PDX group rides !

HY.

Last Sunday Dan & I went on our 1st Portland group ride with Team Beer. (Dan's new boss is on the team.) Mid 40s and misty. We met at Bakery Bar (best scones in pdx. and cakes. and food made out of eggs.) and rode west out of the city on Cornell. The first climb was long.... there was a guy on a fixie with us too, and he made it. Can't imagine doing that ! We turned onto Thompson and climbed up that. Maybe Cornell doesn't go up...I can't remember. In any case, Thompson was the long climb. I kept up with the guys until the very end, and they got to the top a couple of meters ahead of me. Then we rode along Skyline--gorgeous road!!--and up Old Germantown. I can't remember then--maybe back to Skyline?--but we climbed more, and then went back down to the city. It was a fun,fun ride !

I saw this huge salamander going up Germantown and thought it was a dinosaur. You know when you're climbing, and you're working so hard that everything you look at looks really big? Well I saw this salamander under me (didn't squash it!) and it looked like this. I also spotted dozens of sweet VW busses. The view from Skyline is so pretty, you can see the low mountains near the coast if it is clear-ish.

Dan & I agreed that it's really nice to be riding with other people, not just each other. But when we are climbing we always fall into the same pace.. it's cute :-)

The week went by like always... rode to work in the morning, and home from work once. It stayed light out halfway through my commute home, and I arrived only 10 minutes later than I would have had I taken the MAX. Woot. I used my work desktop calculator nrrrrrrr and realized I ride a lot of hours a week with this commute. Yay for the suburbs.

Today I went on my 1st group ride with Ironclad. I was supposed to go last Saturday but was sick (and followed Axel's advice and got better by Sunday thx Axel now how to I get cankles?) I'd like to maybe join the team if things go well and we all like each other :-) and so far I like what I see! A few of us met at Dave's and rode out to Sauvie Island, where we met up with a few other people. There were maybe 20 of us? 15? There were 6 or 7 women. Everyone was really cool and friendly and we rode around the island twice at a conversational pace. Sauvie Island is great because it's right next to Portland, but it's all farms and kind of redneck. Just like home... except for the nude beach. Then we raced up Newberry(?), which is a 2 mile climb up the west hills. The guys raced up, and then the girls. Winners got sweet prizes. Mile one was steep as hell and hard. Mile 2 mellowed a bit and was much more manageable; there was a slight downhill spot where I could spin my legs a bit before climbing again. I made it up first among the women AND won one of these! After the hill we were all pretty much toasted, so we descended back to Portland and stopped at a cafe in NE. Mm vegan chili.. Then home. I'd been gone from about 10:45 to almost dark and Dan-o was worried! Fun fun fun day. I love bikes. Oh, the view of Mt. Hood from Germantown was GORGEOUS! It was HUGE and glowing white. That's what she said..

Other news: Dan & I are moving to a one bedroom apartment downstairs! It's in the same building, but on the 1st floor ( NO MORE HAULING THE BIKES UP!) and the unit is at least two times larger than our place now. We already moved the bikes & tires & stand & wheels & trainer etc and it looks like a team lives there or something. Tomorrow we'll move the rest of the stuff and get some hooks for the bikes. I'm pretty excited to have a regular sized fridge and stove !!!!

Oiii goodnite.