Cascade Club’s Seattle to Portland Classic (STP) 2006 Google Earth file

I have decided to upgrade a little, changed from the cage pedal that the bike came with, to a clipless pedal system.  As eager to jump on my bike and commute to work, I figured it would be safer for me to practice unclipping my shoes from the pedal for at least half an hour.

Tim and I also went to the bike maintenance clinic that REI hosted.  It was a very good lesson for both of us, at least now we know what to do, and what not to do.

Even though weather forcast predicted that it would rain all day, but not surprisingly, it was sunny with a few patches of cloud. But since we still had a little bit of faith in our weather system, we didn’t put on sun screen, thus we are now badly burnt.

We saw a lot of crazy things on the road, including: giant pot holes everywhere, a curled up snake (*eek*), three big dead fish on the side of the road, a cyclone that’s 5-story high…

The trip was a lot more hilly than we thought, especially a super steep hill (12% degrade?) at mile 40… Even when we got to the coast things still weren’t easy – the massive wind from Pacific Ocean were blowing us left and right.

In the end, we made it, we feel good (and bad). BRING IT ON! Seattle -> Portland! (or maybe not)

Google Earth File

Flickr photos

Special thanks to:
Bobby Lee
Lindsey Gaulke
Rory Plaire
Timothy Sullivan
Vivian Nguyen

The hill was amazingly long, and steep, and long. Tim managed to make it to the top with stopping only once, but I had to stop twice. Harris Bridge wasn’t hard to get to, but the road wasn’t paved and has gravels everywhere, there were a couple of times I almost fell.

We also visited Tim’s friend Ryan since he lives very close to the bridge. It was a very relaxing time, which didn’t benefit us for our returning trip – since we had to warm up for the crazy uphill again.

Pictures of this trip

Google Earth Route file

After yesterday’s bike ride, Tim had the thought of scanning the map he bought and make a layer for Google Earth, but now we found out Metro already did that, and released it for free. The map allows the viewer to toggle on and off different paths (Bike Lane, Low Traffic, Medium Traffic, High Traffic, Caution Area, and Multi-Use Path). This will allow future ride planning a lot easier. I will simple turn on Low Traffic, Medium Traffic, and Multi-Use Path, and ride on those paths.

I have learned that bike lanes are bad, because they are made on the busy roads – and I hate the feeling of riding my bike and have to worry about cars getting to close to me, while sniffing away all the exhaust. I’d rather take smaller roads that goes through residential areas – the most we’ll get is neighborhool dog chasing after us (which Tim has first-hand experience).

Metro’s Google Earth biking map

Bike trip planner

Springwater Corridor is a very nice path, there were also a lot of bikers on it. All the intersections to major road either has Stop signs on the crossing streets, or has a pedestrian crossing button (or horse corssing button that’s 6 feet high). Everything was fine and enjoyable until we realized that the path is not complete, and we were forced to get onto Tacoma Rd, and cross the Willimatte River over Sellwood Bridge. Sellwood Bridge is extremely scary to ride bikes on. The lanes are narrow and there are no bike lanes.

Once we crossed the bridge, we hopped onto the bike path going north along the bank of Willimatte River. I wanted to take some pictures but unfortunately the battery was dead. We passed sailor clubs, rich people condos, industrial parks, OHSU parking lot, and finally, the Waterfront Park. We did mistaken Steel Bridge with Broadway Bridge, which made us wander around in circles (large circles).

We wanted to get to Marine Drive along the Columbia River to head back east, but unfortunately 33rd Dr. was closed for bridge construction work. So we made a (very bad) decision of riding on Lombard St. Eventually we got to Marine Driver, where we ate our lunch (bagels with hummas) and Tim peed for the second time.

Marine Drive is a very pleasant road to ride on, it has a separate bike path with occuational bike paths, but the traffic is relatively low and wasn’t very windy today. It also has a great view of the river.

The biggest mistake is yet to come, somehow we got onto Gresham Road and turned to 257th St. 257th is a pretty steep hill, no dedicated bike path, with tons of cars, and we actually had to walk for half a mile. But it’s all good, what didn’t kill us will make us stronger.

Today’s path was 47 miles long, took us 4 hours and 18 minutes to complete. For most part our average speed was kept at 14 miles per hour, but was ruined by the walking-up-the-hill’s mere 3 mph. Our next big challenge is coming up on the 20th, and will be biking to the beach from Amity – 56 miles.

Google Earth File – (NEW!! Now with enhanced place holders and special notes about the trip)
Special note about GE: Be sure to check out the proposed trip, and the actual trip, to see how bad we got lost.

We were unable to find Peavy Arboretum from Lewisburg Rd. Turned out the biking map (printed by Corvallis City Countil) did not list one key road that we needed to take. Because of that, we got onto hwy 99 to put on some more miles to make up for the lost trails.

This trip was about 23 miles, but we did conquer Highland Rd (one of the three steep hills listed on the map), so it was great achievement for us.

Google Earth file.

Flickr

UPDATE: Week 1 Training Route Google Earth