Trail-a-Bike

It has taken me a week to write about last weekend. Though it was full of interesting things, they now seem long ago and unimportant, but we have some video and that is always fun. Greg wrote on his blog about his first ride with our trail-a-bike for Olivia. The next day we attached it to my single-speed, Bianchi SASS. I haven't ridden it much because the gearing is set up for trails and on the road I have to go really slowly or pedal really fast; it looks and feels ridiculous. We thought the trail-a-bike might be heavy enough to make the gearing more appropriate; it did. I'm sure it is heavier than the trailer because it was as difficult pull and the weight difference between my Milano and the SASS is huge; the SASS being much lighter. I was still able to make it up the hills without too much difficulty and that is more important to me than speed. Olivia has never ridden a bike as we don't have one small enough for her so she doesn't understand the balance involved and her wobbling pulls by bike inches from one side to the other which was a little disconcerting. Still we all had a wonderful ride and always enjoy being together as a family. Children are the greatest blessing I could imagine.

Around Town

Last Saturday, September 27th, Greg and I went on a ride around town. We had planned for weeks. Because we were going to be gone most of the day, we made arrangements for both grandfathers to take 2 and 3 children so they wouldn't be home alone for so long. We left about 6:00AM with lights. Unfortunately we were going to miss shopping at Farmer's Market, but it was a treat to see the venders unloading their trucks, talking, laughing, preparing for the morning under lights of their own. I was apprehensive about the first part of the trip; not because it was dark, but I knew there would be a lot of hills in the beginning and I don't like the warming up stage. Riding while the sky lightened with the rising sun was calming and encouraged me to endure the stage with patience. It is about 8 miles to the zoo (mostly up) and then we rode through Washington Park as the first rays of sun streaked through the trees. Coming in to downtown we rode by the Old Church and then to the Waterfront. It was a beautiful morning and the day and time made for light traffic. After riding along the water we crossed the Steele Bridge and began a trek north. We saw a bike light at a traffic stop. I don't mean a light that goes on a bike, but a traffic light in the shape of a bike telling us it was our turn to cross as our lane went from one corner of the intersection to the other. We felt so special. We had been hoping for a coffee shop, but hadn't planned exactly where we would be or what shops might be there. Greg decided to go down Killingsworth hoping to find something and find something we did. About 30th we passed a sign reading Extracto Coffeehouse. It was authentic and delicious. After that wonderful break we headed north again until we met up with the Columbia River and took a path that leads along it to the east. The sun hadn't been up long and the clouds rolled in and we were cold for a while, but nearing the river it warmed up surprisingly and we were comfortable. We did have to pull over to let a dump truck pass, but other than that it was probably my favorite part of the ride. At 148th we headed south again, cut over on Glissan to 122nd and a stop at Safeway for some juice and bananas. Continuing on 122nd we ran into the Springwater Corridor Trail after about 2 1/2 miles; about this time the sun came out and it was summer again. (As we began our journey we decided to count how many people we saw riding bikes. It was at this point in the journey when we reached 130 and stopped counting.) We headed toward Sellwood where we met up with the Willamette River and then north along the water until we again crossed the Steele Bridge and headed back the way we came, stopping once along the waterfront to enjoy the sun and take a break. (Counting bike riders in this area would have been a larger task than we could have accomplished, they were everywhere.) Actually, not exactly the way we came. We rode through the Portland Farmer's Market; what a test of patience that was! There were an unbelievable number of people and trying the walk through with a bike... We certainly didn't stop to look at or buy anything. We decided to ride back along Barber as the hills are lower, stopping at Fred Meyer for a candy bar for Greg; he needed it badly. Then we turned toward Multnomah Village and stopped for a slice or two of amazing pizza at the Lucky Lab. Greg was feeling great after getting some food, but my body was way done riding. Thankfully the path home was fairly level and relatively short and we reached the end of our journey, 65 miles, at about 3:00PM. A hot bath and quiet nap restored me quite well, but some arnica on my sore muscles before bed and a great night's sleep and I felt brand new. (I must confess that the next day Greg drove me to the stores to do all my grocery shopping.) I am looking forward to our next mega loop.