Portland Weather and Reach the Beach

It was inevitable, wasn't it, that I would get around to talking about the weather in Portland? From what the locals tell me, we've had an exceptionally mild winter here. For the last month, we've even had sunshine and relative warmth on several days. This came to an abrupt end yesterday when I rode to work in a Northwest snowstorm. By "Northwest snowstorm", I mean that white flakes were falling from the sky and immediately disintegrating upon reaching the ground. Still - pretty neat.

The thing I can't get over is just how unpredictable it is. If you want to take advantage of a pretty day, you need to step outside IMMEDIATELY or suffer the consequences of changing weather. Today was a prime example. For the last 3 weeks, I have been training for Reach the Beach, a 100-mile bike ride from Portland to the coast in May. (More on that in a moment.) The weather was pretty frightful this morning, and I put off my ride until afternoon. Finally, around 1:30 the skies cleared, the temperature rose to an acceptable 50 degrees, and I was off without so much as changing clothes.

My route today was short, just 14 miles to Mt. Tabor and back with a side trip to Movie Madness. Except for a few shorts drizzles, it was a fairly sunny ride to the top. But shortly after I got to the bottom, graupel (snow pellets) started falling. I was completely oblivious of this word before I moved to Portland. But when it's hitting you in the face, suddenly you must know what it's called. The graupel turned to a hard rain so quickly that there wasn't time to pull out the rain pants from my pannier. So instead I got wet. Soaked actually.

Here's the amazing thing. I passed a number of bikers on my long ride home in the driving rain, and I seemed to be the only one the least bit annoyed or inconvenienced by it. Most of them were actually smiling! So I smiled too, and it turned out to be a pretty good ride after all.

As for Reach the Beach, I'm pretty intimidated by the 100 mile distance, especially on my sad little mountain bike that doesn't give me much in the way of speed. But it's fun to have something to focus on. I'm planning on some morning training rides with coworkers, although we've only managed one so far.

Now for the sales pitch. Reach the Beach benefits the American Lung Association, and I have been given a nifty web page to allow my friends and family to donate to the cause. Think about contributing. Or come ride with me!

http://RTB.kintera.org/aeyates?faf=1&e=1619904459