Thoughts on the Bridge Pedal
August 11, 2008
Hanne is quite the remarkable woman. In the nearly two years we’ve been dating, she’s managed to get me to eat more fruits and vegetables (and not just as garnish or a side dish), less meat (I’m now ordering Thai food with tofu instead of chicken), and back on my bike. She’s destroyed me! Eh, actually some of those things I’ve been meaning to do anyway. I mean, I don’t need to eat meat every day. I have no idea how good that chicken from the Thai cart is. I’ve had my bike just sitting around, unused. All those are good things.
Yesterday’s Bridge Pedal was, in a word, awesome. I like cycling, there’s no doubt about that, but being able to cycle over Portland’s bridges–two of which aren’t even open to bikes except for this event–without even having to think about car traffic was sheer bliss. 24 miles of nothing but closed roads, thinking only of whether I could swing around that couple in front of me before the hardcore cyclist passed me on the left. The only real slog on the course was the ride up to the St. Johns Bridge, which was pretty steep. I thought for sure that the ride up the Marquam (I-5) bridge was going to be the worst, but it was fairly gentle and I coasted a ways up it since I was going so fast already. Our group merged with the 11-bridge, 37-mile cyclists before we crested the Marquam, so I still had to think about merging with traffic from an I-5 onramp, except that it was ntohing but bikes stretching back for a mile or so.
Coming off the Fremont was pure bliss. It was a little tiring riding up it from the east side (though easy compared to the St. Johns hill), but we stopped at the top, took pictures, dranik some water, and then coasted down the other side at a brisk 30+ MPH. I tell you, if I’d fallen then, I would have easily ended up in the hospital like two other cyclists I saw right after they’d gone down. But man, what a ride. Wind whipping in my face, tears welling in my eyes from the wind, passing people without even peddling. Good thing I could see at least a quarter mile ahead of me, because I would have needed at least that amount of time to safely stop.
Aside from the two afore-mentioned accidents I saw the aftermath of (one went down on the other side of the Marquam, the other a mere half-mile before the finish line when riding over some railroad tracks), things were fairly smooth. Hanne and I pulled ahead of a lot of the riders in our group after a couple of miles, so it wasn’t as confined as it was for some people, even with closed streets. The closest I came to an accident (aside from accidentally cutting Hanne off when I thought she saw I was pulling over) was when a guy in front of me dropped his sunglasses and slammed on the brakes. Now, I was far enough back that I had enough time to swerve to avoid him, but he slammed on his front brakes. One of the first lessons I learned (aside from signaling when you’re about to stop, asshat) was never to slam on your front brakes, because you can get thrown off your bike. Heading down the Fremont, yeah, that would have happened. Going maybe 10 MPH, all that happened was his back tire flew up into the air, and if I’d been closer it might have swung up and hit me in the face. Dumbass. I wanted to just run over his sunglasses on my way past.
I don’t really want to wait until next year to do it again, so I started looking into other bike rides and upgrading my bike a bit. Not a new bike, mind you, but smaller tires with less friction (I have pseudo off-road tires currently on my bike), some better brakes, and some fingerless gloves because my hands really start hurting after about 15 miles or so. There’s the Portland Century ride coming up, with 25, 50, and 100 mile routes available (25 or 50, thanks), a BTA-sponsored 40 mile ride through wine country, and an 18 or 40 mile “Tour de Lab” that takes you to all three Lucky Lab pub locations. Now that’s my kind of ride. Except for one little problem: it falls on the same day as the Pints to Pasta 10k race. Hmmm. Now, I haven’t registered for it yet, but I’m thinking that in a move of sheer insanity, I’m going to run the 10k race, rehydrate, drink my free beer, have a granola bar, then do the 18-mile ride that finishes with…guess what? Free beer. Do I really have a duathalon in me? I can run the 10k in about an hour, whcih gives me 60 minutes to have my water, beer, and get some calories into me before the 18-mile ride starts. I think I could make it to the starting line in time. But of course, I’d be completely mad to do so. I’ll have to see how long a 10k takes me these days.
This weekend was quite the culinary experience, at least eminating from my kitchen. Saturday brought cabbage rolls stuffed with ground beef, celery, onion, and some spices which turned out OK, but the cabbage rolls needed more flavor. Sunday produced jumbo pasta shells stuffed with blended ricotta and cauliflower, topped with a sauce made from a pancetta, butter, and vegetable broth reduction. That was quite the delicious meal. I broke my “no beer except on the weekends rule” and had a beer while cooking Sunday’s dinner, but whatever. I’d had a good day, and I was still thinking about coasting at 30+ MPH off the Fremont Bridge. Something had to slow me down.
And speaking of beer, I brewed a lovely batch of Irish red ale this weekend. Should end up being about 4.5% alcohol, and I was pleasantly surprised that it came out fairly red. Huzzah!
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