another 14 miles.

After I rode down to the Holgate Channel on the springwater corridor to go fishing, I rode my bike back up to green dragon for lunch and a couple of beers. When I was done there, I head over to the shop to pop in for a visit, before riding to Belmont Station to grab a couple of more beers to go, and then returning home.

14.18 miles
979.76 miles cumulative
39.19042 total gallons saved

Salish pond

I took another picture of the snake a little later, I think it was better than my last one, and certainly the best I could do with my phone, which seems to be permanently set to "wide angle".

As noted in my last post, I rode my bike to Salish ponds today, between Portland and Gresham, to go fishing. I had never been there before, and had read some good things online, so I thought I'd go check it out. The DFW website said that west Salish pond was regularly stocked with rainbow trout, but that it hadn't been stocked for the last two months. I figured there must still be some fish left in it, and if not, I could at least go for some of the warm water species that live there.

I rode 19.13 miles to catch trout, and didn't.

The ponds were a big disappointment. They looked like they might have been rock quarries at one point. Whatever they were, they are now roughly round, featureless, obviously man made pits in the ground that have since been filled with water. The bank is literally the lip of a hole that drops straight down, leaving the lakes without shallows, or other natural features to hold fish. Being there 2 months since the last stocking (and one week before the next one) must have left me fishing the lakes with the least amount of fish in them that they have all year, and the results backed that up. To my credit, no one else on either lake had caught anything the entire time I was there, and there was no sign that any of them had caught anything before that either. The others surrounding the banks were mostly Mexican immigrants, with a few Ukrainians mixed in for good measure. Many of them had small children that spent the day throwing large rocks into the lakes, ensuring the few remaining fish were too spooked to feed. Bank fishing in Portland Metro is for suckers.

Lesson learned.

19.13 miles
965.58 miles cumulative
38.6232 total gallons saved

no case of the mondays here.

I had off of work today, and wanted to go on a long bike ride, but I got caught up with some errands, so I decided to stay close. I skipped breakfast, so come the afternoon, I found myself looking up recipes on the internet.

I decided I was going to make some traditional Hungarian chicken paprikas for dinner; so I called up Edelweiss to see if they had any imported Hungarian paprika in stock so I could do it right. Turns out they did, so I swung by on my bike and picked some up. I've read over and over that if you want to make good hungarian food, that you need to use real hungarian paprika. The spanish stuff in the grocery store just wont cut it. I've been making do with what I had, so I'm looking forward to the real thing tonight.

After Edelweiss, I cut over to new seasons for the rest of the ingredients I needed (as well as a cantillon gueze and a green flash imperial IPA), and then I came home. That will probably be the extent of my riding today. We'll see.

5.67 today
900.89 miles cumulative
36.0356 total gallons saved

Multimedia message

(old rasputin on nitro at green dragon)

Today was a good day for riding bikes. I started out riding a new route to work, to take advantage of the SE edition of sunday parkways , an event that turns a course of streets into car free temporary "parks" connecting the permanent parks in the area, making one big park. The bike traffic was fantastic. Too many people to move as fast as i'd like, but the quantity really added a lot of energy to the event. Along the route, there was free water, lemonade, iced coffee, etc., as well as yard sales, performers, and festival like events in all the permanent parks. On my way home i stopped at green dragon for dinner and beer, before returning home. I had an old rasputin on nitro, and a rogue imperial porter with a buffalo chicken sandwich and fries. Delicious! Yesterday i also rode to work and back. The weather has been good, and i've really been enjoying myself. I'm off most of this week, so i hope to get a nice long ride in. We'll see.

On a side note, i noticed myself in the mirror today just before i hopped in the shower. All this walking and biking has thickened my legs quite a bit. Now I need to take up rowing or something to even everything out.

(sent from my phone from green dragon)

14.4 miles this week
895.22 miles cumulative
35.8088 total gallons saved

98 miles in one day

looking over the gorge from the vista house

the view of the bridge of the gods from a burger joint in cascade locks

vancouver point scenic view point

I've been slow to update here, but it seems like these days I want to wait for something exciting to write about before I log on.

First, I'll start with the dry stuff. Since my last post, I worked 6 days. I was forced to drive one of those, but on the rest, I took my bike. I also made a trip to the grocery store on my bike because I needed to get a few things for the house to prepare for a bridal shower that my wife was putting on. All that riding added up to 38.2 miles.

Yesterday, I wanted to go to the gorge. Specifically, I wanted to go out to Hood River, so I thought I'd give it a go on my bike. I started from the house and went up Division until 148th, then cut north, under the 30, to Sandy Blvd., and then headed east once more. On the way, I stopped when I saw Grants cheese steaks, which I had read makes the most authentic philly steaks in Portland. Since they're only open monday through friday with limited hours, I took the chance to try them out while I could. It was the real deal! Best bread I've had on the west coast, good sharp flavorful cheese, and I got the peppers and onions, which were solid. While I was finishing up, a guy asked if he could sit at my table, and I said sure. I recognized his accent immediately. I told him the steak was pretty authentic, and he agreed. He was a regular since moving from Allentown PA.

From Gran'ts, I continued east on Sandy until I got to Troutdale. Riding your bike on US 30/84 is illegal between it's junction with the 405, and 238th ave, which is exit 17. Still, I didn't take the 30 when I could have, opting to go the scenic route along the Sandy river, into the hills, using historic columbia river highway. In the past, the only time I had taken the historic route was in a car, so it hadn't been so obvious to me just how far out of the way it took you. Still, the ride was nice, the views were great, and overall, I'm glad I did it. I guess I should have realized how much climbing was involved, and if I did, I might have taken the easier route, but by the time I really started my ascent, I had too much time invested in the route, so I chose to continue.

My first real stop was at at the vista house. I stopped to take a quick picture, but my legs were already starting to burn, and the place was crammed with tourists, so I quickly got moving again. The ride down from vista house was probably the most fun leg of the trip, although with all the switchbacks, I guess you could say I was going nowhere fast (except down). I think I was able to take the turns a lot faster than the people in cars, as I never had one behind me the whole way down, which was nice because there was no shoulder, and I was taking most of the lane. At the bottom of the drop down from vista house, I continued east. Lots of short ascents and descents, but overall, the ride continued taking me higher into the gorge. I stopped at Multnomah falls to get some water, and then again further up the highway to try another fountain along the side of the road. Properly hydrated for the first time of the trip, I rode to the end of the columbia river hwy. At the end, I briefly rode the shoulder of the 30, before seeing a bikers alternative route. From my viewpoint, it appeared to run parallel to the rode, separated only by a concrete median, so I hopped on that. Unfortunately, after I had ridden on it for a bit, it began to climb away from the road, and up into the forest. Again, it was a beautiful way to take, but given the distance I was attempting, I began to regret not taking the direct route. When the biking route returned to the 30, I was surprised to see it ended in couple flights of stairs. I hopped off my bike, carried it down the steps, and followed the path under the 30 to the opposite side of the road, where it continued winding back and forth, through (mostly) climbs and (some) descents. The weaving back and forth and up and down, and under the freeway really added distance to the trip. When I finally emerged from the alternative route, I was in the town of cascade locks.

I had given myself a couple of options early in the trip for how I was going to get home. The ride to Hood River was 62 miles (if I had taken google's car directions, which would have been illegal by bike) . When I got about half way, I realized that I'd have to be crazy to try to knock out the round trip in one shot in my current condition, so I decided I'd either turn back then, or if I was guaranteed a ride home from hood river, continue on, since it would be the same distance, and I would have achieved my goal. If I could make it to hood river fast enough, I could even catch the bus back, and not have to inconvenience anyone.

I sent my wife a message, asking her if she would come meet me in Hood River if I wasn't able to catch the last bus back, and she agreed, so I continued on. After riding another hour and a half, she sent me a message saying that she had changed her mind, which left me abandoned, an hour and a half beyond what I had decided was "the point of no return". My only option was to ride my hardest, and hope to make it to Hood River in time for the last bus out. Several miles past cascade locks on the 30, I stopped to check the time, and realized there was no way I would make it in time. I wasn't sure how I'd get back, and didn't want to add the last 15 miles to my ride (30 round trip), so I reversed course and headed back to cascade locks, hoping that they had a bus station where I could intercept the west bound greyhound that I would miss in Hood River.

Turns out they didn't have a bus stop after all.

With my phone dieing, the temperature dropping, my body giving out, my spirits crushed, abandoned by my wife, screwed by the greyhound schedule, and 45 miles from home on the shortest legal route; I did what any man would do. I got the biggest cheeseburger the town had to offer. I stopped at a place at the end of town with a beautiful view of the gorge and the bridge of the gods. The entire inside was full of native american artifacts and antique guns. I got "the big chief", a 2/3 pound burger with everything you could put on it. It was delicious, and it raised my spirits some. When I left the restaurant, I realized that the cold was beginning to set in. I was in shorts and short sleeves, and I knew the sun would set before I would return home, so I was discouraged once again. With no other option, I began peddling west once again. I knew that I wouldn't be able to handle all the extra climbing on the historic hwy route, so I just stayed on the 30. I was getting very weak, but the desperation of the situation kept the adrenalin going, and I repeated the following mantra in my head: "you don't have to get there fast, you just have to get there". I found that the 30 offered a much flatter ride, and although it wasn't noticeable at the time, following the river down to Portland must have offered a slight downhill grade, which made things a bit easier on me. I had to take several breaks. There were a few times when I just didn't think I could keep going, and I had to stop a bit to rest. One of these places was a scenic turn off, at Vancouver point. The furthest up river a british ship had traveled in the 1700's, on a trip that had named the point and many other features of the river, as well as Mt. Hood itself.

I stopped again not much further up in Troutdale, were I got a redbull and some gatorade. I stopped again in the Park Rose area of portland, when I spotted a porta-potty, which I was in desperate need of. From there I peddled non-stop until I reached home. A long shower helped fix things, but my legs are still in pretty terrible shape.

I spent most of the night awake. No matter what position I placed my legs in, they would begin to cramp, and I'd have to move them to get the pain to stop. It went on for hours. Eventually sleep took hold, and I most have stopped moving my legs because they're very painful today.

I "mapmyrun.com'd" the voyage, and realized I was just short of my first century ride. 98 miles. Had I known I was that close, I would have pushed on an extra 2 miles, just to say that I rode 100 miles in a single day. Still, 98 is impressive, and by far, my personal best.

136.2 miles this week
759.02 miles cumulative
30.3608 total gallons saved

May 28th

Yesterday I rode my bike to work and back.

I'm not really sure why, but lately I've been thinking about pickled eggs a lot. Which is weird, because I can't even remember the last time I ate one.

I'm competitively loosing weight right now, which means I don't get to do much cooking, so I thought it would be a perfect time to make my own pickled eggs. I get to cook them, which gives me something to do right now; but they wont even be ready until after the contest is over, so there's temptation to screw up my fast right now.

Anyway, I needed a lot of ingredients, so I also walked down to the grocery store and back last night.

When I got home I made habanero garlic pickled eggs. They should be pretty awesome, but I wont really know until I after I get back from our trip to Europe.

may 28th

9.4 miles
458.74 miles cumulative
18.3496 total gallons saved

May 27th

Today, I started the day by riding down to our friends house with my wife. We're playing "the biggest loser" to see who can lose the most weight in a set amount of time. After weighing in, we rode to Stumptown to get some coffee, and then back to the house. Later, I rode my bike out to my friends house to take care of his cats. While I was out in that direction, I went to home depot to get some things for the store, and then I rode home. After that trip, I walked to Fred Meyer and back to get a "for sale" sign to put in my truck. After I got the sign situated in my truck, I went for another bike ride with my room mate. We rode down to the spring water corridor, down to Sellwood, and then up through the Woodstock neighborhood and then back to the house.

I feel pretty good about the day. I got a lot of things done, didn't use any cars, racked up a lot of good mileage, and finally got my truck on the market. 22.63 miles by bike/2.3 on foot.

All good steps in the right direction.

may 27th

24.93 miles
449.34 miles cumulative
17.9736 total gallons saved

May 25th

Yesterday I rode my bike to work. Afterwards I stopped at green dragon for a beer, then rode back to the house. As I was turning into the driveway, I got a message saying to meet down at Dot's. I rode to Dot's for dinner before returning home, later in the evening.

may 25th

10.58 miles
424.41 miles cumulative
16.9764 total gallons saved

May 24th

Today I was all over the place, and I went by bike. I think I'm going to start including bike trips on here. I still like walking, but I've finally come to terms with the fact that sometimes I need to ride my bike because otherwise I can't fit everything I need to do into one day. It's still avoiding the car, which I guess is the main point.

This morning at 8:00, I went over to a friends house to take care of his cats while he is away. Later in the morning, I took my bike on a hunt for new brake pads, which ended up seeing me to 3 different stores around SE. After I found the pads, (and got a new lock), I returned home to install everything. After that, I rode over to Belmont Station to get a couple beers for a BBQ tonight. After I returned home with those, I made one final trip to new seasons for some last minute grilling stuff, and then came back. It didn't feel like I spent too much time traveling today, since I I was able to get a lot of other things done; but mapmyrun.com reveals that I went 15.98 miles running all my errands.

may 24th

15.98 miles
413.83 miles cumulative
16.5532 total gallons saved