Paid To Ride

That's right. Not since I was a bike messenger back (way back) in the day, have I been paid to spend time on my bicycle. But recently my employer, a bike shop, asked me to lead an all ladies ride on Sunday. On the clock!

We met at the shop at 9am. I was slated to teach "loaded touring 101" after the ride, so I rode the 10 miles to the shop with all my camp gear loaded up. Then unloaded, slammed a free ice latte, circulated the waiver and took off.

Nine of us started out, seven finished. One lady on a heavy hybrid made it all the way to the top of Cornell before turning back. Another lady missed the turn and we didn't see her again. Next time we'll do detailed cue sheets.

After climbing Cornell, then 53rd, then Thompson, then Skyline (geez, I'm getting tired just typing these hills up!), we descended down Germantown, onto route 30 and around Sauvie Island.

I pulled for a while on Sauvie, then doubled back to pull some stragglers back to the group. Then we did a "pacelining 101" where we taught everyone just how long to pull, when to pull off and how to fall back to the end without getting dropped. Then we ran into the president of Portland Velo at the candy shop rest stop, who hooked me up with some almonds.

Finally, back to 17th & Lovejoy for the clinics. Here's Tommy teaching flat repair class.

A truly great day.