Since my last post:
Shawn and I participated in the Tweed Ride, and we got a formal portrait done at the after-party at VeloCult:
If you look closely, you can tell our handlebars still have rain on them.
The ride was fun and it only rained for the last couple of miles. And after a couple of beers at the afterparty, I kept doing double-takes and thinking everyone was Shawn from the back, because he wears tweed all the time!
The next Saturday I rode out to Gresham via the Springwater with my friend Heather, and was pleased to find out she likes to stop and talk to pgymy goats as much as I do. There are two goats and a bunch of chickens living in the yard of a home in Sellwood, and the owner was home while we were visiting the goats and let us give them a handful of oats.
On Sunday I attended my first Bunny on a Bike ride to have truly excellent weather! This is the ninth year of the ride. It always happens on Easter and it’s mostly an excuse for families to show up on bikes while wearing bunny ears, and most of the years I’ve gone it’s been cold and/or rainy. The weather was amazing and 175 people showed up. There are some lovely photos here, alas, all the ones of me seem to be on facebook. (I wore bunny ears. And one of my Gunne Sax calico dresses from the 1970’s.)
On Tuesday (the 10th) I went on a bicycle ride with BikeSnobNYC aka Eben Weiss. Where, in true Portland fashion, it rained for the first time in days. I was surprised at first to show up for the ride and see mostly roadies, but then I remembered that a good portion of his blog is making fun of the racing scene–it’s easy to forget about because I just skip that stuff. I rode Miz Raleigh, and several of the roadie types told me they liked my fenders. The ride was slow and social, and it amused me to hear the sound of people clipping and unclipping from their pedals at stoplights. He gave a presentation at Powell’s bookstore that was funny, and I nabbed an Ass-Saver (pictured in this post) despite the fact that I have fenders on both of my bicycles. Because it says AHYSMB on it.
(I’ve got the book from the library, and here’s my short review: it’s not laugh-out-loud funny, but for the most part that’s not what this book is going for. The general theme of the book is that everyone just needs to be nicer to each other and more patient on the roads because it’ll make us happier. Which is fine, but stretching it out for a whole book got slightly repetitive. The Snob is so snarky on his blog that the often-seriousness of the book is both startling and refreshing. I know some of my friends don’t enjoy his sense of humor, but I always got the idea that there was a compassionate guy behind the jokes, and it’s nice to see that side of him more clearly, even if he still doesn’t suffer fools.)
This past Friday I attended Filmed By Bike, and as always I got a ticket to the 7pm show and hung out at the street party afterward. The movies have been better in previous years, I think, but I had fun anyway, especially since a big group of my friends was basically taking up the first two whole rows. Also? I won a raffle item, which I’ve never done before! Even better? The raffle item was a $50 gift card to Sock Dreams! There were a couple of jokes from friends that the raffle was clearly rigged. Later on that night I went to a nearby bar for the start of the Midnight Mystery Ride. It ended up under the west side of the Sellwood Bridge! When I left I ended up somehow guiding a group of folks back around and over the bridge and to the Springwater path, and I eventually ended up riding it alone, which was fine by me–it was a gorgeous night.
It’s getting to be that time of year–there’s more bike-y things happening all the time, and I find my calender is filling up with events. Shawn’s gone on overnight trips these last two weekends, which I’ve skipped to do other rides. Between that and the weather improving lately, I’m getting excited for summer and all the fun rides that’ll happen.
Speaking of events: If you live in the Portland area and aren’t tired of Shawn and I talking about our trip, we’re giving a presentation at the Hawthorne Hostel tomorrow (that would be Monday, April 16th). We’re going to have lots of photos, of course!