Velo News

Yesterday was wet and rainy with occasional heavy showers into the afternoon. I took a chance on a forecast for less activity later in the day to head out for a ride. The choice was a good one. I rode for a couple hours with nary a drop. My route was south on the Chehalis Western Trail to the Deschutes River and back with a side trip to the California Taco truck for a gut-bomb end of ride burrito. Oh yeah, I rode my 1,000th mile (plus 10 more) on my bike for this year, a personal best and my goal for 2009. A few lingering (sometimes heavy) showers fell after I got home.

More than anything, the light was GOOD throughout my ride. By that I mean the changing sky and sunlight filtering through the trees and foliage, reflecting off wet surfaces everywhere, the fall colors, a landscape alternating from brilliantly lit to soberly dark and all variations in between. At one point the trail stretched ahead of me under overarching fall foliage lit gold by the late afternoon sun and into a dark tunnel ahead. At the Deschutes River, the water sparkled in the sunlight. Above, when I could see the sky through the trees, masses of clouds swept overhead pushed by a stiff wind from the southwest and revealing patches of blue sky. The wind was a fine return trip tailwind. As weekend city rides go, it was a pretty cosmic one.

Along the way I used discretion and good judgment with respect to traffic laws. I am not above using pedestrian signals to my advantage.