Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Biking to the eclipse was a totality awesome experience

To all of you who pedaled south from Portland to the path of totality — welcome home!

From all reports it seems like biking to the eclipse was a huge success. We’ve seen dozens of posts from people who made the relatively short journey (25-35 miles, depending) and it seems like everyone had a great time.

Here’s a recap of BP reader Toadslick’s adventure, shared via a subscriber post this morning:

“My partner and I woke up at 4:00 am and loaded up our touring bikes with coffee, burritos, sandwiches, and moon pies that we’d made the night before. Our route took us to the Trolley Trail to Oregon City to Highway 213 until Wagonwheel Park, south of Mulino. At the time, we didn’t know that this was one of the BikeToTheEclipse.com suggested routes. Nor did we know that it was pronounced “Mul-EYE-no.”

The trip there was blissfully quiet until Highway 213, where eclipse traffic was in full effect. We often outpaced the stop-and-go car traffic, despite riding slowly because we were wary of right hooks… As we waited for the eclipse, we were happily surprised to see group after group of people on bikes arrive! I stopped counting at thirty bikes. Most of the people that we talked to mentioned that they had followed the BikeToTheEclipse website to get there.

After the eclipse, the ride back to Portland was a completely different experience. Northbound 213’s shoulder was narrow to nonexistent, and the traffic was moving much faster. Despite this, the number of bicycles on the road together created a relieving sense of safety in numbers. From Wagonwheel Park all the way back to Portland, we were always between other groups of bike riders. The groups would regularly change as people peeled off to take breaks in the shade, but at no point were we the lone bike riders on the road. Because of this, the return trip was much more fun and enjoyable than the trip there.”

BP reader Naomi Fast said she biked down to St. Paul to take it in. She reported meeting lots of other bikers out on the road. So many in fact that some turnouts turned into de facto pit stops.

And what about that dude who rode a Biketown bike down to Mollala!

Great to hear that there were lots of bike riders out there. Nice work everyone.

Did you bike to the path of totality? How was it?

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org

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