All Things Bikey

Pardon my recent obsession with biking, but the Portland culture has finally sucked me in. I'm helpless against the tide. This week, Portland became the first major city to achieve a Platinum level for being a Bicycle Friendly Community. This is no surprise. We have bike lanes and signals, many miles of paths, multiple activist websites, and even bycycle.org, a site where you can enter a start and end address and get the best bike route through the city. Thanks to my morning rides with coworkers, I've discovered even more great places to pedal. My new favorite ride is through Forest Park, which Wikipedia describes as "the largest natural urban forest reserve in the U.S." There is an unpaved road restricted to hikers and bikers that winds through the forest for 11 miles.

I've been continuing to train for the big ride in a few weeks, and this weekend I reached my own Platinum Level. First, I did the longest bike ride yet - 70 miles in 7 hours. Even better, as I was nearing the end of the Springwater Corridor Trail on Saturday, about 50 miles into my ride, a teenage boy beat his chest and gave me the “hardcore” sign. Approval from a teenager!

The long bike rides have really elevated my mood as the Portland weather continues to be temperamental. Saturday was sunny and 75. Today is rainy and 49.

I’m already looking past the ride for new goals that will keep me training. That’s where the Sisyphean Cruller Crawl comes in. In late June, Portland will be holding Pedalpalooza, a two-week celebration of all things bikey. Anyone can post an event to host during this time, and all riders are welcome. The variety is astounding, a little something for everyone. There are tamer family rides and bike repair clinics. There’s a Bowie vs. Prince mobile dance party, a Zombie Ride, a midnight to sunrise ride, and of course the world-famous naked bike ride.

My coworkers and I have decided we need to host our own event. We’ll be organizing the Sisyphean Cruller Crawl, two early morning hill rides that will end at the tops of peaks on the west and east side of Portland. Nick, Harrison, and I will be leading the ride and hauling doughnuts and coffee up the hill for all the other riders. This accomplishes two things. We get to enjoy an invigorating morning ride, AND we get to brag about how badass we are for carrying the extra weight.

Check out the Pedalpalooza schedule, with a link to our Cruller Crawl website. (I threw the site together quickly the other night, and yes, I realize I have the web design skills of a third grader. Nick will fix it up for us when he gets the time.)

Pedalpalooza

Sisyphean Cruller Crawl

FYI, I don’t think about biking ALL the time. Candice and I went for a hike in the gorge this weekend too!

Bridge to Bridge... to Brews

Today, I decided to take a break from the rigorous training for Reach the Beach to do something a little different. I ran a 10K! Not exactly relaxing, but a great experience nonetheless. I've never been much of a runner and didn't exactly plan for this. My coworker Harrison mentioned it early in the week, and within minutes we were both signed up.

As luck would have it, the race began and ended at the Widmer Brewery, about 10 minutes walk from my house. We started by running over the Fremont bridge and into NW Portland. For those unfamiliar with the city, Portland is essentially divided in half north to south by the Willamette River and divided east to west by a road called Burnside. The business district and heart of the city is on the west side of the river south of Burnside. The northwest offers trendy and expensive shops and condos along with a large industrial area. Of course, all the cool people (like me) live on the east side of the river, and if you're lucky enough to land a job on the east side (also like me), you don't have to venture west much at all.

If you do decide to venture west, however, there are a number of choices for getting there. I think I mentioned in a previous post that one of Portland's nicknames is Bridge City. There are 10 bridges that connect the east and west. Starting from south Portland and going up the bridges are Sellwood, Ross Island, Marquam, Hawthorne, Morrison, Burnside, Steel, Broadway, Fremont, and St. John's.

Each of these bridges has its own unique character and features. Suspension bridges, drawbridges, double decker bridges. Most are pedestrian and biker friendly. The Hawthorne and Steel Bridges connect the east and west bank esplanades to make a nice loop where runners and bikers flock.

The Fremont bridge, where we started our run, is not one you'd normally consider fun to walk across. It's an interstate bridge, used to get people quickly past the city on their way to Seattle in the north or Salem in the south. But I'd wager that Fremont does get the occasional walker based on the number of Suicide Help Line signs posted along it.

After crossing Fremont, we ran through the industrial area of Northwest Portland then turned south again to eventually cross the Broadway bridge back to the east. At the finish line, we headed for the brewery for our complimentary hot dog and beer. Widmer makes a Hefeweizen that is pretty popular even back east. They also have a Drop Top amber that I'm pretty fond of.

Recovering from the race required a two-hour nap in the afternoon, and some yogic stretches this evening. The good news is I can finally scratch that 10K off my New Year's resolution list. It's been there for about 8 new years.

Rodent Wars

It was 3:30 Sunday afternoon. I'd just showered after an epic 60-mile bike ride, and I was plopped down on my bedroom floor drying my hair and congratulating myself for being such a badass. In the mirror, I saw a flash of something behind me and trained my eyes on the spot. Eek! A mouse. That's about the time I let out a squeal and jumped my bad ass up onto my bed.

We've had these visitors for nearly two months now, but they seem to be getting bolder. We've tried homemade and store-bought humane traps filled with treats fit for royalty - cheese, bread, peanut butter, even Karen's apple butter! They aren't interested. Our upstairs landlord set real traps and found all of his bait eaten the next day, only managing to catch one. Then he put out the poison. That seemed to cure his problem upstairs. Meanwhile, I ate several fistfuls of trail mix last week before noticing the large hole that had been gnawed in the bag. We switched to poison ourselves about a week ago, but the mice have turned their tiny noses up at it. On most days, we don't even see traces that they've been in the house. But every once in awhile, something like this happens. One morning, I went to move the garbage can from under the sink, and a mouse leapt out and ran under the stove.

Yes, I know. I lived in Africa. I had a rat terrorizing my place for weeks. Not to mention bedbugs, malaria-ridden mosquitoes, the occasional tarantula. I should be immune. But I want these suckers gone! They're really damaging my badass rating.

Maasai Warriors Run the London Marathon

I thought this story was fascinating. They're not only running the London Marathon, they're doing it in full Maasai garb, car tire shoes, and without drinking water. You can also donate to their cause - to raise enough money for drinking water in their community:

Maasai Marathon

Speaking of insane things, I am continuing to train hard for Reach The Beach. I will NOT be doing it in car tire shoes. Yesterday was my biggest ride so far - 53 miles of hills (with a cheeseburger in the middle). I am less concerned about my endurance than I am about my speed. I can't seem to average more than about 10 mph on my poor old mountain bike. I blame the bike, but I've been doing some reading about my biking style and that may play into it as well. I'm usually riding in my highest gear, figuring that will get me where I'm going the fastest. But I'm going to change that strategy, since it strains my muscles more than necessary and isn't faster than picking a comfortable gear.

Thanks to those who've donated, by the way. The first round of cookies went out this morning!