Riding to Multnomah Falls

Cecil and I planned to ride to Multnomah Falls, so Sweetpea and Bleriot could get better acquainted.



I went over to her house to be ready for our planned 9am departure. No one took her up on the offer to join us. A round of pre-ride bicycle portraits (Cecil's yard is very pretty at this moment), then heading off east.

The Clinton/Lincoln bike boulevard is really nice. Then we were on Division, which is somewhat less so, then 182nd, then Halsey. The riding seemed awfully easy. After about 1:15 of riding, we arrived at Edgefield. Didn't see anyone wanting to join us, so we had a brief stop (more pictures), and headed out.



Climbing up to Women's Forum (stop for pictures at the Springdale Job Corps Dragon) seemed really easy, too. Tailwind :-) Another stop at Vista House (pictures), then swooping down to Latourell Falls. Cecil left me here, which I figured would happen. I'd find her waiting at the bottom somewhere. And I did, shortly after Latourell Falls.



Then, continuing east, between Angel's Rest and Wahkeena Falls, Bleriot rolled over 4000 miles. Ritual picture stop. Actually, we don't need much of an excuse for a picture stop, but this was a good one.



Got to Multnomah Falls, but Cecil said if we went a teeny bit further, then Sweetpea would have 100 miles at the Falls. So we did that teeny bit further...

Back to Multnomah Falls, where we locked up the bikes and I had a mocha and pastry. Did I want whipped cream on that mocha? Yes, indeed. The benefits of riding 35 miles to the Falls. More pictures, of bikes and the falls, and cute dogs.





I was sitting down, and an Asian gentleman wanted to know how far we were riding (only 70 miles today) and how fast did we go... Then, as we were walking back to the road, a couple of guys with fast road bikes and more serious jerseys than we were wearing (me: Sheila Moon, Cecil: Randonneurs of China) started up a conversation, with Sweetpea as the main subject. I think they were a couple of regulars on the bikeportland site. As we were departing: "oh, and your bike is pretty nice, too". (Little Pink Bear says the Bleriot is perhaps a tiny bit jealous. She'll get over it).

Then heading back. Ah, there is our headwind. It really wasn't all that bad. Stopped a couple times to take pictures of wildflowers, spring scenery, and bicycles, then headed up the climb to Vista House. I really enjoy that climb.





Found Cecil at Vista House, with some guy talking to her about bicycles, her bicycle, and Cycle Oregon. He allowed as how HE didn't do the climb up to Vista House, but rode back on the freeway (when he was riding his bike, which was not this day) instead. Ick. He seemed to want validation for skipping that climb. We weren't giving it.



Did the last bit, and then my favorite downhill, with the Bell Rd option. Cecil noted that if we wanted to visit Clever Cycles, we should skip tater tots at Edgefield. We could snack at the Lucky Lab instead. Ok. By this point, I figured I had gotten myself a nice little sunburn.

At this point we were back into less-than-delightful urban cycling. Halsey/181st/Division/60th/ then Lincoln (I think). Whew. A Tri-Met bus was exceptionally polite on Division - we'd be coming up, and it would WAIT in the traffic lane for us to pass before pulling into the stop. We did this about 3 times, and then it finally got ahead of us.

At some point along Division, we both felt a bonk coming on, and did some eating at the red lights.

Stopped by Cecil's house to grab her Clever Cycles gift card and zipped over there. She shopped. I looked around - I hadn't been in there yet. Shopping concluded, we crossed the street to the Lucky Lab, found Greg (Mr. Cecil), got permission of a sort to take the bikes inside, and got some snacks and beer (Greg and Cecil) and ice tea and snacks and dinner (me). Fitz arrived shortly thereafter and got himself some beer and dinner, too.

Nice sunny day, with possibly the slowest elapsed time ever :-) Many pictures :-)
Cecil's pics here, too