A late summer Oregon day, with no clouds, and no wind, seemed like the perfect day to go out to the Columbia Gorge to do one of the best bike rides in Oregon. That is the Columbia River Historic Highway trail, a smooth as glass, wide asphalt trail snaking under trees, hugging the rock guard rails and white beam fences that separate you from the cliffs overlooking the river.  It is our preference to go into Hood River, taking the Highway 35 exit from I-84 and head up to the Mark O. Hatfield Trailhead.  There is a small fee to park at the trail-head.  Alternatively you can park at the base of the hill and ride up.  Its a little steep and make sure you don’t park on private property. But hey, pay a couple of bucks to support the parks system or don’t use the rest rooms.  After visiting the visitors center you can immediately hit the paved trail and begin the ride.  The trail does have a few rolling ups and downs. Its not entirely flat like the railroad bed Springwater Trail, but it is not particularly challenging, since this ride is all about the riding, not the finishing.  After a few miles under the shade of the maples, the Mosier Twin tunnels emerge.

The first thing you see is the rock retaining system built to catch and stop boulders the size of SUVs, preventing them from falling off the cliffs and inflicting much damage to things on the trail.  If you look carefully, you will indeed see evidence along the trail of rocks falling and making large dents in the asphalt.  The rock retainer is not an original structure, but it does seem like a pretty good idea.

The tunnel is unique in that is has portals in it that provide unique views of the Columbia River.

At the end of the paved bike trail, you emerge onto the section of the Historic Highway that is open to cars as well.
At the stop sign, turn right and ride up the hill to the other Hatfield trail head.

At the end of the paved road, you will find the trail-head on the left, where there is also another parking lot and restroom.

The design of the highway is significant for many reasons. One of which was the desire to restrict the incline in order to make the drive more passable for cars of the era. As the sign shows, a ride through  the gorge that is limited to 5% is pretty nice. Although, I dont know what to do with the knowledge that the cross slope is only 2%.

After a downhill plunge into Mosier, the road and the views open up to wide vistas filled with orchards,  mountain sides, and the river. This road really isn’t used much for fast transportation. That kind of traffic prefers the interstate.  The traffic on this section of the road are either locals, or those people that are out on their motorcycles and convertibles, just so they can enjoy the ride.  These people are rarely a hazard for bike riders.

Continuing out the highway, about 11 miles from the end of the trail, you finish your climb up to Rowena Crest. Here is a great spot to soak in the sun and the views.

The other side of Rowena Crest, you can enjoy a fantastic descent through the switchbacks down to the river elevations.  This road will then take you out to The Dalles.  The Columbia River Interpretive Center is a great destination, to stop, look around, ride the trails down to the river, eat, use the restroom and then turn around to make the trip back.  I usually have my doubts about those guys that boast about how great their climbs are, but this climb is a very good one. From the base, you look up to Rowena Crest, and it appears intimidating. But you have to remember that 5-6% incline limitation and take solace in all those switchbacks, then just settle in and enjoy the climb.

Here we are heading back on to the trail, where the cars are not allowed.  Its nice to see the availability of the handicapped parking right at the end of the trail. And riders need to keep in mind that this trail is not only for bikes.

The trail really is one of the best rides in the state of Oregon, and we think fall is the best time to ride it.
A ride from Hood River to Rowena Crest and back is about 24  miles, continuing out to The Dalles will add about 22 to that total.  We finish the day with a meal in downtown Hood River, and that makes for a great weekend.

Honey and I rode on Cycle Oregon weekend ride out of Astoria. I haven’t finished my writeup yet, but here’s a few old buildings we stopped at along the way.

(Or-Bad camera karma day 2)

Honey and I have done this ride on three separate occasions.  Each time the rains and the winds we rode through made for great stories afterwards.  One such year it rained so hard that it washed away many of the directional arrows, which can make staying on course a bit of a challenge.  Another year saw head winds out in the straight and flat roads on the valley floor so relentless that I think I may have used my lowest gears I had. And this was on a flat part road.  So when we saw that this year the Strawberry Century was happening on a great weather day, we just had to go so that we could experience what the ride would be like if we actually enjoyed it.  And we certainly did enjoy the sunny blue skies.  Looking back on it, we would have used more sun screen.  The route has been modified, taking out the long loop through the valley floor.  Most of the roads were quiet, all were quite scenic, taking us east from Lebanon, circling Foster Reservoir and heading back through Sweet Home and Scio. There were no monster climbs, yet enough rollers and small climbs so that you knew when you were done,  you have done some climbing.
Plus, and very generous helping of strawberry shortcake and ice cream at the end.   We do so enjoy the rides that provide us a treat at the end.  It seems to help get us through the last leg, when our energy is starting to wane and the muscles begin to ache.

Oh, it was another bad camera karma day.  There is always so many details I need to take care of and equipment to pack.  What you don’t want to do is overlook something or assume that some critical detail is covered.  For example you should never just through your camera in the bag and assume that your batteries are charged, or that you have spares with you.  That is when you find yourself out on the ride, only to learn that the camera you packed is now just useless dead weight.

I was surprised to see this sign announcing the coming of a new bike box, while approaching the intersection of Taylors Ferry and Terwilliger, on my latest bike ride to work. I admit I was also a little baffled as to the importance of installing a bike box on this intersection. Yes, I am a cycling advocate, and I realize that there is a fair bit of bike traffic on this road. I am just not convinced that there is enough bike traffic, nor is there a more than significant danger to cyclists that can be alleviate the risks. I am pretty sure that this will require a restriction to right turns for the 3 lanes that currently have that option. Which will further back up traffic, cause confusion, and will simply be disregarded by some drivers anyway, which, since they will be turning from farther back in the intersection, will only serve to cause more danger to everyone around them. The first bike box I saw, was the one on Madison, just off the west approach to the Hawthorne bridge. We were on our bikes at the time. When we got there, a car was stopped at the light, in the middle of the box. I think the boxes are a great try and it does raise driver awareness a bit. I am just not convinced its the right answer.

You can get much more in depth perspectives at BikePortland.org

The Portland Tribune just had a good article on bike boxes.
“Not all cyclist go bonkers for boxes.”

“I had the right to remain silent; but apparently, not the ability.”
– Ron White describing an arrest after having one or two, too many.

We take the burley bike cargo trailer along for many of our urban rides. Even on rides we do just for fun. Some times we need it, sometimes we don’t.
I have documented some of those trips with the Burley here.

One day last week we got a few things from Lowes.

There are at least three reasons for taking the trailer, even when I may not need it.

1. I believe drivers give you a little more respect, courtesy and wider berths while towing something with your bike. Riders using their bike for some utilitarian purpose tend to be more responsible, predictable and are in some way proving their worth to those drivers who don’t believe bikes have this right. So, anything to make our rides safer is a good thing.

2. Towing the trailer adds resistance, which adds to the overall exertion and workout level of my ride. In that way even rides of short time or distance effectively seem longer.

3. On rides with no pre-determined agenda, I have learned to take it along. These are the rides that Honey says, “maybe we can stop at (insert any store-name here). I just want to look, I don’t have to buy anything.”
And my headvoice is saying “She has the intention to shop without buying anything; but apparently,…….”

A year before the 15 year-old Beaverton boy lost his life while riding his bike, in a collision with a TriMet bus Austin Miller wrote an opinion article on bike safety for his school newspaper titled, “Please Do Not Run Me Over.”

Writing under the pseudonym “Charlie Elsewhere”, the article was published in The Savant, the school newspaper at the Art and Communication Magnet Academy in Beaverton, where Miller was a sophomore.

Below is the article, published with permission from Austin’s family.

Please Do Not Run Me Over
by Charlie Elsewhere, Columnist

It is well known that these days, the roads and parking lots of our public places are growing with numbers of bikers. With wild peddling racers zipping down the road and through intersections, it is apparent that drivers would need to have an increasing awareness for how they turn the wheel.

Long ago, I lived in a place called Vortex Sorrows. In this town, leagues of bikers ruled the streets-hardly a car was there to be found. When the ever growing and popular motorcar came to town, there was an outrage. “Too fast!” said Vortex residents. “And loud and polluting!” it seemed for the drivers of the town there would be no sympathy. And yet, more and more people found an easy escape to the time consuming, expensive and difficult task of biking, which was to buy cars which pollute their environment, loose the aspect of exercise all together and spend over four times as much on gas. I remained constant. I did not succumb to the new, hip trend of car buying. I eyed no sedan dealership, no gas station-only bike galleries and shops. It never occurred to me that I might get more pleasure out of having less money and more weight for the simple exerting exercise of peddling five miles to school and back.

Within a time span of about two weeks, what was once a league of bikers which would join me on my morning route became nothing but me, that strange kid Logan who no one liked to talk to, and a road packed full of red brake lights. Every day, I would hop aboard my bicycle, clip on the helmet and take off toward home, and on my way I would often see red, frustrated faces of the motorcar drivers as they slammed on their brakes and honked their horns. Me? I was smooth sailing, begin the juices flowing and the chemical reactions reacting to push a cloud of good feelings into my mind and body.

And yet soon, even Logan took to the big yellow school bus, and I was left alone. I later petitioned to bring back the art of cycling to Vortex Sorrows-in full. I put up posters, ran for town jr. mayor, and petitioned for new laws restricting the amount of driving that could be engaged in during weekdays. Just when the future of Vortex’s residence began to seem brighter, a revolution happened against me and I was run from the town.

A lot of drivers seem to get frustrated by myself, and other bike loving pedalists. Usually I wouldn’t think so, but attempted hit and runs and getting chased through Mrs. Higden’s Hydrangea garden by an SUV crazed Blackberry loving business man was a slight indication that there may be ridged feelings over the way we ride. Now, to set the record straight, I give no excuses for bikers-or drivers-who brake laws and endanger their and other people’s lives. Anyone who shares the road with me and the rest of us needs to be aware that they are not the only ones, and their lives depend on everybody working together. Unfortunately, in this day and age, I see more drivers whining and complaining about biking behavior than actually trying to do something about it. If I spent all my waking hours crying over every time a driver cut me off, nearly hit me, did hit me, or any other offense, would anything be done about it? No. Talking about how much you hate bikers is not going to solve the fact that they are here-they are here to bike, to bike safely, and they are not going anywhere.

How would we solve this biking problem? Well for starters, why don’t all major roads have bike paths? With an increasing number of adults who choose the healthier way to get there and back again, they too travel on the same roads as any driver would on his or her way to work. Instead of complaining about having to share a road with a biker, why not ban together to get bike paths made standard, so that they can stay out of your way. There are so many things that can be done, and are so obvious it just makes one want to scream. And yet there are some things that have no solution.

Bikers will always be here; as long as it costs less than driving, helps us stay fit and pumps those feel-good chemicals throughout our body, we will remain on the early morning pavement, and that will not change. There is no excuse for a driver who does not pay attention and mind not only other cars but bikes. You cannot control other people’s actions, but you can control your own. Why anyone would rather sit inside a massive metal death trap for their commute is beyond me, but there are those with family, disabilities and other impairing things keeping them from biking. There will never again be a society 100% dedicated to driving or biking. It is like all other integration that had to happen in history-it takes time, patience, and a great deal of compromise.

There will always be hard feelings about this subject-we can only hope that no one will get hurt or loose a loved one due to a lack of responsibility and respect for the road. These are dangerous times, and especially for bikers, our fate lies not only in our hands, but in the hands of the drivers of which we share the road. I am glad for every day I reach the X point unscathed, but besides doing everything I can for myself, I cannot control you, I can only mutter these few words in a hope that it might do good: please do not run me over.

text via BikePortland.org

I got mail from Yaquina Wheels bicycle club, about their upcoming Lighthouse ride.
This is a very nice route and ride. It is on our calender for this year.
The Vine ride in Newberg is usually on the Saturday before, (though they havent updated their site for this year yet) that way we can do a metric century in Newberg on Saturday, then drive out to the coast and do their metric century on Sunday.

“It’s that time of year to start filling out your ride calendars. I’ve attached a ride brochure and you can use the following links to get more information about the club and registration on-line:
www.yaquinawheels.org for club information and an adobe version of the ride brochure. BTW – follow the LAB link on our website to see that we were selected as bike club of the year for Region 6. I accepted the award at the League of American Bicyclists National Bike Summit in D.C. while I was there with other Oregon delegates promoting bicycling programs to our congressmen.
orbike.com to register online.
Ken Dennis YWBC – Secretary/ Treasurer YLC – Registrar”

We rode our bikes up the Expo Center this weekend. I chose a route that would take us through the Interstate + Greely intersection in order to get a sense about what happened there, and to see the ghost bike memorial. We did not know Brett, yet we are Portland bike riders, and as such, we all share some level of a common bond.

I am glad to see that the bike still remains in place, and hope that it serves as a reminder to drivers and to riders, that we all have to be careful, alert and remember that we all share the roads.

Right turns are now unlawful at this intersection. Maybe that will improve the safety of this intersection. There is no doubt that right turns are one of the most frequent areas of danger for the bicyclists.

We are riding in the Cycle Oregon Weekend Ride!

This is going to be a shock for those that know us, but we are skipping the week long ride this year. Have ridden in 8 of the last 10 years, with two of those routes covering essentially all the miles of this years route, it seems as though this may be a year for us to look elsewhere for our bicycle miles. Make no mistake, the weekly ride this year is going be a very good one, as it goes through some very beautiful parts of Oregon. This ride is nearly sold out already, and will surely exceed the 2,000 rider limit.

But, the weekend ride has many attractions for us:

• Crossing of the Astoria-Megler bridge. 4.1 miles in total length. The bridge’s main span is 1,232 feet in length, making it the longest “continuous truss” in the world. Cycle Oregon usually creates safe options for biking, which may mean there will be some sort of bicycle only access to the crossing. Worth the price of admission right there.
• Two nights camping at Fort Stevens State Park
• Riding up to the Astor Column
• Lunch at Fort Clatsop
  
• Some riding up into Washington, which we don’t do enough of.
• More riding around the coast regions. Due to traffic and some narrow roadways, riding in this area is much nicer to in groups. Less likely that inattentive drivers will be surprised by your existence.
• They are even going to set up and take down tents for us making the camping really easy.
• Lots of mileage options allows us to choose each morning what kind of bike ride we want for the day.
  • Day One – 15/26/29/67
  • Day Two – 12/40/64
• All Meals provided:
  • Friday Dinner – Saturday Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner – Sunday Breakfast,  Lunch
• All the usual Cycle Oregon Services
  • Bike repair, SAG wagons,Police/Ambulance patrols, Entertainment, Showers, Massages, Beer Garden, on and on and on.