A Set of Birthday Rides

Last weekend was friend Diane's birthday ride. Diane hit a significant number. The original plan was to ride up to Marine Drive and back along the I-205 bike path and Springwater Corridor. I had arranged to meet with Andrew at the corner of Patton and Talbot/Humphrey, but was a bit behind schedule. He'd gone on. So I descended SW Montgomery (love new brake pads), and then, not knowing how to get to lower SW Montgomery, turned onto SW Vista. But not wanting to go over the Vista Bridge and work my way down to the main group meetup (Vera Katz statue on the Esplanade), I noticed a little street just before the bridge - SW Market. That might work. Yes, love my new brake pads. It was very, very steep. So I arrived, and was told the route had been changed - we were going south, to Oregon City, across the river, then north and back. Okay. I hadn't ever ridden that way, so it would all be new. The route, as I recall it is here, including the parts from my house to the start.

High points:
riding south to Oregon City
crossing the old Oregon City Bridge
seeing Willamette Falls (and HOW long have I lived here?)
running into a group of Portland Velo riders on Hwy 43 between West Linn and Lake Oswego (we waved)
seeing the Oregon Iron Company blast furnace remains in Roehr Park
riding up through Tryon Creek Park
riding down through the River View Cemetery (never done that either)
crossing the Sellwood Bridge when it wasn't closed for a bicycle event
hot split pea soup, sausage rolls, and birthday cake at Diane's (thanks Sam!)
and a few back and forths on the Springwater Corridor Trail, always fun.

And then riding back home, via both lower (ow) and upper SW Montgomery. After Richard and Nance peeled off, Andrew told me I could die now :-)

Good fun with Diane, Richard, Nance and Andrew. The penetrating mist even let up after while.

Then, yesterday was Andrew's birthday ride. I will only say that Andrew and I are almost exactly the same age, as in he's only 2 months older.

His plan was a ride from his place near Zupan's on Beaverton Hillsdale, out to the Laurel Store, then back.







So, out onto SW Scholls Ferry, all the way to SW Tile Flat (this meant the hill just west of SW Murray was included), then wandering around roads that are well known to any Portland Velo member, then back, crossing TV Highway and following SW Johnson all the way back to SW 170th, a short off-road bit in the Tualatin Hills Nature Park, then onto the paved trail, onto SW Millikan, then south on Hocken, at which point I was caught at a light, and was quite happy to have a cue sheet. I did get lost in Andrew's apartment complex... Andrew also provided post-ride soup and snacks. The ride home afterward was only 2 miles this time :-)

This ride had a nice mixture of Team Bag Balm, Oregon Randonneurs, co-workers, and the Recumbent Crowd.