Cool and Grey - I Experience a Torrential Shower

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday saw the return of a lot of clouds and chances of rain. There were drizzles, light rain, downright downpours and a few spots where you could actually see blue sky. In certain sections you can tell if it is cold or too wet as the birds seem less active in the mornings on those less than nice days. Of course there are less people out, too.

Wednesday along the Eastbank Esplanade the morning rush hour was filled with Canada Geese grazing along the upper banks. There is so much water in the Willamette right now. These guys are pretty use to people traffic as they did not even flinch when I stopped and took a few pictures, as if they were thinking, "No big deal, just another two-legged." It's kind of cool, I  have always liked the Canada Goose.

Despite the rain, the sense of cooler than normal temps reminding me more of late winter than spring about to become summer, it must be spring because everything is green and the once bare trees are filling out. While it is always nice to be out on the bike, I would not mind a bit warmer temps and some multiple dry, sunny days would not hurt, either.

I still find it interesting, yeah, I said it, interesting, to continue to wave or say hello to other cyclists and see who actually responds. It is funny, some almost seem annoyed by my waving acknowledgement, like I'm the crazy one.

Friday's ride home was the most memorable of the week. As I left work for the Steel Bridge the sky went from very grey to very dark grey and just as I was leaving the clouds opened up in all their glory. Yep, that's right, an Oregon downpour! Of course, as I hit the Steel Bridge the lift alarm went off and I got to sit there getting drenched. As fate would  have it, the rain was coming with the wind on the side of the ped/bike path. What a lot of water! This is the first time my feet got a little wet with my Keen shoes, I think there was so much water it was running down the leg of my rain pants into my shoe more than my shoe soaking through.

I am sure I must have been quite the sight riding along in the torrent. Most people were finding cover, hoping to wait out the worst of it. I was heading to meet up with Evan, so I did not have time to wait. Fortunately, it did lighten up a bit to light rain for the remainder of our ride home. What an adventure in being wet.

Ramping Up for National Bike Month

Yep, May is the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Month. In Portland, the big focus is on Bike to Work Week (16-20) and Day (20). It's kinda fun helping at work to promote Bike to Work Day. We'll be having a waffle and fruit breakfast for riders. Sadly, I'll miss it because Friday is my late arrival day. I'll have to take advantage of the more public free eats offerings throughout the week, I guess.

Evan was looking forward to it, as well, until he found out the school is not recording miles. Sad, but he knows his totals and is pretty proud that he has been riding all year, rain or rain, hail, cold wind, we seen it all.

I thought this was an interesting ship name. Made me think, "Yeah, that would be nice, a full spring, hahaha." Well, I was dry today and tomorrow is suppose to be dry, too. After that, back to cool, rain; sigh.

I had a nice encounter on my ride in. Another rider complimented me on my bike, he said he use to have one (I was on the SUB - Bridgestone MB-5). Cool, someone that actually recognized and knew about Bridgestone bicycles.

With more pedestrians and cyclists out I am finding the esplanade more challenging than riding on the roads these days. I think the on and off weather has some effect as people are not getting enough exposure to lot's of different people out. Of course, there are those who would not care anyway. Sometimes, it is like they think everyone else should watch out for them, sound familiar, reminds me of driving - haha.

Lot's of clouds out this afternoon, but I stayed dry, so it is all good. I am liking the skinny tires (Continental SportContact, 26 x 1.3). I think it drops my gearing by maybe a half tooth, will have to ride a bit more to know for sure. Aesthetically the bike looks good with the smaller tires, even more balanced looking than the road bike. The road bike because is it a smallish frame, 51cm, sometimes looks like all tire and wheel.

Hope you all are able to enjoy some of National Bike Month, get some free food and enjoy some of the events happening all around. Now, if the ol' sun would come out for a bit, that would be just, plain, awesome.

Bike-arific Tuesday - National Bike Month

Photographically, I kind of like our cloudy, but mostly sunny days. There was a bit of rain for the morning ride, but, as you can see from the picture above, the afternoon was glorious. Portland is definitely feeling more alive these days, many, many more people out. I see more bike commuters, morning and afternoon runners, people relaxing and enjoying both sides of the Willamette River.

For another Tuesday at work, our bike room was past base capacity, we had a record 20 bikes!

Bikes were doubled up on the horizontal racks, bikes leaning against the lockers, bikes, bikes everywhere! Since May is National Bicycle Month, a couple of us are thinking about how to plan a nice, casual event for the bike to work week and day (May 16-20 / May 20). I have also been working with our Facilities team to come up with an overflow plan that will allow riders to still store their bikes securely.

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.

5 More Miles to 1000 - Euphoric Riding Has Returned

Willamette River, Hawthorne Bridge from Eastbank Esplanade

Even though my morning commute was in the rain, I totally loved being on the bike. Over the weekend, I did a couple of tiny fine-tunes and was anxious to give them a test ride. The rain was somewhat light, so it really did not bother me. I am so thrilled riding the SUB these days. With the recent changes of tires, brake adjustment and all of that, the bike rides so much faster than back when I started my daily commute. I am really amazed and love riding the SUB even more.

I saw one other cyclist out this morning and I rolled up to him at the 50th and Lincoln signal light. He glanced both ways and heading on through the red. In contrast, I sat and waited. I thought about the reasons, I thought about the justifications I have seen from others. I felt perturbed because they do make justifications and have created their "logical" rationales. My perturbedness comes because why don't they just say, "Because I felt like it." I mean, just be honest really, because that is all running a red is, a personal choice.

Oh, and I got the green when the guy was about 3-1/2 blocks up and by the light at 39th I actually caught him and rolled past. I suppose that means he saved 4 blocks worth of time? Not sure. Anyway, like I said, why don't they just say, "because"?


Downtown from the Eastbank Esplanade

The sun came out this afternoon, though the wind was blowing a bit and temps were not super warm. After my picture-taking pace of warming up along the esplanade I picked up the pace up my Clay-Harrsion-Lincoln route. I am starting to feel close to what my old riding memory is - if that even makes any sense. My riding has brought back memories of my long ago riding, the happy comfort, the euphoria of constantly improving my riding skills, the pride of accomplishing a particular riding goal/riding event goal, the happy place of being in control of my riding. I am feeling those feelings again, that's pretty cool.

Still amazed at how many miles we consume just going back and forth to work. Tomorrow, I'll top 1000 miles across 73 commutes and I live only 6 miles from work. If I had not been tracking I would have guessed a lot lower number.

More Wet Riding - Gear in Review - Closing in on 1000 Miles

Wednesday's ride, rain and a few breaks, but mostly wet, definitely grey. Good thing I love biking, otherwise I probably would have joined the majority and found an alternative mode of commuting - lol.

Short Gear in Review - Continental Sport Contact Tires
I am convinced the Continental Sport Contact tires (26 x 1.6) have the lowest rolling resistence of the tires I have run on the SUB. These are like the 4th set since last fall that have been on the bike. My quest was to find something durable (aka flat resistent) and have a low rolling resistence.

The first set, way back when, was a pair of Forte' Gotham MTB tires, 26 x 1.75. While definitely better the original 2" knobby tires, they are still on the heavy side, which makes pedalling feel heavy. Now, I rode these when I still had the original 175mm crank arms, so some of my comparisons may be off.

The next set of tires I tried was a set of Kenda Kwest (26 x 1.50"). Overall, I liked these tires, fairly easy pedalling and they were holding up pretty well. Pretty well until the rear decided to become flat prone, even when the bike was just sitting in the garage or bike room at work. Maybe they do not do well when loaded with rear panniers? Anyway, these were only on a couple months or probably somewhere around 300 miles.

Being tired of flat fixing and not really finding any punctures, I decided to try another tire brand. At my local REI I wanted to purchase a set of Continental tires, but they were out of stock on the model I wanted and decided to try a pair of Serfas Drifters (26 x 1.50").

I thought these were doing pretty well, until I had put a lot of miles on the road bike and gotten much more fit. Returning to the SUB the bike just seemed to be slow and actually a bit harder to pedal no matter what gear I was in. For a few commutes I shrugged it off as psychological because I really would rather ride the road bike (gotta love denial).

Well, after doing some freewheel coasting behind Evan, I thought the bike could do better. I did a bit of research on Continentals including available sizes and reviews. Checking inventory with REI, I headed down and picked up a pair of Sport Contacts. Well, I would not have believed a tire could be significantly slower than another, but I am now convinced and reaffirmed why I love Continental bike tires.

Freewheeling wise (coasting) it has sold me. The SUB is easier, smoother pedaling and it can maintain speed while coasting. The Sport Contacts are about $10.00 more per tire than the Serfas and $15.00-$20.00 more than the Kendas, which means in this case you do get what you pay for. For daily commuting, the Continentals are the way to go. If I wasn't daily commuting the tires would likely be a much less issue for me.

I will note that all of the tires advertise some level of puncture resistence as a commuter tire group. So far, only the Kendas have not lived up to my expected level of puncture resistence. However, that may be due to low life duration and that may be due to being overly loaded when running with my panniers.

Today, Thursday, was basically rain; grey, wet rain with some wind thrown in for the afternoon ride home. While not horrible, I am certainly tired of so much rain. Evan agreed as we rode in the morning. I must say that having a riding companion is nice, having a conversation makes the distance go by even faster.

The worse part of all of this rain commuting is the amount of work to keep up maintenance on the bikes. Chains and brakes get so grungy so fast. Plus the grit and dirt seems to cake up on the drivetrain, the lube acting more like a magnet than a repellant.

To lighten our spirits we had a mini rain water fight at a stop light. This is basically shaking our arms so the rain flies off the rain jacket sleeves toward the other. Hey, might as well make the most of it, you know. The bike riding is the part of day I most look forward to. Riding as commuting is just a great part of my day.

I have been logging my riding in a little list where I record some notes, weather and distance. To date, I have logged 905 miles just commuting. Looks like I should hit 1000 by the end of April. Funny, as a vehicle commuter I paid absolutely no attention to how many miles I accumulated. What a nice feeling, because it even sounds like a lot for riding just 4 months. Evan and I were talking, because he probably has more miles than anyone else at this school as far as bike commuting. I have only driven him one day because he was ill, he is pretty pleased with that accomplishment. I'm pretty proud, too, for his commitment and that he enjoys biking.

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.

Spring? More Like Sprinter -- Pausing to Be Where I Am

I guess the commuting was mostly pleasant, at least I stayed dry and the heavier rain fell in between me being on the bike. The weather is certainly having its own with everyone - snow in the mid-west and east, warm temps south. Here it is really more like Sprinter - wanna be Spring with some bits of lingering Winter. The morning was cooler, but at least it was dry. The scullers are now out in the early mornings getting their training in. These folks were just getting off the water as I was riding past along the esplanade. Just like the waking grasses and the trees trying to re-awake after a long winter, even the people life is blooming, venturing out after a long winter of more hibernatory existence.

Through all the grey concrete, the grey clouds, the cold, dark of the Willamettte, in contrast to the mostly black lycra runners, the cherry blossoms pop out across the way along the Waterfront Park adding life to the otherwise monochromatic scene. Lately, I think on wishing the commute was just a little bit longer, to have more riding time to endlessly wander and enjoy.

This afternoon I could not really figure out what the weather was going to do, bright and dry, dark and rainy. I decided on taking a half chance and wore just the rain pants and my fleece jacket. Of course as I left I heard the alarm of the Steel Bridge and rode up in time to wait as the center section was being raised. I looked around but did not immediately see what was coming, in either direction. The light was a bit interesting, especially as it varied the reflectiveness of downtown buildings.

Shortly, I saw what was moving along the river, a classic looking fire boat. That was pretty cool and, again, really stood out against the otherwise grey landscape. While not a super tall boat, it gives you the idea of how much water there is on the Willamette. Only by moving more slowly than a car, by being a part of the scene have I noticed the "little" details happening, the details that have probably been happening all along. Gosh, how much have I missed all these years?

I guess it is much like when Evan was born. I made a conscious decision to make our time the priority, to put the adult world second when it was our time. He taught me well to see what we as adults see as ho hum as special, as worth pausing just to watch, to really watch and be amazed. I wonder if the cyclists riding past, as they appear to be mono-focused on getting to their destination are in their own way like the drivers who become blindered to the little things going on around them. I wonder if they think I am some kind of tourist or strange newbie, stopping to take all these pictures. Will I become one of the members of the zombie commuting world, regardless of transportation mode, shutting out or becoming apathetic to whatever is around and near to me?

Since I cannot see the future, I might as well embrace the moments, the pauses that always show me something new, something unique to that moment and time.

Bits of Rain, but Mostly Dry and the Sun Came Back

Definitely must be living in the Pacific NW. After yesterday's rain, today's morning ride was dry, peaceful, pretty and bright. I left home just as the need for seeing lights was fading. I have come to look forward to my morning ride, it gives me that solitude with fresh air to gather my thoughts, to slow the mind from thinking about all the things that need to get done. Instead of work, work, work, home projects and obligations, the thoughts slow to focusing on the light, shadows, reflections, clouds.

The Eastbank Esplanade is such a great place to ride, there are views in all directions that, depending on the time of day, can present some wonderful light. Of course, a little photo manipulation does not hurt, but it is only to present the emotion of what I felt and experienced.

The lighter mornings certainly have more people out earlier - walking their dogs, getting their morning jogs in, and, yes, a few more bike commuters. Even for this introvert, it is nice to see people out during my ride, helps that feeling of the world around me being alive, not just filled to structures, metal and pavement.

Apparently, someone thought I was too enthused about the idea of riding home in partly sunny skies. Just as I was about to head out the door the rain came. Argh! I swap out my fleece jacket for my rain jacket and put on the rain pants. The afternoon image above is a bit different than this morning's, heh? Fortunately, the rain was light and did not last very long, maybe 5 or so minutes. Then the clouds started clearing a bit.

I  had only a slight encounter with some early rush hour traffic as I turned off the esplanade toward Water Ave. at Clay St. Waiting to cross Water Ave. the traffic was backed up from MLK Jr. Blvd to Water Ave. Cars were overflowing in to the intersection. When my light turned green, a car that had been waiting to turn left lunged in to the intersection to join the long line of waiting cars. Fortunately, I saw them and just nodded. The cool thing is I then proceeded up Clay St. past the car that kind of cut me off and all the way up to the MLK Jr. Blvd intersection, where the light was red.

At the green, I crossed and was on my way. Given the line, that car would be about 3 more lights before making it through the intersection. Who has the last laugh now?

The further along, the clearer the skies got, to where it was a very nice ride home, even warm, the rain jacket a bit much. This is shot along SE Harrison St. as I rode along. These nice days are such a treat, especially as I remember all the less than nice days since the first of the year that I have ridden. It is a nice change from  rather monochromatic scenery to one of color, greenery.

Surprise, Surprise It's Raining Again

Well, the title says it all, it was raining both to school and work and returning home in the evening. Even so, I stopped inbound on the Steel Bridge and took this shot - grey, very wet. At least it was not cold, except my hands, gloveless, got a bit chilled. A few hand and finger stretches and movement worked the chill out while I waited at red lights (yep, I do stop at red lights, I'm one of those people).

The daily riding is making a difference in my riding strength. I decided to ride in single gear mode, my 38 x 17 combination, in both directions today. Since going inbound is mostly flat and downhill, the morning commute was very comfortable and was basically a nice cruise.

I have to say Evan's riding style is looking great. He has a pretty good cadence and is pretty smooth. Plus, he is getting some traffic experience and I've got him not riding too much to the right so he is more visible to moving vehicles and gives him an escape path, plus he has more reaction time for parked cars - door openings, pulling out, that sort of thing. I have to keep giving him credit for his commitment to biking the 4.5 miles between home and school. Since January, I've driven him just once due to still recovering from being sick, so kudo's for sure.

My single gearing ride home went amazingly well. I felt good and had enough energy and lungs to manage the standing climb up the steeper sections, which were not as hard as I thought they might be. Cool. Nope, no thoughts of converting to an actual single speed, I like my gears and there are much steeper challenges yet to come, I am sure of that.

I sure hope there a more dry days in the coming months, I am getting a bit tired of just rain riding.