Sunday, June 9, 2013

Portland Short ride and Surprise Mob Ride

Author:  Brent Moody

Spent the weekend in Portland, hoping to get much more cycling in. This was one of my first times spending more than a day in Portland. I was really surprised by the amount of bikes and bike services around Portland, a biking meca! I made the trip mainly for a family  weekend, visiting my brother who was in town for the weekend from Nebraska. 
Portland is all about cycling and micro brews! It was also a brew fest all month long in Portland, with June 6th the opening day. I arrived on Friday, hoping to get a bike ride in early Saturday am. Stayed up a little late, so didn’t make the ride…LOL. Saturday night was a surprise event for cycling in Portland, at least a surprise for me. It was the opening of the cycle fest with… A Naked Bike Ride! Yes, heard from many locals, over 8000 nude cyclists hitting the streets of Portland.  Activities started about 10pm, and yes there were probably over 8000. Traffic was a gridlock for about an hour to allow all these avid cyclist the ample time to ride freely. This was the best gut laugh of the weekend. I know I know, your asking wheres all the pictures. Thought I better not post them… LOL.
I did get up Sunday for a quick short ride. Didn’t have much time, so hit the streets before 8am and wanted to get some climbing in. Wasn’t much warm up before the climbing started, reminded me of Hurricane Ridge. Streets were vacant of cars and cyclists, so I owned the road for a short hour. The climb started quickly and winded up west side of Portland. The turns kept winding and seemed like the top wouldn’t come quick enough, since no warm up. Total Climb was about 1165 ft in 4 miles, the middle 1.5 mile segment had elevation of 7 to 11.5%. I was tired, but great short climb and some great pics. Great weekend, cant wait to go back to get some real longer rides in around Portland.

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