topping 1000 miles!

On Monday, I rode my bike to home depot and back, as well as a round trip to the grocery store. On tuesday, I rode to work and back. Nothing too exciting, except the mileage from these trips puts me at over 1000 miles since I started keeping this blog. It's also roughly the 6 month anniversary of starting the blog, so I guess it's a big milestone in a couple of ways right now.

1000 miles in 6 months means an average of 5.56 miles a day, every day, since I started. Figure in that I only bike about 2 out of 3 days a week, and that means an average of 8.34 miles a day on the days that I do ride. I'm pretty proud of that.

These first 6 months have been easy to walk and ride in though. The weather has mostly been nice. I hope to keep up the pace over the next 6 months once the weather turns, we'll see.

16.6 miles
1012.78 miles cumulative
40.5112 total gallons saved

wrapping up august

On Saturday, I rode my bike to work. On the way home, I stopped by the grocery store to get a couple of things. Yesterday I rode out to home depot and back, and then later I rode to Belmont station and back.

16.42 miles
996.18 miles cumulative
39.8472 total gallons saved

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

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Rode my bike down the springwater cooridor this afternoon to holgate channel and caught this bass on my second cast. I got a flat tire on the way down and had to pay to get it fixed, so i'm glad to see a little payoff so soon!

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

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Took my bike out to salish lakes to try to do a little fishing. Havent caught anything yet, but saw a couple frogs, two osprey, and this snake. Still hoping to hook something.

portland adult soapbox derby day

pigs in space, immediately after this picture, they blasted me with a water cannon.

this one was my favorite that I got to see in the first couple of races. welded steel belly tanker looking thing. Fast!

mouse trap!

I started the day off right today, by biking up to the top of Mt. Tabor to check out the Portland Adult Soapbox Derby for a bit before work. The derby was a blast. My only regret was not having more time to hang out and watch the rest of the race. Biking up Tabor was a bit easier this time than the last time I did it, which was pretty gratifying after all the biking and walking and hiking I've been doing this year.

The ride up tabor and back to the house was 2.16 miles.

Afterward, I rode my bike to work, where I am now. I'll be riding home later, stopping at apizza scholls for dinner on my way.

9.36 miles today
929.85 miles cumulative
37.194 total gallons saved