GPHQ 10: Mount Tabor

May 11, 2021

Before going to today’s activities, let’s stitch in a few photos from last Saturday’s ride out to Kelly Point at the mouth of the Willamette. This is another of those ‘just ride’ rides that we’ve done frequently enough that I’m not stopping with the camera along the way. For a change though, we pulled off into the park at the point and ate lunch on the shore, staring across the Columbia and up the Multnomah Channel to Sauvie Island. A beautiful day, and a pretty picnic spot we should stop more often for.

Image not found :( — Lunch break, Kelly Point.

OK. Back to today. With our time in Portland starting to wind down, I’m doubling up activities today. First, another coffee date with Bruce down at Cafe Ponte. It’s taken awhile for me to settle on the best route there, but I’ve got it down now: south on 12th Avenue to Harvey Milk Street, then just follow the green ribbon and race the lights down to the waterfront. Today I make them all until the final one, when it seems prudent to wait for the MAX train to claim priority.

Video sound track: Just in Time, by the Jerry Mulligan Quartet

Bruce is late. He swore he’d be here before 8, but doesn’t wheel his bike in the door until 8:04. It’s a good thing I’m such a patient man!

Bruce surprises me this morning (no surprise - he often surprises me) by arriving on a bike I haven’t seen before - his new to him Long Haul Trucker. We spend a few minutes staring at it, discussing the handlebar-end shifters, the reversed brake levers, and the elegant but too wide woman’s Brooks saddle, and then get down to it.

Among many other topics that come up, one is the new bridge across the tracks in the Sellwood neighborhood, which he took today to evade a stalled freight train. He describes it - there are stairs but no ramp, but there is an elevator at both ends - and then asserts that it’s brand new, just opened last month. Naw - I insist it’s not new and that I first crossed over it about three years ago soon after we moved into Stacey’s Place, the first Airbnb we stayed in after moving out of our home.

Bruce is certain though - there was a christening ceremony for it just last month, he says. It doesn’t add up, so when we finally leave I decide to follow him back to his home and check it out myself.

I’ve never noticed before that the letter O is a coffee bean.

He’s right! It is a new bridge, Gideon Crossing, that really did just open recently. I’m right too though - only five blocks away is the very similar Lafayette Street Bridge that’s been around since 2015. Amazing that the city invested in two such similar bridges only a short distance apart.

This reminds me that Bruce mentioned another new bike/pedestrian bridge, this one back in our neighborhood on Flanders spanning I-405. And looking this one up I see that there is yet one more coming, the Blumenauer Bridge, to cross I-84 at 7th and 7th. Seeing all this new bike infrastructure, I feel a bit better about my city and more hopeful that it will find its way back to its former glory one of these years.

New bike! Don’t these two look great together?

Video sound track: As Catch Can, by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet

I follow Bruce up Clinton Street to his turnoff, and then continue northeast and make my way to Mount Tabor. It’s one of the last from my original list of 12 rides when I started this quest, so I’m nearing the end. McNamee and Council Crest, and I’m out of here.

Tabor isn’t all that much of a climb or descent, but it sure is pretty at this time of year and on a day like this. And, it’s seen improvements since I was here last. Part of the descent that used to be open to cars is barricaded now, so it’s an even more enjoyable ride. And, in case you’ve forgotten how distinguished this feature is, Mount Tabor is one of only four volcanoes in America that lies within city limits. Portland’s very own cinder cone!

Video sound track: Blueport, by the Gerry Mulligan Quartet

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Gregory GarceauGood judgement giving way to the MAX train.
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2 years ago

Rich FrasierAh, thanks so much for the videos of our old neighborhood. Have to confess to a small attack of nostalgia...
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Rich FrasierI forgot this is your old stomping ground, Rich. We probably biked within a few blocks of your home.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Gregory GarceauNot as dumb as I look.
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2 years ago

Bruce LellmanHad I known you were filming me I would have done some tricks.
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2 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanI’m sure, but then we might have seen you flipping over the side of the bridge and I’d feel bad about posting it. It would be interesting trying to choose the right sound track though.
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2 years ago

Jen RahnTo Bruce LellmanI want to see you take that LHT off some sweet jumps!
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2 years ago

Bruce LellmanFortunately any desire I might have had to do fun tricks on my bike was assuaged when we rolled into the Bob Stacey Crossing elevator.
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2 years ago

Bruce LellmanTo Jen RahnI have to get different handlebars but then I'm ready.
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2 years ago