Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Monday October 26th to Wednesday October 28th

I have spent the last three days exploring Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA.

I have met up with Avanti friends over dinner (thank you for dinner Sharron!), visited the Portland Zoo, Climbed up a to the top of a waterfall while pretending to be from a different country as I said hi to every hiker I passed, Watched the Yankees advance to the World Series, Met Chris's family (Sharron's Husband), been treated to many meals (Thank you to all that cooked!), experienced Voodoo doughnut, purchased a new pair of pants for the trip, played with one of the cutest high energy kids in the world (Joe, Sharron's son), applied to jobs online, went grocery shopping, bought a book at Powells book store, visited Washington Park, socialized, went hot tubbing, received a treatment for my leg from an amazing PT, completed laundry, fixed another broken spoke on my bike, and 'most importantly' caught up on my blog!

Sounds like a great trip to me! The only question left is how will my leg feel tomorrow when I jump back on my bike? Hopefully very well! I will be sad to leave such great company though, my trip to San Fran may be very boring compared to what I have experienced in this lovely city! I still am looking forward to seeing CA though. Come on Redwoods!!! In the mean time... more socializing and enjoying my time with the Donnnelly's.

Day 59 - Sunday October 25th

MONW, WA to Vancouver, WA/Portland, OR
42.9+ miles
3:19.26+ hrs
34.7 max
11.4 avg

Well the mileage and time of riding today are off due to me not resetting the odometer at the beginning of the day so I just listed the mileage recorded after I hit the reset button. This is the first time it has happened but I am not worried because my system records the overall mileage as well so my end calculations will be correct when I end the trip.

Not a great day of riding today. My knee wouldn't stop hurting, I got a flat, it was overcast and it was rainy!

Sharron, in her typical generous form, offered to come pick me up from anywhere if I needed it. At first, there was no way I was not going to allow her to drive out of her way to unnecessarily pick me up, but after I got a flat while climbing up a large hill (900') my right leg froze up and became useless again. I had thought of getting a hotel for that night and just waiting till I could cycle into Portland on my own free will, but after much thought... I decided that it was better to save the money (of potentially a couple hotel nights) and just get a ride to a place where I could heal. So, I gave in and opted to be picked up. I still don't know how I feel about the decision to be helped into Portland but I feel that I will be able to come to terms with it. Maybe I will bike back up there and continue on my way... but if I do that then I should probably ride back up to Seattle and ride over the portion of the trip when I got a lift when my bike was broken and un-ride-able; not going to happen.

It was great to see Sharron again and meet her lovely family! They are SO nice and I can't wait to spend some time in Portland exploring the local area and catching up with Sharron.