#30daysofbiking, Day 12: photo gallery

Day twelve of #30daysofbiking was a loop taking me to Harbor Freight and back home along quiet residential side streets and alleyways in North Portland.

Evidence photo taken in reflection on Interstate Avenue.

Below: Crossing over an eerily quiet I-5 North. Just crazy and surreal.

Graffiti in bright spring colors.

Below: Stopping past a homeless encampment along N. Michigan, at a "soundproofing" wall along I-5 South. You can still hear the cars and trucks go by but there are far fewer of them than there normally would be on a Sunday afternoon.

Honestly, it is really hard to use bike rides as a mental health distraction when I ride past such encampments on nearly every ride; what happens to me and Sweetie if the shit really hits the fan, if the shutdown lasts through the fall and into the early winter and we can't go back to work or pay our bills? It's not difficult to fear ending up here in the worst moments.

Along one of NE Portland's many little alleyways on the way home, I saw this beautiful growth over an old stone wall and had to stop and admire it.

Below, curbside score! A man had set this out and when I stopped to inspect, he handed me a bucket containing a spray bottle of diluted Pine-Sol and disposable towlettes.

I wiped it down, mounted it on my cargo rack, and thanked the man with a wave and a smile as a rode away. This will be a nice addition to the Bicycle Brain Trust, a perfect under-workbench storage unit for cables, housing and other parts.

 

I am grateful for the warming and lengthening days of Spring.  We're looking forward to highs in the low 70sF in the coming week, and I'm preparing to swap out the winter sweaters from my drawers for the shorts and ankle socks. I'm also taking a delivery of a couple of donor bikes later this week and I'm glad; it will give me something to work on at home.

Wishing you all good rides wherever you go.