2010 Providence Bridge Pedal

my cute family

Yesterday - Sunday, August 8, 2010 - we rode in the 5-bridge Providence Bridge Pedal. It was the second time we've ridden the Bridge Pedal.

Something like 18,500 other riders took part, making it the second-largest community group ride in the U.S. (I saw that somewhere and now can't find the link - the largest community ride in the U.S. is in NYC)! However, much to the credit of the organizers, it really isn't very crowded. In addition to our ride - which had a staggered start - there were also 7-bridge and 10-bridge rides, as well as a special kids ride.

The only place it was really crowded was at the finish. I'm not exactly sure why people think it's acceptable to stand RIGHT on the finish line and have group hugs and photos. People. There's like 10,000 people behind you, also trying to cram across this line in the street! Just move a few feet to the side. That's all I'm asking...

The boys and I rode all pirate-style in the mighty Revenge (although one of my crew members recently discovered reading, so he spent most of the ride huddled in the bottom of the bucket, voraciously devouring his new library books and ignoring the mayhem around him - I was one of those kids, lost in books, as was his mother, so I can't really blame him!), while Nikki rode my trusty Breezer.

I ride the Hawthorne and Morrison Bridges frequently, but it's a real treat being able to ride over the top decks of the Marquam and Fremont Bridges, two structures that generally see high-speed traffic (or really, really slow, bumper-to-bumper suckiness - that I never find myself in because I ride my bike to work) and are both way, WAY up above the river. Like hundreds of scary feet! The Ross Island Bridge was fun as well.

BikePortland's wrap-up story is here.

Watch a slideshow of my photos

Sunday Parkways

little rider
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

The McLeod family spent Father's Day afternoon in north Portland participating in the Sunday Parkways, a 7.5 mile loop of roads closed to cars.

The loop connected several parks and neighborhoods, and temporarily converted a good portion of the city into a (carfree) park. The turnout was amazing and the weather was typical Portland-weird (sunny rain showers).

Last year, there was one experimental Sunday Parkways. It was such a success that the city decided to host three this summer. I wish we were going to be around for the next two.

Liam rode his own bike, and, while there were a few tears and moans about halfway through the ride, we all made it and had a wonderful time. He tried his hand at the MTB skills course that was set up in Kenton Park.

A big HUGE thanks to the City of Portland as well as all the volunteers who made today possible!

two rides; one week - only in Portland!

steep - steep - and steeper!
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

I recently rode in two rides that exemplified why Portland is such a great city for riders.

Crazy, crazy climbs!

On April 3rd, I rode in the De Ronde van Oeste Portlandia, an undergroundish-group-ride with about 600 people. It was 47 miles with over 7000 vertical feet of climbing and was probably the most challenging ride of my life.

The course zigged and zagged up and down Portland's west hills, climbing the steepest inclines I've ever attempted on a bike. There were moments when I figured I'd just quit, but I ended up riding with a great group of riders who kept encouraging each other all the way to the finish at Council Crest, Portland's highest point.

It took me alomost as long as it took me to ride 100 miles in last summer's Portland Century! 

my bunnies
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

Bunny on a Bike

A little over a week later, the McLeod family joined about a hundred other Portland riders for the 5th Annual Bunny on a Bike Ride.

It was one of the funnest rides I've ever been on, as we paraded through the streets of Portland with everyone dressed as bunnies. We started the ride in southeast, where we rode through parks and down bike lanes to the Eastbank Esplanade.

Groups from northeast, northwest, southwest and north Portland met up with us at the Vera Katz statue at the riverfront, and from there we circled the waterfront, then rode through the city to Irwin Park for a teaparty potluck and easter egg hunt. It was a perfect day for a ride through the city with a bunch of bunnies!

Check out the map of the De Ronde van Oeste Portlandia

bike train '09

bike train '09
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

Now that Liam has discovered that he can actually ride a bike, he provides the pedal-power and I steer. Camper is kind of like our horn; he's yelling most of the time.

Seriously, when Liam starts pedaling, it really pushes me along. We'll be coming up to an intersection and I'll yell, "green light! Pedal, pedal, pedal!" and I can feel the bike accelerate as he really starts pushing.

On the flats, I stop pedaling completely and let him provide the power. He loves it. He'll yell, "check it out Daddy, I can push you and pull Camper at the same time!

We were driving around east Portland yesterday. I can't wait for us to move into PDX and have access to the Springwater Corridor and Eastbank Esplanade.

fall family ride

fall family ride
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

It was a sunny, beautiful autumn day today so we took the McLeod family bike-train for a ride. It was close to 60 degrees out, so I wore shorts and a long-sleeve jersey, while the rest of the crew was a little more bundled up.

Basically, we rode out to the base of the hills that surround Hillsboro (out to Forest Hills Golf Course) and back via Rood Bridge Road (which brings us by another golf course - I guess you could call this route the Golf Course).


View Larger Map

The mostly flat route takes us through farmland and nurseries, with great views of Mt. Hood, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Adams (the sun glowing off the new snow on the peak was creating a gorgeous alpenglow!), Mt. Saint Helens, and a glimpse of Mt. Rainier.

We saw cows, horses, chickens, llamas (OK, OK, alpacas!), geese, and goats - to which, Liam and Camper would shout a greeting. At one point Liam even yelled a greeting to a farmer ("hello farmer!"), who politely - and graciously - gave us a wave.

Most of the trees were barren, with a few still clinging to their leaves (or is it the other way around?) but the scene was almost more reminiscent of spring than fall as many of the fields are verdant with the fresh shoots of whatever was recently planted (lettuce, spinach, rye?) having just broken free of the soil.

The ride ended with a trip to the Rood Bridge playground, so everyone came away satisfied. At close to 20 miles, it was the longest ride Liam has ever ridden on his trail-a-bike - this time he even pedaled a little!

Providence Bridge Pedal

Fremont Bridge
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

This week's Sunday family ride was the Providence Bridge Pedal. We rode the 6-bridge, 14 mile, family ride, along with thousands of other riders.

It was estimated that there were over 17,000 participants.

We had a blast and didn't experience any of the congestion that has marred the event in past years. There were only two spots where traffic moved so slowly we had to walk our bikes.

It was so cool being able to ride over bridges that are normally highway bridges reserved for cars. It was fun just being up on the Marquam and Fremont Bridges with all my fellow bikers.

Like all gatherings of humans, 90% of the people were great, and fun to be with, 5% were kinda moody, 4% were idiots, and 1% were just plain assholes. That's life.

After the ride, we went into the Bite of Oregon and enjoyed some good beer (so deserved), fine food and fun music.

Another successful McLeod family Sunday Ride!

Check out all my pictures here.

a bicycle built for four

bicycle built for four
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

Liam has been eying the tandem for a while, wondering when we'd turn it into the engine for the McLeod family bike-train.

Well, people, today was that day!

We hooked the tandem up to Liam's trail-a-bike, which, in turn was hooked up to Camper's Chariot, and took it for a ride around the farmlands of Hillsboro.

We had a blast, and will be taking the train out again in the near future - maybe for the Providence Bridge Pedal!

Sunday family ride

family ride
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

Another Sunday, another family ride. This time we rode along the bike trails on the east and west banks of the Willamette from downtown Portland into the Sellwood neighborhood (my new favorite Portland neighborhood. The more I see of PDX, the more I really like the east neighborhoods.) and back again. It was roughly 14 miles, and was highlighted with stops in the Sellwood Park and Grand Central bakery.


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The Eastbank Esplanade and Springwater trail are havens for biker families (and bikers without kids - there just happened to be A LOT of families out riding - and walkers, and rollerbladers... ) out for a Sunday ride. It was so much fun to get out and see everyone enjoying the amazing weather and each others' company.

We were joined by our friends Erica and Phillip. Nikki and Erica went to UNH together and she and Phillip have been in PDX for several years now.

the Oregon Zoo adventure

Oregon Zoo
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

So Liam and I headed to the Oregon Zoo at Washington Park last week. When faced with the choice of walking or riding my bike, I always go with my bike. We rode our bike to the Max stop; the very first one on the blue line. I did this because I knew that getting on the train with Liam, my bike and his trail-a-bike was going to be hectic. And I knew it would be 10-times worse on the return trip. I knew this, and yet I continued with my plan.

We hopped on an empty train in Hillsboro several minutes before it left. We had time to hang both bikes on the racks and take a seat. The train filled up as it made its way through Beaverton, and was pretty packed as we headed into the tunnel.

I told Liam that as soon as the train stopped, he was to hop off the train and stand near the wall - I was going to grab both bikes and follow. The train stopped - and he refused to get off without me. I grabbed his trail-a-bike and ran off the train and told him to follow me. I sprinted to the wall and practically tossed his bike against it.

"Stand here!" I shouted, and ran back to the train, which now had several more people in the doorway. My bike was on the opposite side of the train, so I busted through the wall of people with lame shouts of "pardon me" and "excuse me." I grabbed my bike, hooking it on some guy's backpack and dragging him and the Breezer toward the now-chiming-and-flashing door.

I saw Liam standing at the wall watching me wrestle through the crowd as the doors closed on the back wheel of my bike. I yanked it free and ran across the platform for him.

I knew getting home was going to suck. I then said many, many bad kind of words to that little obsessive bicyclist-dude that lives in my brain. He laughed.

We enjoyed our day at the zoo, but I was watching the clock. I wanted to be down in the tunnel by 3:00 pm so we could miss the rush. Of course, we weren't down there until 3:30, and a blue line train was just coming into the station as we came onto the platform.

It was packed, and I hadn't even taken the bikes apart yet. We watched the train pull away. I took the bikes apart and we waited for the next train. It was a red line train to Beaverton Transit Center. It wasn't very crowded, but I figured that since it wasn't going all the way to Hillsboro, we'd let it pass.

Ten-or-so minutes later, a blue line to Hillsboro pulls in, and it is freaking packed. There must have been three bikers standing with their bikes next to each hanging bike (uhh, TriMet, get the drift, install more bike hooks. please?). We had no choice but to to pass, or hop on and be total assholes, but I'll save that lesson for another day...

A few minutes after that, another red line to Beaverton Transit Center came in. It was pretty empty, so we hopped on. I figured I would see how things look at the Beaverton TC.

We arrived at the station and watched several packed blue line trains move through. I also watched the clock move past 5 pm. I realized that it wasn't going to get any better where we were for several more hours.

I put the bikes back together and said to Liam, "we've got them, we might as well use them!" We rode though Beaverton, staying mainly on the sidewalk that runs along the TV Highway toward Hillsboro.

At SW 153rd, we hopped on a paved path that brought us to the entrance of the Tualatin Hills Nature Park where we road a paved path to the Merlo Rd/SW 158th Ave MAX Station. I popped the bikes apart and a minute-or-so later an almost-empty blue line train pulled in.

We hopped in, I hung the bikes up, and Liam fell asleep on my lap.

Sauvie Island family ride

hip shot
Originally uploaded by Ben McLeod

We went out to Sauvie Island yesterday for a family ride. It was scenic - we watched the Mt. Adams wildfire grow - but the roads are narrow with a ton of traffic. It kind of reminded me, and Nikki remarked on the same thing later, of Martha's Vineyard, but without all the houses (and the floating houses just aren't the same thing!).

I'm glad we took it in - we rode by a field that grows potatoes for Tim's Chips, and we went to a beach (that had a lot of trash strewn about - what's up with that?!) - but I don't see us headed in that direction again.