- we completed Event 20 on June 15th - the Petal Pedal, 30 miles on the bike
- we completed Event 40 on August 11th - the Providence Bridge Pedal, a 37 mile ride
- 20 events in 57 days
- an average of one event every 2.85 days
No wonder we were feeling a little tired and a lot beat up. The schedule we were pushing was a little cray-cray, for sure. But - wow! - are we awesome or what!!?
Event 40 was the Bridge Pedal, an annual Portland event that celebrated its 18th year in 2013. This ride is a unique opportunity for cyclists because you get to ride over all the main bridges in the city. Yep, it's a traffic nightmare for cars. Getting any where on Bridge Pedal day is a bee-otch. At some point during the event, the bridges - St. Johns, Fremont, Broadway, Steel, Burnside, Morrison, Hawthorne, Ross Island, Marquam and Sellwood - are closed, at least one lane anyway. And usually at the same time. The real news was that in all 18 years of this ride, it has never rained. NEVER! Wild stuff, man. Granted, we were a little worried when we left the house. It was very overcast but we decided against carrying rain gear. The forecast said the rain would hold off. Temperature-wise it was nice enough and we thought that bringing rain gear would only bring the rain. I am happy to report that things worked out quite well - no rain.
This was another two-event weekend. The day before we had done the Aurora Colony Days 5k. We figure if we're ruining one day of our weekend with a race, we may as well double it up. Besides, Camera Crew had never done this ride so we felt she should experience this bit of Portlandia.
Our events are usually at a decent hour - 8 or 9 AM. For this one we had to leave the house before the sun was up.
I'm a guy who stays up late and likes to sleep in. So, of course, Camera Crew is the exact opposite of that. She's all giggles and rainbows in the morning. But I think even she was still a little sleepy. Even though it was tough to drag ourselves out of bed, this was a special event. First of all, it was Event 40! Second, we had signed up for a new ride option being introduced this year. For those who are not familiar, Bridge Pedal has several distance options. There is a 2 (or 3?) bridge ride that covers a few miles, for people with small kids. There is a 6 bridge ride that comes in around 16-18 miles or so. There is a 'regular' 10 bridge ride and this year they added a new 10 bridge option - The Fremont Express. The is the one we signed up for and the reason we were out the door before the sun.
This Fremont Express option allowed us up on the top deck of the Fremont Bridge before sunrise and included what I would call a bike rider-style continental breakfast. Coffee, juice, muffins, Clif Bars, fruit. And we got to watch the sun come up from atop the bridge of an interstate freeway. Actually, it was cloudy - we got to watch the gray sky get lighter. Seriously, the logistics behind this ride are nuts. Organizers have to work with city, state and federal agencies to close bridges on Portland's main throughfares - state and interstate roads like Highway 30, 99E, I-5, I-405, Highway 26, etc. The ride starts and ends downtown, too, so all the streets all over the core of SW Portland are closed. Pretty incredible. Throw in that they must coordinate with marine traffic, as well, (my assumption, anyway) because several of the bridges are raised for water traffic - and you have one large sized planning headache.
I can imagine the planning meetings for the first Bridge Pedal. "Let me get this straight: you want to close all the bridges in town, essentially shutting down the city, pissing off anyone trying to get anywhere. We're going to alter bus and train schedules. We should call ODOT and say 'Yes, we'd like to close several of your big roads. Will that be a problem?' And all so a bunch of damn bicyclists can ride their damn Huffy's back and forth over the damn bridges!? ARE YOU INSANE??!"
Now, 18 years into this, most people know to stay home. The ride attracts 18,000+ participants. It raises a lot of money. So - yeah, it's sweet.
We left the house, rode through NW Portland, crossed the Broadway Bridge (this crossing was on us, necessary to get to the start) and made our way north on Williams to the east side access to the Fremont Bridge. We got there pretty early so there were just a couple dozen riders ahead of us in line.
At about 6 AM, they released us and we pedaled our way to the apex of the Fremont Bridge. Pretty awesome sight, looking back to see hundreds of bikes pedaling up the bridge, bike lights twinkling and zigzagging around on the wide open freeway! We ate and watched Portland wake up as the sky got brighter, bit by bit. It's quite a view from there, I have to say. I hope they continue to offer this early start option because it's spectacular. Highly recommended by us!
Our early start option meant they released us ahead of the main pack, who were queued up on Naito Avenue between the Burnside and Morrison bridges. This is where most of the 18,000+ riders would start. They release them in waves, getting the regular 10 bridgers started, then the 6 bridgers, then the short stuffs and their shortened version. I have done Bridge Pedal 2-3 times, but this was years ago. I can say that even though it's a wave start, it is a zoo riding in the pack! It's slow going, at least until there is any kind of incline to speak of, at which point natural selection takes over and the riders spread out. But being in the early start of the Fremont Express meant we were definitely on the front end of the huge group, with which we eventually began merging. Riding was easy going, very little congestion. We were able to go as fast (or slow) as we wanted without feeling pushed or like we would get tangled up with others. And we could stop on each bridge for photo and video opportunities. Again, early start = recommended.
The cruise down from the Fremont Bridge was awesome! We tore down I-405, then pedaled up the not-so-obviously-uphill-when-driving-in-a-car stretch that brought us around to our first (official) crossing, the Marquam Bridge. From there it was past OMSI and out McLoughlin to the Sellwood Bridge. The route then took us over the Hawthorne Bridge, then looped around to catch the Ross Island Bridge. From there we meandered around SW PDX to get in position to cross the Marquam again. Yes, two of the crossings in our 10 bridge ride were the Marquam, but it's a double decker and the descent is fun, fun, fun. The Burnside Bridge was next, followed by the Broadway Bridge. After that it was the Fremont Bridge, where we had started our early day, then out Highway 30 to the St. Johns Bridge. A ride back along the bluff took us south on Greeley, then Interstate Avenue and over the final river crossing via the Steel Bridge. Tada - finished!
We hung out for bit, enjoyed some chocolate milk, then weaved through the gathering crowd toward home. It was quite a fun ride and I'll say it again - the early start is the way to go. We were finished with the entire 37 mile ride and there were still riders that had a ways to go yet. The fact that we had pretty much wide open roads was nice, too. Bridge Pedal is a truly iconic Portland 'thing'. The chance to ride over all these bridges is pretty unique. Camera Crew had never done this - and now she has! Event 40 - complete!
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