It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

Today threatened to be my first day of the month with no reason to ride and I didn’t want to risk messing up 30 Days of Biking so I convinced myself I should route test a new hill for the weekly ride from the dentist’s. I don’t know why I feel the need to find hilly routes for us–my friends seem to like riding up mountains, but I know for a fact they also like long flat rides. They’ve been riding together for years and years and train for centuries (100-mile rides) so I guess I feel a little out of my depth. I don’t know how my finding new routes up big hills helps with that, but that’s what I’m doing. Except I don’t want to take them on the route I tested today–it was too much.

Apparently hearing about a mountain nearby and then looking for random people’s routes up it on Ride with GPS doesn’t necessarily yield the perfect ride. That random person might just be a hill-climbing beast. Also, I don’t know how to look at a map and tell if I’ll like a route. I see the hill profile and the numbers, but it’s just wiggly lines to me. Now I’m noticing that there was a 12.8% climb and several 10% climbs so I know for in the future those are numbers I’ll want to avoid. However, today I rode my Straggler rather than my road bike, and while I may have disliked the ride on the lighter bike, too, it wouldn’t have been quite as hard. And can I blame a 48-hour-old Moderna vaccine? I dunno. Oh, and Pixie came along and she’s put on a bit of weight lately so I had a heavy basket. So many excuses! My heart hasn’t pounded as hard as it did climbing the biggest hill in I don’t know how long.

And it turns out I didn’t need to make an excuse to get myself out today after all, because later I rode one flat mile with Pixie and just one kid (still working on getting them both out of the house and on their bikes) to pick up a pizza. Pizza is easier without Pixie so it can ride in or atop the basket, so today got me thinking about putting a milk crate or other bin on my deck. I rarely carry the kids, but I don’t feel ready to get rid of the Xtracycle Mini Magic Carpet pads on my deck and bolt a bin on. I think I could run straps or zip ties through a bin and attach it on top of the pads. This would also work well on the days I fill more than five grocery bags at the store. I’ll keep my eyes peeled for free milk crates.

Today’s miles: 14.9
Total April miles: 495.7

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

Yesterday I rode to my first COVID vaccination and back–five flat miles.

Today was looking to be my first day of the month with no errand to run or friend to ride with. I was worried it’d be hard to get out…especially because it was raining. I’m fine going out in the rain when I have somewhere to go, but going for a ride just for the sake of going for a ride is already hard for me, so doing it in the rain is just blech. But then I remembered I hadn’t done my hill yet this week!

There was even a lull in the rain and I set out to do my Hill Killerz hill repeats. This was my first time using my recorded route so I didn’t have to worry about counting to five and could simply focus on how much I don’t like riding uphill–it was great! Also, there were tomato plants for sale on my hill. It’s such a good hill.

Yesterday’s miles: 5.1
Today’s miles: 6.5
Total April miles: 480.8

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

I’ve missed my first day of blogging, but not yet a day of riding–phew. Yesterday I only biked a mile to pick up school lunches. That was on my cargo bike with Pixie in the basket. No photos.

Today I finished the job from day 20 and toted Kath’s new patio chairs home for her. Pro tip: Lay chairs flat so as not to encourage hop-ons.

Then I went grocery shopping with my cargo bike. I meant to go at 6am, but totally forgot come morning so I went at 6pm. I’ve avoided the grocery store in the evening for over a year for fear of it being crowded. Today it wasn’t at all crowded, but it was quite surreal–some of the directional aisle markers have come back (they were all removed several weeks ago–I’m assuming because restrictions were relaxed), but they’re pointing the opposite directions from before. It’s really, really weird to be routed oppositely. Of course there were still the obligatory couple of people wandering the wrong way.

I came out of the grocery store to find a very fancy bike parked next to me and it made me feel frumpy.

Yesterday’s miles: 1.2
Today’s miles: 9.7
Total April miles: 469.2

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

Big fun bikey day! During lunch I met Maria to kill her hill with her. It doesn’t count towards my own hill killerz challenge and I’ll always hate hills, but I really like getting to see Maria, even if we’re at opposite ends of the hill and just wave in passing.

At 3:30 I hooked up my trailer and met Kath at a hardware store to pick up her new outdoor set. She’s got a cargo bike and could totally carry it, but I love that she doesn’t realize that and lets me tote big things around for her. The four chairs weren’t in yet so we’ll get to do a repeat, but today I got to carry a table and umbrella, and even better: see Kath for the first time in forever. The portion of the trip spent carrying the furniture was less than a mile and all downhill, but the entire trip to and from home was 7.5 miles so it felt like a big deal.

And finally I met my friends for an after work ride. Normally I like doing a lot of research on my routes and testing them before dragging friends along, but in the parking lot outside the dentist I Google mapped our way to a dropped pin near Powell Butte and it worked OK! I’ve mountain biked up Powell Butte from the south once and that was nice, but we were on road bikes and needed a paved way up and it was steep! I don’t want to go back anytime soon. However, I very much liked the pipes exhibit outside the visitors center. And we got an excellent view of Mt. Hood. I wish a bus went up there so I could bring my kids. I wouldn’t subject them to the steep climb on bikes nor would I want to lock our bikes at the bottom of the hill and hike up the trails (because I don’t think the bikes would be safe parked along the Springwater Corridor Trail) or walk up the paved street because there’s no sidewalk.

Today’s miles: 35
Total April miles: 458.3

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

At lunchtime, two miles on my Big Dummy to New Seasons Market for a few items I can’t get at Safeway. After work, a loop with my friends, and this time I led the ride (I love getting to just follow along, but it’s only fair to do the leading sometimes!) up Rocky Butte and then Mount Tabor. At the tippy top of Rocky Butte (I have to walk my road bike up the loose gravel to the tippy top) we saw a couple with a full fancy dinner spread–on a short table, seated on an array of pillows, with tablecloth, candles, and champagne! I took a sneaky shot of them through my bike:

Today’s miles: 24.2
Total April miles: 423.3

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

Maria–of hill killerz fame–took me on a 50-mile ride today. We’ve got on long rides before–you can view our trip to the coast on Oregon Field Guide. Today wasn’t quite that epic, but our loop through Oregon City and by the Mompano reservoir was amazing. The reservoir is beautiful, but closed to the public, so we just rested outside the fence and had a snack. People who live behind the gates were on the water in kayaks, fishing boats, and on a standup paddleboard with a dog (they fell in, splash!).

It was hot out and I was pretty exhausted by the end of it, but so so happy to have gotten out for such a long ride with such a fun friend. I probably could have happily sat unmoving for the rest of the day, but Pixie needed walking and I had promised the kids burritos from nearby Laughing Planet. I was able to convince one kid to ride with me to the burrito pickup (which is great because then Pixie can come, too, and have someone to wait with outside while I run in for the food), but I’m not calling the weekend a total success since I didn’t get both kids outside. Better luck next time.

Today’s miles: 53.5
Total April miles: 399.1

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

My loaded trailer has been sitting in my family room (yes, our bikes all live inside since we don’t have a garage) since day 10, and today was a good day to bring everything back downtown to the office.

Last year, I added old innertube railings to the trailer to make it more comfortable when I carry my kids around in it, and it turns out that stretchy siding also means too-long loads aren’t too long! I stretched the front and rear stretchy panels to squeeze in the smidge-over-five-feet-long canopy.

And a general packing lesson for all bikes, based on an incident I didn’t share on day six: double check those loose straps you thought you sufficiently knotted and tucked away! Mere blocks after leaving the office, the canopy bag strap worked its way free and wrapped around my trailer wheel so tight it looked like a balloon animal by the time it stopped my forward momentum and I realized what had happened. I still can’t believe it unwound and everything was fine.

The storage area of my cargo trailer is 5×2, but its wheels and wheel wells make it one inch too chonky to wheel through doorways so getting it inside with my supplies meant I had to unhook, unload, and carry it in sideways. Totally worth it, though–I love this trailer!

Today’s miles: 14.7
Total April miles: 321.9

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

It was a good day today. My oldest turned 14 and we marked the day with a 12-mile bike ride to do some celebrating.

First up: candy from the market we used to pass everyday on the bike ride to school. Then: sifting through the used Lego bins at Bricks & Minifigs (masks, hand sanitizer, and latex gloves required; 10 people max in the store). Next: crepe from a food cart pod with distanced outdoor seating. Later: an outdoor art show in the windows of the Lincoln Street Kayak & Canoe Museum. I had planned on a little hike up Mt. Tabor to cap it off, but it was too hot for the birthday kid (not to mention biking 12 miles after barely going outside for a year was quite a bit!) so we headed home–but we discovered a beautiful dirt cut-through on our way so we still got a dose of nature.

For dinner we went back out to get to-go sushi because that’s what we always do for birthdays. Pixie had to stay home earlier since she’s not allowed in Bricks & Minifigs, but we brought her along for the five-mile sushi trip. I let her out to run at the usual spot (which hasn’t been usual for a couple years now, of course) and she got all turned around and didn’t move as quickly as she used to. So it seems she’s a bit out of shape and out of practice, too.

Today’s miles: 17.2
Total April miles: 307.2

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

I visited my hill killerz hill at lunchtime and for the first time the house with the driveway skatepark (plus other skatepark features in the front yard) didn’t have a car parked in it! Yes, I rode it. And no, kids, you shouldn’t ride in other people’s driveway skateparks.

I really like my hill. It feels like a slice out of yore. The tallllllllllest plum trees rained tiny white petals down on me near the bottom of the hill. Not that my own neighborhood is all that citified, but all our fruit trees are much younger and shorter. Everything here has been growing for a long, long time. The bottom of my hill ends near a creek and is flanked by a feed store and a stone supplier–the sorts of businesses that get displaced in other parts of Portland. I jockeyed for position with a forklift moving between the two businesses on a couple of my laps today. I guess that’s more industrial than rural and old-timey, but there’s more interesting stuff going on than just up the hill where I live.

Later on I headed down the street to my friend’s place of business for a post-work loop. We had planned on a repeat of Monday’s cemetery/Mt. Tabor double climb (“the usual”), but we were intrigued by a side road and ended up climbing to Council Crest (“Portland’s highest publicly accessible point”). This route didn’t have a horribly long and steep hill like the last time we ascended Council Crest (which was also my first time up ever) so that was nice! However, there was a long, gradual descent in the middle, and it’s a shame to lose so much altitude in the middle of a long climb. Even so, I liked today’s route more, but I bet there’s an even better route up.

I can’t believe how easy it has been to be on my bike every day for two weeks now. It’s really different than a year ago when I couldn’t bring myself to do much of anything.

Today’s miles: 29.6
Total April miles: 290

It’s April! That means 30 Days of Biking and biking every day and hopefully blogging about it each day.

Ugh, so I forgot the Nutella when I went shopping at Safeway four days ago. I figured I’d try my luck one block over at Bi-Mart so I could also pick up a bag of dried corn on the cob for our squirrel picnic table. Unfortunately Bi-Mart had neither Nutella nor squirrel corn, plus the bike rack was mostly blocked by plants. I’m fine lifting my cargo bike up a curb to access the rack when it’s so blocked, but I felt sorry for the owner of the trike locked next to me who probably had a tougher time of it. It wasn’t my day for bike parking because at Safeway I found a bike parked sideways along the entire rack. I was able to squeeze behind the rack, but what a weird way to park!

Pedaling home I mused about how “long” my shopping trip took, having gone out for one item and needing to hit two stores to find it. At only 2.3 miles my trip wouldn’t have been any quicker by car, and navigating between side-by-side strip malls is probably quicker by bike than car, but it all felt painfully slow. But then, why shouldn’t it? In this age with everything available at the click of a button to be delivered to our doorsteps while we busy ourselves with other stuff, we’ve no desire to think about the time and resources spent packaging up our items, or the van drivers speeding to illegally park and toss them at our doors. I’m going to try to be more patient and appreciative of my slow trips to select Nutella and squirrel corn in the neighborhood.

The day wasn’t all shopping and parking, though! I’m lucky to live close to Maria, queen of the hill killerz, and sometimes I get to join her on her hill. So that’s what I did for lunch today. I realized last week that I need a better method of counting my five repeats. I always doubt my count at the top of the hill and think I should do an extra climb just in case, but once I’m at the bottom with the climb looming the feeling magically goes away. I’ve started saving my hills as private Strava recordings so I can verify my reps after the fact, but that’s not good enough. I think I’ll trust my counting one last time while recording my efforts as a ride on Ride with GPS and then turn that into a route to follow in the future. Problem solved!

Today’s miles: 8
Total April miles: 260.4