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April 20, 2006
Mission possible 
I'm at my best when I have a mission.
This morning, I was reading my mail, and one of the few folks I know in the bike community here asked about parking at the convention center. I have a couple of routes, one of which goes right by the convention center, so I email her back and we chat. I check out the web site, and of course, there is nada about bicycles, but they do have a parking structure.
Click! So I jot her a note saying I'll check it out.
It's chilly this morning, but clear, and a perfectly nice morning for a ride, so I go down to take notes on the CC. I check out the parking meters in the neighborhood: 75 cents an hour, til 10pm. I ride up and down the sidewalks like a dork around the CC: it's 8:00am and the bike racks are all ready almost full.
Today's event was not something I'd think of as terribly bike-ish; but Wordstock this weekend is all about quirky Portland bike-ishness. Which means that those bike racks will be full early.
So I ride into the parking garage, and I see the attendent in one of the booths, so I stop to chat with her, more as a courtesy, cuz I fully intend to ride around the structure. She points out on of the sets of hanging bike parking, and says she's unsure if there's any more. On my first pass around, I spot some more racks in a darkish corner, and then nothing. Interestingly, there are very few cars, and very little traffic. It's just me on the bike, pedestrians carrying laptops and briefcases into the CC.
I go down the very gradual ramp to the lower level, and chat with the attendent down there. She's amused by my mission—I wonder how many bikes they see in the parking garage. I locate a couple of the U racks—there's not a lot down here. An official person looks at me suspiciously. I must be one of those freaky uppity cycling kids, yeah.
The paving is so perfect and it's so quiet here, I just want to ride and ride and ride. It smells like outside, and the breeze blows through.
I finally, somehow, got myself back outside. The ride into downtown was beautiful, and it felt good to have a pocket full of notes.
Posted at April 20, 2006
Comments
That sounds like a perfect morning ride.
Posted by: Christine at April 21, 2006 12:50 PM