fellowshipofthechainring.org

The Portland Bridge Pedal is a unique event that all Portlanders should do at least once. It is a family friendly bike ride that traverses all of the Portland bridges that cross the Willamette River, touted as the “second largest recreational cycling event in the country.” The route includes the Marquam and Fremont Bridges, two bridges that normally do not allow bicycles!! Another highlight is cycling along I-405, which is closed to cars in one direction.

Recommendation: ride in the earliest wave possible. Last year there was some cycling traffic jams going over the major bridges. Though the organizers claim to have corrected the problems this year, I anticipate that there will be some problems in the later waves, due to the combination of inexperienced and young riders along with the thousands more riders that will probably be turning out. If you are able to ride 15 MPH or faster (not terribly difficult), definitely do the 6:30am wave.

There are three distances: 14 miles (6-bridges), 24 miles (8-bridges), and 36 miles (10-bridge). I would recommend the 14 miler simply because to add two more bridges you have to ride to the St Johns Bridge (a fabulous bridge to cross, but a pretty boring ride to get out there). To increase the distance to 36 miles, the Sellwood Bridge is included. This adds a scenic ride both ways, but the Sellwood is not on my list of “fabulous bridges to cross.”

Cost:$25 adults, $10 children 12 and younger. For a team of 5 or more adults: $20. (Cost increases on day of ride). T-shirts cost extra. Contact Hobnob if you are interested in joining our team. I have created a team for the Fellowship. Email me at triguy76 @yahoo.com and I will give you the team code to register under.

For people with an aversion to cycling, there also is the Portland Bridge Stride, a 5-mile walk that includes crossing the Fremont Bridge. Again, fun to cross a bridge that normally is closed to pedestrians. And there are a lot of things happening on the Fremont, such as free Starbucks drinks and free photo ops. Cost for the Stride: $15 for adults, $10 for seniors 60 years and older. Children 12 and younger: FREE. T-shirt cost extra.

Well, I had to do it. Last Friday was the last day before I went on assignment to Southern California and Arizona, so I decided to get one last ride in before the trip. I set out towards the Murray Hill area. I took 170th south towards Hart. I was going to head over towards Murray Rd and on up to Scholls Ferry Rd, but I had an idea: why not see if I can handle the hill over 175th (over Cooper Mountain).

Everything seemed fine going up 170th. I was feeling great all the way to Rigert, and then I had to make a decision: left or right? Just feet before the stop sign, I made my choice; I turned right to climb the hill. Rigert didn’t look too bad. Once I turned onto 175th I began to wonder if I made the right choice. Just in front of me lay at least three hills back to back with just a little respite in between each climb. It had to be an 8% grade, but I can’t be sure. Either way, once I was on 170th, I couldn’t turn back.

Before I begin putting on airs that I defeated the hill on 175th in a glorious climb, I must make a few confessions. I admit it; I stopped to rest several times. I also admit that I didn’t need a heart monitor as I could hear my heart beat in my ears (have you ever had that happen?). I will even admit that I went into the granny gear. Hey! it was hot that day, and it was noon under the heat of the sun. In fact, I had my bike in such a low gear and the hill was so steep that I almost did a wheelie from pulling on my handlebars (that was mostly because I ride an MTB with slicks).

The payoff of course for any big hill is the descent, and this one didn’t disappoint. The best part of the descent is getting to exceed the 25mph speed limit around the top curves (it’s the one time I can use the whole lane and not worry about becoming one with the pavement). The only bad part was on the straightaway, there was a head wind and virtually no shoulder (with heavy traffic to boot).

There was one other downside, and that’s the length of the descent. Alas! It was over too soon. I thought I was going to get one more hill to go down, but before I could there was Scholl’s Ferry Rd (the end of the line as it were). I turned right on Scholl’s Ferry Rd. It’s a descent road to get from one road to another, but it’s certainly not a road to ride on simply to ride on the road. If I had more time, I should have taken Roy Roger Rd to Sherwood, but I thought I better get moving on.

I turned right on Tile Flat Rd., and that road was worth the ride. It’s low on traffic, and it was more beautiful that day than I ever can recall. Tile Flat is definitely a road worth riding up or down. Heading west from Scholl’s Ferry Rd towards Farmington, it’s a gently descending and meandering road (it’s not flat ironically).

I turned left on Farmington and took it to Rood Bridge Rd. I turned right on Rood Bridge Rd. It slowly rises to a little hill, and then it slowly descends and winds around beautiful farmlands. It then skirts the outside of the golf course. I kept myself entertained by wondering if a golfer could hit me and what it would take to get said golfer mad enough to take aim. Rood Bridge Road also takes you to Rood Bridge Park, which is a great place for the family. The park is huge with plenty of paved paths that wander through woods, by streams, and near open fields. I took the main bike path that had many twists, turns, and hills. It probably only added half a mile to the ride, but it was a great diversion.

Once I left the park, I was back in the suburbs of Hillsboro and mixing with heavy traffic. By this time, though, I thought that I should lengthen my ride, so I took TV highway westbound towards downtown Hillsboro, but I turned right at the intersection of Minter Bridge road and headed north towards Baseline. I turned right on Baseline and headed back home. TV Highway and Baseline both have wide shoulders, so it’s okay riding on to either add mileage (in my case) or to get to better roads, but I would have concerns about anyone who deliberately chose those roads as recreational opportunities. The bottom line on those two roads is that the traffic is heavy, but the shoulder is wide.

Stats

• Distance: 27 miles
• Difficulty: difficult (it’s all because of the hill, which is technically difficult due to the steepness, the traffic, and the small shoulder (the rest of the ride is easy)
• Highlights: Coming down 175th (not for the faint of heart), Tile Flat Rd

Conclusion

In conclusion, I don’t recommend this hill. I survived it, but I do not plan to ride over Cooper Mountain on 175th again. It is not worth it to battle the traffic and virtually non-existent shoulder. If I want to kill myself on a hill, I’ll do Bald Peak instead, where the traffic is lighter and the views are more magnificent.

Last Saturday, Triguy and I joined other seasoned MS150ers and some soon to be first-timers on a fun 30-mile ride around Forest Grove and up into the nearby hills. I highly recommend riding in that area. Forest Grove is a great place to start by heading either north (towards Banks and Vernonia) or south (towards Hagg Lake). This ride was a preview of day two: the 72-miler to Vernonia.

Here's a picture of us just before the last major hill of the ride.
I apologize for the image quality, but it was taken with a cell
phone with poor lighting conditions, or rather a poor choice
in camera angle

We started at Olson’s bikes (a great store to visit when in Forest Grove), and as is typical with the MS-150, we jogged a few lefts and rights to get out of town. Why do these rides always start that way (e.g. start on 19th, go .2 miles, turn left on Elm, go .1 mile, turn right on 20th, go 1 1/2 blocks, etc.)? My theory is that it’s mainly used to get that extra mile, so you’re not riding a 28.6 mile ride, but a 30 miler. I’m guessing that it’s essential with a century; you wouldn’t want to ride 99.2 miles and then stop would you?

In my opinion, any ride doesn’t actually start until you get on a road and ride it for more than 1 mile before turning onto another road. With that philosophy as a guiding principal, I’ll give you the route once it actually starts (that’ll save myself 10 bullet points on the route description). Here we go.

• Start by heading northbound onto Porter.
• Just after Verboort, street changes name (Heesacker). Soon after jog right (I know, I know) to Visitation
• Left on Visitation
• Visitation turns left on Osterman Rd
• Cross 47, and promise me you won’t let yourself get hit by a car (street name changes to Kemper Rd)
• Right on Kansas City Rd
• Right on Stafford Rd (this is the fun part) — Enjoy flying down the hill, but remember that you’ll need to stop at highway 6 or make an incredibly fast turn
• Right at HWY 6 — The shoulder is nice and wide, but still be careful, especially on the weekend
• Right at the Banks exit (mileage 12.6)



• Warning! Take a Left at HWY 47 and an immediate left at Wilkesboro !: (it’s not more than 30 feet away from the road you start on (I forgot its name)). Wilkesboro will change into Mountaindale Rd
• Right on Roy Rd (mileage 14.7
• Right on Greenville Rd. cross HWY 47 and don’t get hit
• Left on Kansas City Rd
• Right on Clapshaw Hill Rd (this is the biggest hill you’ll take, but most of its in the shade of fir trees, so it’s great on a hot day like last Saturday
• Stay to the Left at the fork in the road
• Left on Hillside Rd — have fun going down the hill (it’s short but sweet)
• Right on Kansas City Rd (you’ll only be on the road 200 ft)
• Left on Kemper Rd (name changes to Osterman after HWY 47)
• Right on Visitation (formerly known as Osterman (formerly known as Kemper))
• Right on Heesacker (name changes to Porter (after Verboort))
• Somewhere near Oak, start jogging your way to wherever you started your ride (start your cooldown routine (I recommend heading towards McMenamin's Grand Lodge, which is somewhere nearby on Pacific Ave)

This was a fun ride. I highly recommend riding with others. The conversation is always great and it makes the time fly. Kudos to Bob who led us on the ride. Thanks Bob.

Here we are in the parade. Note the patriotic
decorations on Elanor’s bike.

I am so proud of my daughter (we’ll call her Elanor the Fair) who participated in her first cycling event of many to come — hopefully. Elanor rode in the KUIK Kids Bike Parade at the Hillsboro Rotary 4th of July Parade. Elanor and 40 or so other riders kicked off the parade. We had a police escort and many cheering fans who lined the road. It was a regular Tour de France, only it was in Hillsboro and didn’t have any doping scandals.

Elanor got valuable experience riding in the peleton, and it wasn’t easy as there were several crashes. She paced herself and managed to not fall or get in any wrecks. According to Elanor:

It was fun, but also annoying in some ways. For example, I wanted to be in the back where it wasn’t as crowded, but somehow, I always ended up in the front. I was also annoyed because everyone was going so slow; I was expecting to go fast (I did get to go fast when I was traveling back to where we were sitting to watch the parade. Daddy had to run very fast, and I still beat him!) But riding in the bike parade did have its advantages: we met some friends from my school and saw many cute dogs. Not to mention a certificate for Cold Stone Creamery and for Pizza Paradise. It was fun!

A fun time was had by all. Thanks KUIK and Hillsboro Rotary Club! What a great way for a cycling dad to bond with his daughter.

I rode out to do my second weekly, Sunday morning hill ride, and I liked last week’s West Hills ride so much, I headed out to Barnes Rd. again. This time, I was instructed to make it shorter than last week. I was all too willing to oblige Mrs. Samwise, since I spent all day yesterday working on putting up a mammoth Costco playground set for the kids.

I decided that instead of making the last two hill climbs to Skyline (between the Calvary Mount Cemetary and the towers), I would shorten the ride by searching for the elusive new bike path that follows along the Sunset Highway. This would be a journey, a hero’s journey — only without the wise old man, without the side kick, and without a damsel to be rescued, unless you count the hopeless masses yearning for a safer route over the hills. I had no one to join me. I had to find the route alone (that is one element of the hero’s journey).

I started at the same time as the week before: 6:50, but I got a better start because I kept making the lights, and when I didn’t, I knew from last week’s tough lesson not to try to trigger the light but go straight to the crosswalk button.

I don’t recall many details about my approach to the West Hills, except for the parking lot of a park just north of Walker Rd & Cedar Hills Blvd. I stopped at the parking lot to heighten my saddle and consume an Orange Burst GU pack. When I went to throw away the pack, there was a guy sleeping in his car. I supposed that after the party at the park, he had the option of sleeping in the old sedan or attempting to drive home intoxicated.

When I saw the guy snoozing in his mid-sized sedan, I looked around and noticed several other cars with tenants in them as well. It was like Dignity Village, only with cars, and — I suppose — a little less dignity. I didn’t want to wake anyone from their beauty rest, so I rode on.

I crossed the Sunset Highway at Cedar Hills, which is always a bit nerve wracking — even on a Sunday morning. Soon after, I began climbing the soft, silky new pavement of Barnes Rd. (can you tell I like the new pavement there?).

I decided to turn at the entrance to the Sunset transit center even though it said autos only (I thought maybe it was to ward off those pesky pedestrians or Metro busses). My theory was that any new bike path designed to help out us intrepid cycle commuters was probably designed by Metro, and so the path must start at the transit center.

Soon, I was at the parking structure, and I saw a path, but there was a “no-bicycling” sign, and no bike path in sight. I rode around the area looking for some sign or path or even another cyclist, but nothing. I even rode around the parking structure, but — alas — zilch.

I then decided to scope out the area by St. Vincent’s Hospital before giving up. Just before the hospital is a crazy stop-light intersection with two right-hand lanes devoted only to Metro busses and a mandatory left-turn lane for cars — or bicycles in my case.

It’s crazy because I either have to take the left-turn only lane or take the crosswalk and cut to the left-hand side of Barnes. The left-hand lane would be great if there were any cars to trip the light, but there weren’t, so I had to ride to the crosswalk signal to push the button, and that’s where I saw it: the bike path. The clouds parted, a bolt of sunshine descended to the ground, and a rousing chorus of Vivaldi’s Spring rang out.

I finally found it: the elusive bike path — my white whale — and just like the leviathin, it disappeared before my eyes. You see, the bike path led only one way: towards the Sunset transit center. It seemed to end where I stood. Where did the path continue? It had to pick up somewhere, but where?

I crossed the crosswalk, scanned the horizon, looked for signs, and checked every visual spot where the path could go. It had vanished with nary a trace. It was as if the white whale submerged, not to be found again, and just like Ahab with his impotent sextant, no human instrument could tell me where to go. I suppose if I had a GPS device and a new map I might figure it out. Alack!

I looked at my watch, and decided I better call of the search. The only positive in this experience was that I would get to ride down the newly paved Barnes Rd. It was like floating on air (the shocks helped). I threw the bike into high gear, tucked, and sped off down the hill. I had a mild heart palpitation as I ran over some depression in the road or something, and the front of the bike swooped down a bit from having shocks in my fork.

The rest of the ride was uneventful, except I found that Cornell is just not a fun street to ride on west of 158th Ave, at least not on a Sunday morning. I kept hitting red lights. Next time, I’ll turn left on 158th and take it to either Baseline or Walker.

Epilogue

So, I did a little research on the bike path, and found the one I was looking for, it’s describe on the Oregon Zoo: How to Get There web page. It turns out that you need to start south of the Sunset Highway at Wilshire Rd. Finding a good route to Wilshire Rd. will be my next quest.

I was searching for bloggers to tag, and I came across this really cool blogger, named The Wise Old Bicycle Guy. He helps others with questions on bicycles and has a great heart for helping others who have had their bikes stolen, by unstealing bicycles. In a nutshell, he gets bikes for people who’ve had theirs stolen, but don’t read it from me, read his blog on un-stealing bicycles.

This is one guy who is honorable and right in the cycling world, and whether he likes it or not, I’m promoting him to an honorary member of the Fellowship of the Chainring. I extol you sir wise man!

My brother Kurt tagged me, and it may be a cheesy chainletter type thing, but it helps connect bloggers around the globe, and far be it from me to miss out on the fun. Here we go:

4 Jobs I’ve had

• High School English/Spanish/Social Studies Teacher – For six years I had to teach just about everything at a small magnet school (fun, but burn out city)
• Web Master – Not exactly full-time work
• Poster Maker – For the Chaplain’s Office at Whitworth College
• Drug Sample taker – for a half a day (it was a temp job, and I only accepted it because it was for half a day)

Movies I Watch Over and Over

• Raising Arizona – Boy! you’ve got a panty on your head
• Much Ado About Nothing – The joy of Shakespeare is that I can watch it more than 10 times and still not get everything; that way, it’s always fresh
• Princess Bride – I am not left handed either
• The Thomas Crowne Affair – The Pierce Brosnan version (hey! cut me some slack. It was the first version I watched)

4 Places I have lived

• Aloha, Oregon
• Tucson, Arizona
• Phoenix, Arizona
• Cordoba, Argentina – I had two roomates, and we all shared 1 room, and the kicker was that we had no refrigerator. I miss being woken up at 1:00 am with really loud and off-key neighbors having a party

4 TV Shows I watch

• Lost – I am a Lost junkie
• My Name is Earl – it must be because of the similarity to Raising Arizona
• The Office – It’s painful but funny to watch. The highlight of the show is Jim torturing Dwight with his ingenious practical jokes
• My Family – A British show my bride and I discovered one late Saturday evening

4 Places I’ve been on Vacation

• The San Juan Islands – by bicycle with my bride
• Lincoln City – I love riding from Newberg with El Cap (it’s a beautiful 72-miler that goes through the Van Duzer corridor)
• Victoria, BC – I proposed to my bride at the Butchart gardens there
• Camano Island – to visit our good friends, Linda and Jimmy. Jimmy and I killed a car there.

4 Websites I visit daily

• hughhewitt.com
• Tutorialized.com – Great for Flash tutorials, especially great for web design teachers
• my.yahoo.com - it’s the portal I use
• alistapart.com

4 Favorite Foods

• chicken – cooked with sauted onions, chopped green, yellow, and red peppers, with basil, parmesan cheese and pasta
• cottage fried potatoes – with red, russet, and yukon gold potatoes, and sauted onions
• chicken scampi – learned it from the Miller twins in Arizona. Thanks guys!
• Popcorn with wine – it’s a mid-evening staple

4 Places I’d Rather Be

• On my bike – Anywhere
• Mc Menamins – having a nitro stout and fries
• In-N-Out Burger – Double Double, Double Fries, and a Chocolate shake
• Paris France – not to be confused with Paris, TX

4 Favorite Bands/Singers

• Jars of Clay – Every CD takes the band in a new direction. They have never rested on their laurels.
• Sara Groves – Wow! what a song writer. Her ensemble is wonderful live
• Pink Martini – Portland’s treasure. They sing in 10 different languages. If there was any world, classical, or jazz music I have liked, they have managed to incorporate their influences in their music.
• Caedmon’s Call – Their “Share the Well” CD is the “Graceland” of Christian music

Bloggers I’m Tagging

• Timotheus, from Running Wheel - one of a handful of uni-cyclocross racers that compete in Oregon
• Sarah at Sumner House – Sarah is a college friend of my wife
• Jim Slagle – He does the Religion blog at oregonlive.com, and I worked and often conversed with him at Christian Supply one holiday season
• El Cap – You blog here. How about it?