GPHQ 12: Council Crest

May 29, 2021

Down to our last full day here, we finally check off the last item on my personal Portland agenda - the twelfth and final target on the list I created when I announced the Greater Portland Hill Quest almost two months ago. We’re heading up to Council Crest.

Along the way, we finally succeed in testing out the Track My Ride feature on our new Garmins. It looks like it will work well for us - Rachael’s last registered position shows up on my Garmin as a small blue circle with an R for Rachael (on hers, she sees an S showing my position). The circle moves spasmodically across the screen, advancing about every thirty seconds - long enough that it’s a bit misleading if the two riders are close together. Because of the half minute lag, my device will show her as being behind me a ways even though she’s actually just ahead. If we really were significantly separated though, it looks like it would work fine and maybe help us avoid losing each other some day.

Image not found :( — Up through Washington Park, I let Rachael break ahead so I can watch her position separate from mine on my Garmin.

As they often are, the views from Council Crest are stunning today. All of the neighborhood’s majestic volcanos are out, their profiles sharply defined still by snow. Offhand I can’t remember being up here on a clearer day. And we’re not alone in enjoying it today - there are a dozen or so others at the top, and other bikers arrive and depart as we sit there enjoying our snacks.

One of these bikers wheels over and joins us for an extended chat. He’s an interesting man. He’s a tech worker of some kind - a trainer, I think - and when he was younger spent a year working remotely in Switzerland before taking off on his bike to tour through France and Iberia. Middle-aged now, he’s coming to grips with his recent separation from his wife of long standing. He’s trying to decide what comes next for him in life, and takes heart when he hears what we’re doing with ours. He starts getting excited about the idea of taking a leave of absence from work and hitting the road himself while he has the freedom.

A last look at the great peaks in our neighborhood. We’ve come on the perfect day, with the visibility as good as you could hope for.

Finally we break away from our conversation and drop down to Terwilliger, following the one route out of many possible that we thought would make the best video. Travel is on my mind today for some reason, so it feels like the perfect time to share one of my favorite songs from one of my favorite songsters. I especially like this one knowing that its lyrics were provided by Kazuo Ishiguro, one of my favorite authors.

Video sound track: I Wish I Could Go Traveling Again, by Stacey Kent

On Terwilliger we turn south, planning on a familiar route - circle past Lewis & Clark University and the opulent estates in the Dunthorpe neighborhood; and then climb back up to Riverview Cemetery for that delightful slalom run down to the river. Rachael’s especially looking forward to the Cemetery Swoosh today because I’ve got the camera and she wants to be in the video.

Big disappointment. It’s Memorial Day weekend and the cemetery is closed to cyclists for three days, apparently due to all the traffic expected. There’s a guard at the gate, so there’s not even the chance to blow past the sign and later claim innocence. Instead we head back to Terwilliger, follow it north for a mile or so, and then drop down to the river on precipitous, rough-surfaced Corbett.

The ride home along the waterfront is delightful though, and worthy of its own video. The feeling is completely different from the last time I passed through here about ten days ago. Many more folks are out enjoying the gorgeous day. The waterfront feels almost normal again.

Video sound track: America, by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel

For dinner we walk over to Serrato for the second stop in the Italian three-step we’re neatly executing on our way out the door: last night at Justa Pasta; Serrato this evening; and closing out tomorrow at Gallo Nero before moving on to the airport. Anticipating a month of walleye and other such Midwestern fare, we decide to binge on our favorite cuisine while we still can. It’s a long way to Rome!

Rachael’s favorite dish at Serrato: Seared sea scallops with fregula sarda, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, fiddlehead ferns, arugula, pesto.

And mine: Radiatore with pork and lamb Bolognese, shaved pecorino.

Afterwards we return to the room to finish up with our little predeparture infrastructure project: sorting and packing. This is difficult work, producing some bickering and tense negotiations over how to keep segregated what stays in town and will go to storage tomorrow; what goes to Minnesota to take on the road with us on the bikes; and what goes to Minnesota but from there will stay in the suitcases for shipment ahead to New York and on to Europe. A naive observer might wonder if the Team Anderson Project is coming to an unhappy ending right here, but it’s all good. It’s a process.

This has all been great fun these last two months, but enough with the foreplay already! Time to move on to more exciting activity. See you in Minneapolis.

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Ride stats today: 40 miles, 2,900’

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Bruce LellmanYour choice in music, America, was perfect as you head east "to look for America." And the accompanying video shows an America coming back to life. Your timing is again possibly perfect in that regard and you will no doubt have a wonderful summer. Good luck, you two, on the road again.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Bruce LellmanThanks, and thanks for noticing about the song. I was really pleased myself when it came to mind. A lucky inspiration.
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3 years ago

Ben ParkeWelcome to the land of lakes and cracked and occasionally rough bike paths. Our winters are hard on our pavement, but we do have some very nice scenery. And a lot of different ways to escape the cities too.
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3 years ago

Suzanne GibsonBon voyage! You are finally off and it's going to be a great trip. Didn't even lose your glasses this time. Looking forward to news from the road.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Ben ParkeHey, Ben. I’d forgotten you were from this part of the world. I always associate you with the radwegs that we’ll be seeing soon too, one we put this pesky North America behind us.

Cracked and rough bike paths! Something else to look forward too. And here I thought it would be all about the walleye.
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3 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Suzanne GibsonYep, still got the specs and my Pendleton, so far at least. We’ll see if they see the Starnberger See, but we’re off on the right foot.
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3 years ago

Ben ParkeTo Scott AndersonNot all the paths are bad. The greenway along the Mississippi from downtown to Minnehaha falls is nicely paved. Great ride too. The Midtown Greenway is in good shape and the paths around the chain of lakes are nice too. Just try to avoid the North Cedar Lake trail. That one badly needs to be dug up and repaved. I doubt you'll be riding any trails in Eden Prairie. Those are pretty much all awful. The Dakota Rail Trail is superb too but it heads in the wrong direction for you. I've no idea what the trails up in the northern burbs are like. I've never biked up there.
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3 years ago