Portland Riv-ish Ride

[Allan in Portland]

Perusing the Pedalpalooza Calendar, looks like the Petersen-Style-Ride is this Sunday.

http://www.shift2bikes.org/cal/viewpp2012.php#17-2994
"Equal parts Petersen-style Ride and Petersen Style-ride. Bring your lugged-steel, tweed, leather, and shellac... a rolling bike show with plenty of interesting discussion. Good natured curmudgeons gladly suffered. Grouchy know-it-alls dropped. 5 years running and still no lycra."

Not mentioned in the ad copy, there's typically an off-road bit or two. Nothing serious, but enough to make a useful low-pass filter in case any hipsters show up with tires skinnier than their jeans. For whatever reason, last year really had 'em out, causing the ride to detour along a stretch of active rail bed. A few years before that, it was the I-5 bridge across the Columbia. Half the fun is coming out to see whatever route the crazy ride leader has in store.

Regards,
-Allan

[Andy Smitty Schmidt]

Sunday is a busy day on the Pedalpalooza calendar. The GP ride is on my short list though. Perhaps I'll put some list names with faces if I make it. 

--Andy

[Mike]

I'll be working this Sunday so won't be able to make it. Yet another
Portland Rivish even that I'll miss. One of these days everything will
align...

--mike

[Beth H]

I'm busy too. But that's no reason not to schedule another ride later in the summer. We could do a baby Riv Rally in July or August for everyone who will miss Sunday's ride. Mike -- Wanna co-host? Email me off list.

Beth in pdx

[Allan in Portland]

Sounds nice. May I suggest an option-S24O to some point in the Gorge? For those unable to O, they could get an early start the next morning and meet-up with the O-ers for a rambling return leg. Though, now that I've typed it, that seems to be pushing the distance for a group ride.

In any case, keep me in the loop!

-Allan

[Philip Williamson]

Ha! Tell me about it. I've been flitting between Oregon and California, so I've been missing great events in two states:
Grant is at Powell's, I'm on the road (so I missed the TdC start in Santa Rosa the same day).
Favorite painter's show opens in Santa Rosa, I'm on the road. Grant speaking in San Francisco and the list ride... I'm back in OR.
Peterson ride in Portland... Back in California.

Philip

Philip Williamson
www.biketinker.com

[Lynne Fitz]

August before the 15th or after the 22nd would be great. But drop the dress code. I am much more interested in the bikes, not so much what anyone is wearing.

[Allan in Portland]

Hmm, I guess no lycra is a dress code, but I hesitate to call anything so trivially circumvented a code. The proscription I note is toward grouches.

-Allan

[Beth H]

A shorter O option might be either:

a. Take MAX to end of the line in Hillsboro and ride out to Stub Stewart; OR

b. Ride out to Oxbow and back (breakfast at M & M in Gresham the next morning would be a nice option).

Dates might be tough on this since everyone is busy. 

And I'm with Lynne on this -- just require that people arrive clothed and shod and call it good.

Beth

[Andy Smitty Schmidt]

Was good to see a couple familiar faces (folks previously met through the list here) on today's "Grant Petersen Style Ride". I imagined a bigger turn out of Rivs, but 3 Hilsens and an All Rounder in one room is a good time. As Allan mentioned... the ride leader had a propensity for wacky twists and turns along the route. It was all fun and good though... even after having to unclog our drivetrains of grass after a stretch along a grassy/overgrown levee, and lifting bikes over a fence at one point. 

As a kid, my buddies and I spent a lot of our free time at a variety of undeveloped areas that were sprinkled around our neighborhood. We knew where there were holes in the fences, which trails were good to ride up and which made for the fastest descents. We built forts and jumps on land that must have belonged to someone but we never thought about who that someone was. Many of those stomping grounds from my childhood have been paved over and built upon. Even though I never really stopped riding my bike I haven't really done that same kind of off-the-asphalt urban exploring in a long time. My "around town" riding is usually transportation oriented and my recreational rides are usually directed beyond the hidden spaces of my neighborhood. 

The seemingly silly loops and detours of todays ride brought me to nearby but out of the way places that are practically under my nose and reminded me that adventure can be just around the corner... if I choose to find it.  

Happy Pedaling.

--Andy

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

Andy: most Saturday mornings over the past 6+ years I lead a ride from my shop, Hiawatha Cyclery in Minneapolis, that is much like this. The route is determined on the fly and there are often offroad stretches and various obstacles to surmount on the way to/from breakfast. At the beginning of each ride, I usually have only a vague idea, if any, where we're gonna go. We have a few regulars who are confirmed "roadies", and they sometimes defect when the deviations-from-boring become too much. Amazingly to me, rides that have the same (usually dull) route every week seem to be wildly popular, while an unpredictable but fun ride puts people off (because I can't give them a straight answer about distance, speed, or other meaningless stats). Anyway, it sounds like your ride leader and I are on the same page! It's so easy to get into the rut of commuting everyday and having only a tiny number of recreational loops to ride. But the permutations of adventure in any major city (or elsewhere) are endless.

[Allan in Portland]

They have to be an "unracer", or they won't get it.

Six miles through over-grown industrial park to drink a luke-cool High Life??? Heck yeah, but if you have to ask, never mind. :-)

-Allan

[Andy Smitty Schmidt]

I took 3 pictures on the ride. Only 1 is worth not deleting... http://www.flickr.com/photos/15966859@N07/7398233282/.

On Monday, June 11, 2012 3:12:29 PM UTC-7, Allan in Portland wrote: