back on track [evening update]

The Green Gear route was fun. Here's a map.

Google says 12.6 miles, but that's a little under. I had to map the leg that follows the Fern Ridge Path "as the crow flies" to save my sanity.

West of 15th and Jefferson is a lovely bicycle thruway that follows a natural creek. It's a smooth, quiet ride with few street crossings. For most of it, I rested my elbows on the bar ends, got aero, worked on my spin, and chatted with some young man on a road bike. He was on his way to the DMV to get a driver's license — to operate a pedicab (poor guy; I haven't needed anything but my passport since I lost my state ID this summer). A lovely leg of the route, but a pain to draw accurately in Google Maps.

On the way, I delivered:

• The University of Oregon's Craft Center current workshops catalog. About 100 copies.
• CAT's own Oregon Cycling magazine. About 100 copies.
• Thirteen loaves of bread.
• A dozen or so pieces of flat mail.
• One microwave-size box

This is what I used. Two hours round trip.

At 5:20, I'd finished: two routes completed and the shop's trash and recycling taken out — and my gimpy back was pissed at me. Friend-and-neighbor Jeff was hanging around EBW, the retail shop and workspace, after swapping out the stem on his mean commuter/tourer. He offered me a ride home, which I gratefully accepted:


Our bikes rode outside:

I actually had him drop me at the Bookstore, where I bumped into Darby:


and some ink:




and developed/scanned these photos. Then I rode home.