First ride back: a leisurely catch up session with my husband
After arriving back in the US at noon on Sunday I wanted to try and get back on west coast time. To stay awake, Ian suggested we go for a bike ride. A bike ride! Of course I wanted to go for a bike ride! We installed our rear wheel locks that I picked up for us at HEMA (much easier than I anticipated), filled up our water bottles, put on my biking shoes, adjusted our helmets and we were off! It was more work to get ready for our ride than in the Netherlands where you can just walk out the door and go. But I guess it's my choice to clip-in and wear a helmet.
Normally I would map out our route beforehand so that we were always in a bike lane or on a bike boulevard but this time I just wanted to get out and ride. So we decided to just follow bike boulevards and decide our route as we went. It was a fun hour long ride over to St. Johns, up towards Pier park and back home. We caught up on my trip and I showed Ian the street where I proposed advisory bike lanes on my blog.
A couple of good things I realized:
- After spending long hours on a bike in the Netherlands I realized I wasn't looking at my watch or counting miles. Instead I was just enjoying the ride and not treating it as a workout or trying to be as efficient as possible.
- I really fell in love with biking in the Netherlands, just like everybody said I would :) I want to continue biking now. Beforehand I would commute (when the weather is nice) to work maybe 2 -3 times a week. I would also go on long weekend rides (10-20 miles) with Ian on a pre-mapped route that was mostly on separated paths. And I would ride over to Alberta or Mississippi to get food and drinks with friends. I hope that I can start biking more for utilitarian trips and short trips. (Fast forward to day 2 back in America - it may not happen as much as I would like).
Some bad things I realized:
- After experience "nice" drivers in Holland, I have become desensitized to cars here. I wasn't scared of them like I normally am. Ian and I rode next to each other in the bike lane even though we were stretching over into the car lane. Before the trip I would ALWAYS ride single file but I had no problem cycling socially.
- I ran a red light. It was a pedestrian half signal so not as bad as it sounds. I could see that no cars were coming on the side street and I didn't want to wait so I just went! Beforehand I would have just waited at the signal because I didn't want to break the law.
- I kind of didn't like my bike. I used to LOVE my bike. But I was hunched over, my neck and wrists hurt, I couldn't look around at the scenery and I wanted my Dutch bike back. My Dutch bike was so much more comfortable! I don't think I could spend the number of hours I spent on my Dutch bike on my hybrid bike. However, my bike here felt really light and I still enjoyed clipping in :) (I have a TREK hybrid men's bike)
- We went up what would be considered a baby hill in Portland and it was bigger than anything I experienced in the Netherlands. Even bridge approaches. I was out of breath by the top and realized how much that hinders people from riding.
Second ride: we need food for the grill!
We have friends from Africa in town and I needed to go to the store to get stuff for dinner. Driving wasn't an option because I lent the car to them so they could run errands. However, we have three grocery stores really close to us and I was eager to get back on my bike.
When I was thinking about riding to the grocery store (I always drive) I thought about how I would get to Fred Meyer and I realized I couldn't get there in a bike lane. I would have to get on the neighborhood street that runs behind it and cross Interstate Ave at a signal, go in the back way and ride on the sidewalk over to the bike rack. If I went to New Seasons, which is a bit further and more expensive, I could ride in a bike lane on Denver Ave, get in the left turn lane with cars to get onto Rosa Parks, yield to oncoming cars and then take the bike lane all the way to the New Seasons parking lot.
I chose to go tot New Seasons because it was an easier route. When I was trying to turn left onto Rosa Parks there were so many oncoming cars I ended up riding through on the yellow and red. Besides that, getting to New Seasons wasn't too difficult but leaving was tough! There is no bike lane on Interstate and cars were queued back further than the driveway anyway so I couldn't get into the left turn lane there. I couldn't go out the other driveway because I would have to cross four lanes of traffic to get into the bike lane. So I rode on the sidewalk, rode in the crosswalk then got off my bike and lined up behind two other cyclists waiting in the bike lane at the signal. It was an eye-opening ride for me and made me realize how important that missing link is when making mode choices. I always drive to the store and I will probably continue to drive because it is easier.
I start my last class of graduate school tomorrow but I still have a lot of blog posts I want to write up. However, class is 5 hours both Tuesday and Thursdays for a month. And I have weekend plans every weekend so no promises on how quickly those will get posted but please stay tuned!
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