My Portlandia concession

Not a confession, those of you hoping for dirt, but a concession. It pains me to say it, but I think it was right that Portland was picked over Mpls this year as the #1 biking city.

Public transportation is good (light rail and streetcars resulting in the need for the warning sign shown below), cars stop for pedestrians, and there are good bike lane markings and routes. And tons of people are on their bikes. It was hard to compare what I saw this week to recent Mpls ridership due to the fact that Mpls is now cold and Portland's weather was unusually fantastic.

And maybe my perception was slightly skewed by the fact that I saw mountains and ate delicious food.

(On the other hand, Mpls streets are cleaner, Mpls has more garbage cans, and we ride in crappier weather and are heartier.)

I returned home to find my new MS jersey as a prize for my fundraising efforts (see below), and grabbed Piper for a walk along the area where I often ride my bike. I took her photo at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers. It was a good way to decompress after she and I rescued a lost dog that was in rough shape and which the owner seems unable to adequately care for. (I know that sentence structure is incorrect; I can't figure out the way to fix it.)

Remember the weird remarks I got about my route captain shirt's "follow me!" decal? The letters peeled off, so I stuck our team logo on it. I love it more.