The Commute

I know I've said it before, but epic isn't a word I use very often. The ride in to the office today however, was epic. It started with the route at 3 am, a little nap, then Jen drove me up to Olsons at around 7. From there he and I headed north by bike to St. Johns to have coffee with Ira Ryan. It was great to finally meet that guy. We rapped for an hour, and since it was supposed to be nice today, he was itching to get a ride in, so we wrapped it up, and started to head to the office. This was about 9 am. As we were leaving the coffee shop, I could see the St. John's bridge (pictured above) peeking between some of the buildings. I have a thing for suspension bridges, probably due to all of the drives across Michigan's Mackinaw bridge.
We rolled over to the base of it, and checked it out. Then Olson suggested we ride across, enter Forest Park, ride that south to down town Portland then cross back over on the Burnside Bridge. I was into it.
Forest Park is the largest old-growth urban forest in the United States. There are trails running all over it, and you can ride the Leif Ericcson trail from one end to another. I was on the Travellers Check, and it currently has knobby tires so I was confident the ride would go well...right across the bridge, we hit a crazy climb. I'm on flat pedals in jeans and carrying a huge backpack, with no water...It was brutal.
Once we got to the park though, I was feeling pretty good. The trail is perfect for a cross bike. Some climbing, some roots/rocks. But mostly it is as fast as you can go! We rocked about 6 miles of the trail, hopped on a sweet road that descended out of the park, and dumped us in Portland's gritty underbelly. Docks, scrap and supply yards. An adult video store called Fat Cobra...real special place.
Finally got into the office around noon. All without ever leaving the city!