Tales from the Damp Side: November 2011

The weather during the week leading up to Thanksgiving was strong winds and heavy rains. The day after Thanksgiving, on Black Friday, the clouds cleared and the sun came out. I'd been thinking about getting a small camera to take along on bike rides, so that evening Chris and I ventured out on our first ever Black Friday shopping excursion. After elbowing our way past the half dozen other shoppers who had converged on Office Depot that night, I bought a Canon PowerShot Elph 100. Small, lightweight, easy to fit in a bike jersey pocket.

The next day, Saturday, the clouds were back but there was no rain in the forecast. Chris took off on his ride with Alex about an hour before me. By chance, when I drove to the start of my ride I found Chris, Alex, our friend Frank, and a few other cyclists gathered at the intersection where I'd planned to park the car.

After Chris rode off with his group, I got my stuff on and headed off on my own route. Today's ride would take me along the ridge of the 'West Hills', a low mountain range that separates downtown Portland from the suburbs and outlying rural areas. Later on I ran into Chris again, and he and Alex rode with me on part of my return route.