pick an uncrowded route? Maybe bike travel transform one to be in each pedal moment, in each location you are currently at. In contrast, in the car we have been trained to focus on getting there - the sooner, the better.

Wow! Finally a Real Spring Day!

Little did I know that the dry, though foggy morning was a transition to ending the week with an amazingly nice spring weather day. Evan and my ride, on Thursday, started out cold - mid 30's - and foggy. Near work, the temp was still cold, but light was trying to break through. After parting ways at his school, I settled into my easy pace and cruised on in to work.

In some ways, I often feel disappointed that I have arrived at work, I just enjoy riding in the morning, the reason I would discover the next ride home from work (Friday).

By the afternoon when I left to meet up with Evan the weather was pretty darn nice. Certainly more people were out, quite a few had cameras and cameras and tripods.

I decided to stop before crossing the Steel Bridge and take a picture of the cherry blossoms along Waterfront Park, that lead to the Japanese Memorial. I probably could have stayed and just enjoyed the scene, but I did have someone expecting me.

Friday

Wow, what a beautiful morning to ride! Even being cold, again, in the mid-30's Evan and I savored the ride. Just standing in the driveway enjoying the clear, sunny air was such a peaceful treat.

Wah, do I really have to go into work? Evan led us on to school, though we did chat along one of the neighborhood sections, side-by-side. Definitely one of those days where I could have just ridden around and explored. Once we parted and I headed the rest of the way into downtown, I did see more cyclists, yep, people are definitely waking from the winter hibernation. The frustrating part is that many seem to bring their "in their own world, oblivious to anyone else around them" idea and did not seem to get that they are not the only ones out and about on the multi-use paths (MUPs). Braking, slowing, weaving, near-crawling so as not to startle, or worse, crash - okay, so I found something not so enjoyable about this awesome weather.

The commute home started with me stopping along the floating section of the Eastbank Esplanade to take a few pictures and enjoy this seemingly real first day of Spring. The clouds were cool. Did I mention it was warm?

OMG! The further along I rode the more "argh!" moments I had. So many people, walking,jogging, biking, spreading out across the full width of the paths - "really? Can you not be even a little aware there are other people out using the paths?"

I obviously am way spoiled at usually not seeing hardly anyone out using "my" paths, I guess I need to learn to share - lol. Fortunately, the challenge is primarily contained to the esplanade, so for that distance I can deal with the frustrations and share the space - haha. My sweet revenge, or satisfaction came shortly as I left the esplanade MUP.

I've written about this section along SE Clay St. so I finally decided to take a picture. Way up there at the far signal light is MLK, Jr. Blvd. Shortly after I took this picture this intersection's light turned green. I enjoyed the ride, up past all the traffic, proceeding directly to MLK. The really fun thing is that the light stayed red until I just got up there and then it was green and off I went.

So far, my Harrison/Lincoln route isn't too crowded, yet, so I only see a few cyclists, still. The solo riding along this much more peaceful route allows me to flush the traffic thoughts and I then focused on the sunny day, spring blossoms, watching people became a fun thing rather than an evasive, defensive riding thing. My legs found their rhythm, my feet spun in their 170mm circles and my mind set the beat for my pace and I rolled along. Yep, that's what it is all about - just enough effort to keep building up strength, just enough easing off to stay in that "oh, yeah" just right zone.

How long did it take to get to work? To Home? eh, who cares.

Nice - No Rain Showers, Riding Faster

Ugh, daylight savings time. Terrible sleep last night, or is it early this morning (at least when I actually fell asleep). Woke up an hour later than my alarm, oh well. Dressed for rain, but it was actually dry, a bit cool but not bad for riding. I rode with a little higher effort this morning, not sure why, just did, I guess. It was fun to push along in my higher gears, having the feeling of speed.

Along the Eastbank Esplanade I came across some traffic, of which these two Canada Geese were a part of. I stopped to take their picture as they were grazing for breakfast.

Even with the greyness, blue sky poked out here and there. Since I was later than I wanted anyway, I stopped to take a few more pictures. This one is along the floating section of the esplanade looking toward the Steel Bridge, you can make out the Broadway Bridge (red) and way off, the Fremont Bridge.

I left around mid-day to work from home, away from distractions. I focused on another project that had been ignored due to our email migration woes. Some woes still there, but I wanted to put some time into something else.

Here's an average shot taken along a sitting area on the esplanade, looking toward the Hawthorne Bridge.

My cycle commuting has done another benefit. Listening to co-workers, their morning commutes were significantly longer this morning. There was a big motivation conference, Get Motivated, just across the river at the Oregon Convention Center. A normal commute of 40-45 minutes turned into hour and a half. Cycling, my  time was totally unaffected. Not so bad.

My hill ride back up Harrison/Lincoln was ego boosting. Not only was I using my 2nd and 3rd low gears, but the general strength feeling was great. The little climb in Mt. Tabor seemed easier and I felt more comfortable staying seated in my low gear.

Hey with all the lighter days, I may actually swap out my expensive, super bright headlight for the still bright, but smaller Dinotte front light. Will see.

Dry and Blue Skies - Ow, Some Hip Relapse

No school for Evan, but we still rode together as he needed to go to home number 2 today. He led the whole way, so I guess he's got to route down pretty well now. His pedalling style is pretty smooth, I would ride with him anytime. Do you suppose I am a little biased, though? haha.

Comfortable ride in, bikes worked flawlessly. I did do a good clean up on them this past weekend. The previous mega rains and hail definitely took their toll. For Evan's, it was clean the dirt off, wash down the rims and brake pads, then I also readjusted his rear hub bearings, adding a bit more grease while we were there. One of the bearing lock nuts had loosened, so we fixed that. Then clean and lube the chain, pretty grimy.

About the same for my SUB, though no bearing tear down. Chain was pretty washed out and some very, tiny surface rust. Lubing took care of that. I also did a little re-wrap on the handlebars, to clean up the wrapping around the shift levers.

The intro picture above was taken a bit after 4:00pm from Waterfront Park looking east. Nice clouds, heh? Temp-wise, I think was in the mid-40's.

This image was taken along the floating Eastbank Esplanade back toward the Steel Bridge. The light was very nice and made for an enjoyable ride home.

Hip-wise, I think I had a bit of a relapse over the weekend, maybe from over use from our SOLV tree planting on Saturday. Seem to have picked up a bit of a dull, constant discomfort and I have lost some sitting duration time. In general, though, I  think it is still on the positive side of healing and getting better.

Riding strength seems good, as a fun test, I used just the 36 x 17 gearing combo from Evan's to work and then from work to SE 21st and Harrison, which was the start of the climb toward home. Even climbing Harrison I was able to spin up without dropping to my lowest gearing so that is a good sign.

Kind of disappointed, have not heard anything back from TriMet from my note to them about my close call with the bus the other day. Will see if anything comes up this week.

Well thoroughly enjoyed the lovely weather riding today, will see what the rest of the week brings and the weather folks are saying rain starting tonight or tomorrow with possible snow Wednesday and/or Thursday. Evan is totally hoping for snow and no school - surprise, surprise.

A Normal Sort of Bike Commute Day

A bit chilly this morning, but otherwise, comfortable ride in with Evan. We calculated it takes us about 20-25 minutes from home to his school, and that's without really trying.

I've noticed that we actually chat a bit more on the bike than when we make the trip by car. And it's not like we never talk when in the car. I guess we are both just a bit more awake.

Altered the route slightly between Evan's school and work. I tested getting to the Steel Bridge through the Rose Quarter transit center. Not too bad a route, a bit more confusing because one section has both bike traffic directions on the same side of the street, a cycle track of sorts. The confusing part was whether I could make my left turn by using the crosswalk or waiting for the light, cross the street, then wait for that light so I could cross again onto the cycle track.

Back still giving me fits when I am sitting at the desk, so I had to get up and try and stretch a bit. Will have to see how fast and well it heals through this. Might be time for a visit to my chiropractor/acupuncturist. The messenger bag is working okay, not any worse than the backpack, maybe a little better right now cuz I do carry the weight a bit lower.

One nice thing is I made a stop at the store between work and Evan in the afternoon. Putting the few things in the messenger bag, getting to my purse/wallet is easier with the messenger bag than with a backpack.

Oh, the picture above was taken in the afternoon just after leaving work. The bridge lift was up and a tug just went under. Fortunately, I arrived just before the bridge section was lowered. While waiting I snapped a few pictures. With all the clouds, the light is a bit flat, The up side, temps were mild, 45 degrees and there was not much wind.

Still loving this bike commuting thing, learning some things, especially about what to wear that works for me to be not too cold, but also not too hot. Plus figured out how to carry all my bikey tools so they are all in one, easy to get to place and learning what to carry for just in case (rain gear, spare gloves, stuff like that). I do keep a sweater at work just in case, also.

At times I feel like I could just keep riding around, forget that whole work thing, because I'm on the bike, enjoying the sights and sounds that are the different parts of Portland.

Of Flats and Internet - Commuting Goes On

Gee, don't realize how much we depend on the internet, until it's gone. While switching providers to gain more speed, there were 4 days of absolutely no internet. Wow! Sure glad to have it all back.

Thursday, January 20, 2011
The commute last week (20th) was, weatherwise, fairly uneventful. Lot's of clouds, as you can see here, and a little cool. Notice how brown the Willamette is? So much rain, lot's of mud, tree debris flowing along. This was taken on the upper portion of the MUP, just east of the Steel Bridge.

I was on my way to meet Evan at school for our ride home. As we were leaving the school, Evan said his bike was pulling to the left. So we stopped just a block away. His front tire was flat! At least it was not raining like my recent flat tire adventure! I got out the tools and took the tire off and we discovered a first -- the stem had completely separated from the tube, plus the tube had, somehow, rotated 180 degrees! How bizarre! Shortly we were back on the road.

The next day's ride home was about the same, slight chance of rain, but mostly just plain grey. Here's another in my on-going series of the Steel Bridge. I guess because it is the biggest landmark next to the work building, plus, I just like all the lines and angles.

Friday, January 21, 2011
Friday (21st) was the first test of using my new Keen shoes only. I did put cleats on and under certain conditions the cleats do crunch on the ground, but it was nice not carrying an extra pair of shoes. I guess I'll have to do a gear review sometime soon. The Keens are definitely not as stiff soled as my normal biking shoes, but that's okay, I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of stiffness for carrying less. Bike commuting is feeling just, well, just normal. Evan is still lovin our joint bike commuting, too.

The weekend was spent replenishing the spare tube supply, getting Evan some new gloves and a neck/face shield. I tweaked my tool kit so it fits into a nice bundle in one of my water bottle cages, but can easily be removed and plopped into my messenger bag. Speaking of messenger bags, I replace the small one with a medium and it is so much easier to carry my stuff. I guess it is spreading the load out more. I like the messenger bag better than a backpack, my back gets less sweaty and it just feels more comfortable. Plus, I think I carry the load lower so it seems to have less impact on my back.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Following a very nice weekend, Monday was pretty nice, too. This was shot through the Steel Bridge (surprise, surprise) toward the Broadway Bridge (foreground) with the Fremont Bridge in the background. I'm still trying to get that just right image using the Steel Bridge as frame. Someday.

Legs are getting stronger and going up the few hills are draining me a bit less. I guess using a bike without super low gearing is paying off, beyond the pure joy of riding my favorite bike.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Okay, catching up to current events. Love seeing the check marks as I log my commutes on the Bike Commute trip log. (I'm sure my doc would love it, too, cuz I'm getting some kind of exercise in daily, ya know, 2 30 minute spins a day.)

I was initially home half day as I needed to be there for the internet installer. Funny, he ran a little late on finishing, so I had to rush to get to work to a meeting. I left at 12:20pm and got in at 1:10pm. Seems no matter how fast I try to go, my ride is about 30 minutes. Not much I can do about stop signs and red lights. Nice in that I rode in my work clothes, fortunately we have a casual dress code, but, hey, still just work clothes.

The evening was really nice, this is a picture of, can you guess?, the Steel Bridge. I love evening/night images. The river looks so calm and you cannot tell it is a rustic brown due to all the run-off.

This is a shot from the same location, just the other direction. 20 rides and each one has had something different about it.

Another Full Week of Bike Commuting

Well, I have to say riding when it is upper 40's and a bit rainy is better than really cold and dry, I've changed my mind from earlier claims.

This is a shot of downtown Portland from the pedestrian/bike bridge over the rail tracks to get to the Eastbank Esplanade and the Steel Bridge.

I am not quite sure why I like the image, I just do, I guess. I think maybe some of it has to do with looking like a mosaic or mosaic type reflection, though you are just looking through the safety fencing.

Evan and I do seem to have our prep patterns down and can get out the door pretty efficiently. We also have our landmarks down so when we get to that certain point, it's like, "gosh, we are almost there, already."

For me, it's like getting to live one of my big wishes, to be able to commute daily. I am glad Evan has wanted to and enjoyed biking to school. He says it helps wake him up.

While not on the bike or a bike route, this is a picture of the Portland sky from my 5th floor at work. I liked the clouds pattern, the light, and the interplay of buildings and nature. I've been using my new little Canon PowerShot camera, keeping it handy even on the bike.

I took this closer shot of those same clouds as in the wider picture above. Just something about the lightness, wispiness compared the framing, darker, thicker clouds I suppose.

Will see what the ride home brings ... to be continued.

Ride home started a little earlier so I could ride down to Showers Pass headquarters. I had emailed them a question about my wet knees the other day and talked to them on the phone today. They said I could stop by to so they could check to make sure the knee vents had the seam tape (apparently there were some issues with some of their rain pants).

Seam tape there, so we agreed I would just keep an eye on things. The most likely cause the other day was lots of rain, I was squatting for quite some time to fix the multitude of flats, which pulls on the material. Since it was only one time, likely a "user" error, hahaha.

Love the service from Showers Pass, and really love that they are a local Portland company. Their stuff is worth the money, as well as you are buying some amazing customer service.