Tag Archives: cycling

Jun10

A spring adventure – The Rides

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Spring Break, 2021

I don’t recall having a real Spring Break trip last year… If I’m remembering correctly, I did a short Spring Break trip down to Joshua Tree back in 2019, but 2020 didn’t quite lend itself to much traveling…

With that in mind, and looking at how much vacation time I’d accumulated over the last year or so, I realized that I really did need to take some time off to escape from work, from Wilsonville, and from getting stuck in my own head. Thankfully, most travel restrictions on the West Coast have been lifted, and my back’s been feeling a lot better… and I was able to finally make the long trek down to Sacramento to visit my friend Mike and finally meet his girlfriend Michelle!

It was a long drive, and a full week of stepping out of my usual little patch of world. I didn’t really go into it expecting anything specific, but I came out having even more appreciation for my friends, and feeling gloriously rested and recharged. I’m not quite back to my old self yet… but this trip was an amazing change to stretch back into myself, and just… explore.



Sunday, 02-May


I haven’t really been riding my bike that often – I enjoy it, but with the injured back I didn’t want to make it any worse by staying hunched over for long periods. That was quite a while ago though, and it’s been feeling steadily better as I’ve been adding weights to the various lifts at the gym… On top of that, Mike and Michelle are both really into biking around Sacramento, and were pretty emphatic about how beautiful the city is by bike…

We started with a ride for breakfast.

Beautiful trees, tons of glorious shade, and a perfectly relaxed pace brought us to the restaurant. Then a slightly longer ride home via the riverway bike trail, enjoying the California sun and the pretty desert ambiance. It… felt really good, actually. Surprisingly good, and with Mike still chomping at the bit to keep riding, I couldn’t say no to a slightly longer afternoon ride.



We hit the Jedediah Smith Memorial Bike Trail, along the American River. We drove one of our cars out a few miles, hopped on the trail, and headed back into the city for a lovely there and back ride. The trail itself was beautiful – a gracefully winding trail along the American River.

The best part was just the relaxation, though – nothing against the scenery, but it’d been so long since I’ve just been able to chat with someone while riding, and just let our minds and the conversation wander wherever it felt like. We biked, cruised, chatted, and enjoyed the scene. The sun, the breeze, and the landscape were all on point, flashing by under our tires.

We cruised for a lot of it… but even that ended up being quite fast, when we stopped to look at how far we’d actually come. I felt good, but… Dang it’s been a while since I’ve biked. My seat was sore, legs were tired…

We stopped in town for a quite bite to eat for dinner, but honestly I was pretty well bushed by that point. After biking home, all I was capable of was a relaxing evening on the couch, reading and making friends with their cat.

It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.



Vital stats:
Distance biked = 30.82 miles
Biking duration = about 8 hours



Tuesday, 04-May


The drive into Tahoe was gorgeous, and absolutely left me wanting more – maybe not to drive more, but definitely to experience more of the lake and the mountains surrounding it… Ideally some way slightly quicker than walking… Maybe some way that Mike was obsessed with…

Hmm… I wonder what possible method of movement that could describe…

Yeah, we jumped on the bikes pretty quickly after getting settled into the house. Not right away, but… within 30min, I’d say. Maybe less.



We took a clockwise route out from the Keys where we were staying, heading toward the end of the bike path, as far as we could ride before really driving into the harsh hills where the bike path and the road mix. We felt energized, but… maybe not quite energized enough to bike along a 45mph highway at a 10% grade? Yeah, we’re strong, but not quite that strong.

The ride was gorgeous. It was around 8 miles round trip, maybe a little more, riding through beautiful forests that toed the line between temperate and high desert. Lots of sage, but also lots of interesting ground cover and massive pine cones, dropped from the huge soaring trees.

We hit the end of the trail, rested a moment, and then headed back toward the house via the various beaches along the lake. We had a rough timeline we wanted to keep, but had easily enough time to take a few scenic detours to stare across the lake and cool our toes in the mountain water.

Glorious. Just absolutely glorious.




Wednesday, 05-May


After hiking and grabbing lunch, we still had some time before we needed to head back toward Sacramento… and driving around Squaw Valley had left me astounded at just how beautiful that valley really was. I needed to see it by the back of a bike; I needed the slow movement of the mountains as we rode, and I needed the chance to stop by the side of the road to take more than a few pictures.

This was a pretty short ride, for a change… just a quick stretch of the legs before getting back on the road to Sacramento.

For a short ride though… dang. The views!

I mean, okay. I’m sure there were a lot of reasons that the 1960 Olympics were held here. The skiing, the space, all of it. Sure, they’re awesome.

But the views! I can’t imagine the views didn’t weigh into it, and weigh quite heavily…




Thursday, 06-May


After coming back from Tahoe, we still had the whole rest of the week to enjoy, relax, and unwind… Mike and Michelle both had work during the day, but… I was steadfastly escaping from that. I mean, sure. I could have logged into my work email and saved some vacation time, but… come on, man. I’m in California! It’s time to explore and relax!

I biked, I checked out some of the neighborhoods that Mike suggested, and I kept my little tradition going for getting breakfast at that cool English place down the street.

I don’t quite remember all the details, but you know what? That’s completely okay – this vacation was all about relaxing and experiencing, and I did an excellent job of doing just that. When I biked, I had a vague idea of where I wanted to go… but frankly, I didn’t hold myself too strictly to it.

If a light was red? Well, I’d take a turn and keep going. Or if I was feeling a bit toasty from the ride? Some shade can always be found, and a chapter or two of my book can get read.

It was a good day.




Saturday, 08-May


Saturday dawned, and it was almost time for me to get back onto the road and on my way home to Oregon. But… Not quite right away, right? The drive was long, but not that long…

We pulled out the bikes, and went for one last Sacramento ride; stretching my legs and taking a guided tour of a few parts of Sac that I hadn’t gotten to see just yet. Nothing crazy, but exactly the right amount of time for us to enjoy, and burn down the timer until our table was ready for Breakfast.

Jun9

A spring adventure – the exploration

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Monday, 03-May-2021

Spring Break, 2021

I don’t recall having a real Spring Break trip last year… If I’m remembering correctly, I did a short Spring Break trip down to Joshua Tree back in 2019, but 2020 didn’t quite lend itself to much traveling…

With that in mind, and looking at how much vacation time I’d accumulated over the last year or so, I realized that I really did need to take some time off to escape from work, from Wilsonville, and from getting stuck in my own head. Thankfully, most travel restrictions on the West Coast have been lifted, and my back’s been feeling a lot better… and I was able to finally make the long trek down to Sacramento to visit my friend Mike and finally meet his girlfriend Michelle!

It was a long drive, and a full week of stepping out of my usual little patch of world. I didn’t really go into it expecting anything specific, but I came out having even more appreciation for my friends, and feeling gloriously rested and recharged. I’m not quite back to my old self yet… but this trip was an amazing change to stretch back into myself, and just… explore.



Monday, 03-May

I don’t know why, but on Monday I got really scared / nervous… I was down in California, visiting friends, and getting to finally stretch myself out and explore a new city again. Something I hadn’t done in years, it seemed, and something that I’ve always hugely enjoyed doing.

But I was nearly 600 miles from home, and exploring on my own while Mike and Michelle were at work… so alone in a new city, for the first time in longer than I care to think about. It’s invigorating and freeing, glorious and amazing, but the weird thing was that I was freaking out on the inside.

I was super nervous, kind of scared, and frankly just wanted to hide indoors and watch Youtube or some stupid TV.



I don’t really get it, but… maybe it was because it had been so long since I’d really gone on a new adventure?

I remember when I first set out on my big South American adventure, a friend of mine warned me that, every time she traveled, she’d get super homesick a day or two into a trip… and that it’s a perfectly natural thing. You just have to push through it, and accept that it’s a simple psychological reaction that everyone has. One that comes, but one that will pass quickly enough.

This trip was pretty tame by my standards, so I wasn’t super convinced that I was falling into the homesick category. Looking back through where I’d been and what I’d done, and my memories of my mental state during those, and this doesn’t quite add up. I wonder if this is just one more effect of the pandemic, of the breakup, and of the new world that I’ve found myself navigating…

Regardless of why I was feeling it though, the solution was the same. I texted a neighbor of mine, asking if they could give me a sanity check on my garden, and then I buckled down and did my best to enjoy this brand new city laid out in front of me.

I started with a great breakfast at an English-style brunch place called The Fox and Goose, and then headed to the climbing gym in town. By the time I was done bouldering I was feeling a bit better – two hours of climbing almost always helps make things better, I’ve found.

(Ed Note: Please see Ben’s other post, titled “A spring adventure – The Climbs” for more details on the climbing)


After the gym, I kept the adventure train rolling – hitting a few shops, and wandering around ’till I found a restaurant that piqued my interest… then just kicking around ’till it was time to head back and hang out!



Thursday, 06-May

Today was another adventure day, full of exploration and cycling around town.

I don’t quite remember any major standouts, to be honest – I had breakfast at Fox and Goose again, since they’d had three different breakfasts that I knew I wanted to try, and I happened to have three mornings free. That was just too fortuitous to pass up, and I made starting my day there a nice little staple to the adventure.

The rest of the day was spent enjoying myself. I biked around a bit, looking around for anything that caught my eye – I started toward a part of town called Land Park, at Mike’s recommendation, and sort of moved on from there. I settled on exploring a small rock garden before lunch, and then explored around until a BBQ place caught my eye.

It was a lovely day, full of lovely exploration.



Friday, 07-May

My last full day in Sacramento, I kept to my theme and spent the day exploring and relaxing, immersing myself in the freedom to do literally anything I wanted at any time, and the excitement of being in a new place.

My nerves had mostly gone away at this point, and I was becoming almost comfortable in the day-to-day temporary routine that I’d created for myself. I had brunch at Fox and Good, I read in a park for a while, and then I went back to the climbing gym to get a few bouldering routes in.

That afternoon, Mike was able to get off work a bit early, so he and I took a nice long bike ride around town – Previously I’d been meandering around a bit aimlessly, so having a tour guide was a nice change of pace. Mike’s been cycling a lot recently, so he kept up a very solid pace, tempered by the narration of the neighborhoods, and other places that they’d looked at renting apartments at. It was lovely, and the weather was absolutely perfect.

In the evening, Mike and I went to a taco place I’d found on Monday, and then the three of us just relaxed in the living room, chatting and watching TV. Lovely and quiet, calm and happy. It was a very good day.



Saturday, 08-May

My last day in Sacramento… last morning, really.

We biked, and had out last nice breakfast out – this time, at a really nice indoor place that Mike and Michelle recommended. The indoor aspect was quite appreciated since the weather had gotten a bit windier than the previous two days, and the pollen was falling from the trees in thick waves across the streets.

It was… intense, but not the worst ever. Better than my drive back from Tahoe, at least, so I wasn’t about to complain too loudly.

We biked around a bit while waiting for our table, and found a rather impressive pile of scooters that had been created at a Bike Rack… from what Mike told me, there was quite a bit of pushback in Sacramento regarding the electric scooters. Not that they existed, but about the requirement that they be left at a bike rack. They’re not locked to it, of course, but just… taking up spaces that bikes could normally use. It wouldn’t have been a problem, except that none of the scooter companies had installed extra bike racks… which leads to most racks being fully taken up by scooters, leaving cyclists a bit in the lunch.

Unless, of course, some enterprising youths (so I assume, at least) decide to create impromptu street art using the scooters…

Oct30

Portland Autumn by bike

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Week preceding Sunday, 29-Sept-2019

As you may recall, my Bike had been stolen back in May, after mother’s day.

Insurance had been difficult, as had been bike shops in general – it turns out that not only is Portland much more expensive than Boston when bikes are involved, but that sales people aren’t always the most knowledgeable… After searching through half a dozen bike shops, being told that my budget was impossibly low, and being told that my previous bike had never existed (sales people… Arg!) I gave up.

After giving myself a few weeks to cool down, I threw down.

I went to the neighborhood bike shop, and told them that I wanted a bike. I told them every specific that I wanted, then handed them my credit card and told them to go hog wild.I mean, I also got a quote, compared them to other shops in town, and discussed a lot of options. But that doesn’t make for good reading, so let’s just pretend I acted like a badass instead, and just threw down.

Anyways I got a new bike. Just in time for the Portland Rain to hit. Exactly in time, actually, and I biked home in the rain.

You know what? That’s fine, because I biked. And that’s exactly what I’ve been waiting to do!

Thankfully the rest of the week wasn’t quite as rainy, and I got to take a few after-work rides around town. It’s amazing how much different Portland is when traveling by bike… I’ve noticed so many more murals, but I’ve also just how quiet our neighborhood gets early in the evening. It’s kind of creepy – it’s as if everyone is on exactly the same schedule regarding when to eat dinner and then when to go home.

Still, though. I’m enjoying being back on two wheels, getting to poke around and take pictures of all the pretty streets and ridiculous hipster stores full of artisanally-crafted, single-sourced, small-batch, super-expensive chatchkes that are fun to poke and prod.

I’ve even been able to bike to the gym again, and bike to the local taco spot, and bike to pick up my car… I’m biking again!!