Wow this long summer of 3 months of Pedalpalooza has really been fun and intense. I'm definitely more engaged and riding more, or at least it feels like it...but maybe it's just that things are spaced out more?

On a ride today, as is common when meeting new friends on rides with strangers, talk turned to past pedalpalooza rides. I didn't realize until later that I have actually done quite a few this season, including:

• Flanders ride - bunch of Ned Flanders cosplayers riding over the new bike overpass bridge on....FLANDERS street. Props to the project!
• Rocky Butte - climb to Rocky Butte at sunset. Lots of people, friends and new friends, lots of fun.
• Monster Ride - Lots of furry beasts and strange creatures. I took my demon son Jeffrey along for the trip. He frightened a few folks, and was welcomed by good company.
• Goth Ride - (the above pic, in the cemetery, before the start) - Music. Eyeliner. Darkness. <3
• Music for Airports - A bunch of awkward music geeks with unsynchronized versions of the seminal album playing on repeat while we circle the airport on bikes and try not to die.
• PBP not a Brevet - That was today. A longer and smaller ride, but really fun and challenging. I locked up my front wheel when the (metal) fender folded on the single-track descent on Rocky Butte, but somehow didn't puncture and didn't crash and managed to hand-bend the shit back enough to keep riding. Not boring at all! What a forearm workout on these Paul canti brakes. :) Never riding a trail again on purpose with these fucking fenders, that's for sure...

I suppose I've done a ton of other riding as well, like to friends birthday parties and to play disc golf once and to test some personal limits/things... but yeah, pedalpalooza has been super fun this year! I wonder (and secretly hope) that the multi-month format will maintain past covid...

Most of a month remains. Looking forward to even more rides!

I've bicycled by Shirley's Tippy Canoe quite a few times, but only recently (last year or the year before?) stopped in with my cousin and brother for some bike-fueled brunch action.

The above picture was from today, and note the police tape. :(

The spot was fun! Had a wonderful divey roadside feel with rad outdoor bike-friendly seating near the river. The interior mood and decor were amazing and the bar was a real treasure. To get a sense of it and the menu, I guess you could look at this page from Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives". The portions were ridiculous and the drinks strong.

Sadly, I missed the news from early January...but Shirley's Tippy Canoe burned down completely due to a fire that started in the second story, the timing of which corresponds to the final day a temporary closing for "deep cleaning". Apparently it's suspicious, which sucks...but selfishly, for me, it also sucks finding out the hard way.

I'll miss not being able to stop in there while riding through scenic Troutdale. I snapped these photos today through the chain link fence that entirely surrounds the charred remains. It's gone. There's nothing really worth saving, although I think a few chotchkies might still be out back. There's a canoe still between the trees.

Bummer.

We've been back in pdx for about 16 years and I had not yet made it out to the Witch's Castle in Forest Park.

So I decided to do that on Monday.

I can't really say that I recommend it on a road bike, but it was mostly fine. I couldn't ride about half the trail, due to the rocky/steep/slippery/muddy nature of a trail in a park...but it was quite ok early on a Monday morning. Only passed about two other people on the trail (one hiker, one jogger).

The trail dumps you out on Cornell, and then you get to take the lane and bomb maybe 2 miles downhill, including 2 tunnels. I didn't know the area that well, so I was fully clenched and expecting to fall/die.

My device said I hit 40MPH. It was insane and also fun as hell...

I didn't write this week's "I Anonymous", but not a day goes by that I don't think the exact same thing. Total pet peeve!!