Month: September 2006

Joe and I rode from his house off N. Peninsular out to Kelly Point, then back to St. John’s, across the bridge, through northwest Portland, then north on Interstate and Greeley back to his place for a 24 mile outing yesterday. The weather was ideal, the wind non-existant, and the pirate danger moderate. This was also the last segment of the 40 mile loop I had not completed.

Starting at his house, we rode through the neighborhood to N. Portsmouth, then got on the 40 mile loop trail. From there, we headed out past Smith & Bybee lakes towards the end of the “loop.” We’re planning on doing the STP next year so we schemed about training schedules and test rides. The loop may provide an excellent test if done in full at some point, maybe even two days in a row, but in opposite directions.

From Kelley Point, we followed Lombard and a few other streets to end up underneath the St. John’s bridge, where we heard cannon shots and saw a convention of pirates. Most of their clothes were polyester, so I doubt they were real pirates, but they were none-the-less intimidating. We stopped by the first tower on the bridge to look down on the convention and watch some cannon-shooting, organized dancing, and what looked like a puppet show. We could also see Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, and Mt. Hood from the bridge, though the view to downtown was somewhat obscured by smog.

From the bridge, we rode into NW Portland on HWY 30, crossed the broadway bridge, and followed Interstate (passing a handful of tempting pubs) to the Polish Festival. We stopped briefly to see if we could spot Scott but did not have much luck. We finished the ride by taking Greeley back to his place, completing a 24ish mile loop in just over 2 hours. We both agreed that we could not have ridden another 24 that day, let alone 100. And 100 the next day. Better plan on training some more.

It was a very pleasant ride though and relatively flat. The stretch along Hwy 30 is really unpleasant and would be very intimidating for riders not comfortable crossing railroad tracks at angles. Still, it was a very fun ride. I just need to figure out this knee pain thing.

This past weekend was the last non-weekend-weekend I get on my paternity leave. From here on out, I’ll be splitting my weekends up with actual work. Lame.

In order to enjoy the weekend, Joe, Scott and I borrowed my dad’s boats and went for a canoe trip on the Columbia Slough, entering at Kelly Point. The slough, which enters the Willamette just upstream from the confluence of the Columbia River and Willamette, is lovely and gross at the same time. The proximity to industrial uses and landfills has not made it the cleanest, but it’s still a lovely place for a paddle.

Before heading up the slough, we paddled out to the Willamette to check out the view of the big water and see some of the other users. Just south of the slough is a large grain silo where misc. grains (wheat, I assume) are loaded from box car into silo, then into tankers and shipped away. North is Kelly Point Park and lots of folks come to fish from the beach.

As we paddled up the slough, we encountered a number of folks fishing. This of course was in contrast to my suggestion to Joe and Scott not to get wet if they could avoid it, and not to touch their orifices if they did get wet. Once we got up stream a ways, there were actually signs hidden in the overgrowth of cottonwoods that warned that you shouldn’t swim, fish, or drink from the water.

This picture is of us heading back towards the mouth of the slough. To the right of the canoe is a dormant and capped landfill. On the same bank as the landfill was a teen fisherman trying his hand at carp fishing. We were puzzled by this – maybe he didn’t get the memo about the bio-accumulative property of heavy metals and other toxic materials in fish, or maybe he was hungry enough that it didn’t matter. They were the largest carp I’d seen in Oregon.

I like the slough – partly because I enjoy birds. We were treated to close encounters with some great blue herons, kingfishers, ouzels, sand pipers, and a beaver. They hadn’t received the memo either.

Afterwards we rallied with others at Concordia from some tasty brews and food. Ah, summer.