The Think Tank

Relishing that fact that I found myself with nothing that had to be accomplished yesterday, and mindful of how unprepared I am for the Seattle To Portland bicycle ride that Joel and Tim and I are planning on doing in July, I figured it was the perfect time to take a prolonged ride through the Springwater Corridor.   I’ve heard many people talk about it and several friends and workmates use it regularly, but I had never been on it personally.

I knew that it went down through Oaks Bottom Wild Life Refuge and eventually wound its way through the Powell Butte Nature Park as well, so naturally I lugged my camera along with me.  I also brought along my fancy new 80-200 2.4 lens that I got for Christmas, just in case I caught site of any eagles or other fast moving animals along the way.

My original intention had been to just do 20-25 miles, but as I got into it I was feeling pretty good and enjoying myself so I readjusted my goal to try and finish up at 40 miles.  That would make it my largest single-day ride, but sadly less than half of what we’ll be doing for the STP… baby steps, right?

The ride is beautiful as the trail follows the Willamette down past Oaks Park and into Sellwood.  The Corridor is closed through February at Sellwood Waterfront Park for a couple of miles, so I detoured up past the Oaks Pioneer Church through some beautiful neighborhoods and then back onto the trail where it crosses over McLaughlin.  It stays near Johnson Creek on your right, heading past Tideman-Johnson Nature Park, then gets a little less scenic for a few miles as it hugs Johnson Creek Boulevard for several miles.

I was listening to my political podcasts and not paying enough attention in this area, so I missed a turn where the Corridor crossed Johnson Creek Blvd. and angled off and instead followed Johnson Creek up to I-205 when I realized that something was clearly wrong.  I consulted my iPhone and identified my mistake then hopped on the I-205 Bike Route which took me back to the Springwater.  From there I hung a right and continued out to Powell Butte, where the trail gets more rural and, in my humble opinion, more beautiful and interesting.  Along the way I found a pair of rabbits, some sheep, a couple of goats, some kind of horse farm, and two ponies.  Most of them were camera shy, but I did a get few shots of some of them.

The wind had been blowing in my face the whole way, and it was now starting to really rip, so I turned around at the Schweitzer Restoration area.  By now I was starting to get tired and I was cold and hungry, not having brought along any snacks or hot cocoa since I had only planned on going half this far when I left the house.

Having the wind at my back on the way home was a very nice change from the ride out, but even with the assist I noticed that I averaged two miles per hours slower on the way back then I had on the way out.  I can only imagine that was fatigue and cold muscles.

I stopped at New Seasons in Sellwood and purchased some Luna bars and a Sobe tea, then hightailed for home.  The sun was setting as I was riding down the East Side Esplinade, so I stopped and took some photos of the beautiful sky show over downtown, then continued on for home.  By the time I got to Vancouver and Russel is was fully dark, and I realized that I was going to fall short of my 40 mile goal unless I made a detour, so I headed up to Alameda Ridge and looked at a few of my favorite homes up there, enjoying the ones which (like us) still had their Christmas lights up and turned on.  I kept an eye on the odometer and when I thought it was the right time, made my final swing for home.  When I pulled up to the house my trip computer read “40.05”, so I was happy.

Check out the Gallery page for all the photos.