The weather here in Portland has been spectacularly and uncharacteristically magnificent for the past week. I was fortunate yesterday to get out for a nice 90 mile ramble. I've been cherishing these rides lately as things will be changing soon and I won't have the ability to get out for rides like this.
I noodled through town at a mellow pace on back streets until getting on the Springwater Corridor (SC) which took me to Boring. The SC is really nice and makes getting out of Portland easy although it can be a bit monotonous as it's flat and straight. The last 2 miles or so into Boring it's not paved which is kinda nice and wakes you up. In Boring I picked up a muffin and some V8 and prepared for 4 miles of stressful riding down to Hwy 224. To link from Boring to 224 you have to ride this connector road, Amissiger Rd, that rolls for a few miles and then drops down to 224. There's no shoulder and the locals drive the road fast so it can be a bit unnerving. Once down on 224 it's 10 miles to Estacada. Although there's a fair amount of traffic on 224 the shoulder is huge and it doesn't bother me. It always seems to go by fast. Once you leave Estacada things change a lot. You have a choice of continuing on 224 which mellows out a ton traffic wise but climbs for 5 miles or you can roll along a bike path that is relatively flat and runs parallel to Faraday Lake and damn. I chose the climb as the view from the top is stupendous. While the climb is exposed and hot yesterday, it's never really that steep. Once at the top you have a bomber descent down to Promontory Park and from there the road really mellows out and follows the Clackamas River. As much as I wanted to head out the 18 miles further to Ripplebrook Ranger Station I knew I'd just be beat coming home. I went a few miles, stopped at Sun Strip Campground which was empty and ate my almond butter and jelly sandwich, had another V8 and just enjoyed the sound of the river. It felt so good to be out there on the edge of the woods and close by the river with no one else around. Since I had kept the pace mellowed but stayed well fueled I felt fine. After 1/2hr I decided to turn around and head home. Rather than going up over 224 again I opted to take the bike path along Faraday Lake. As much as I hate the climb back up Amissiger Rd, it was uneventful with the exception of one RV that got a little too close. I got back on the SC and rolled back into town. In spite of my rambling pace, I still got back close to my home before 5pm and was able to stop and enjoy coffee at Barista before walking in the door to my house at 6pm. It was a wonderful day on the bike. As for the bike... my LHT remains my go to bike lately as it's comfortable and dependable although a bit sluggish. As Manny says, pictures proved it happened: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41335973@N00/sets/72157633447766615/ --mike -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en-US. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
