On Saturday I had to pop over to Oregon for a few days for business - fortunately we were going to stay in a colleague's place and there were going to be a few bikes available for a bit of exercise at the end of each day's work. I flew in through San Francisco and stayed the night near the airport and then flew out to Oregon the next day. They have been having some hot weather and when eating breakfast on Sunday, before my flight this was the view over towards the airport. The sun rose whilst I ate my Eggs Benedict - I had forgotten to take my camera along but did have my phone so here is the sun rising..
After checking out whilst waiting for the shuttle bus to take me back to the airport I took a few more. This is taken looking across San Francisco bay towards Oakland
Here is a shot of the San Francisco Airport runways which extend into the bay and a few planes as well.
After flying up to Oregon and planning the work we went out for a cycle ride around the area - the place is set in a forest with cycle trakcs amongst the tree and golf links! This mountain is called Three Fingered Jack - apparently from some directions it looks like three fingers.
Two of my colleagues, you can just see my bike wheel off to the left where I abandoned it to take the picture. The weather was warm and sunny just right for a ride through the woods. We borrowed MTBs but did not really need them - I locked out the suspension on mine to stop it bobbing about.
Here is a clear picture of Three Fingered Jack which is a Pleistocene volcano in the Cascade Range of Oregon. We were up at about 1000m and as it was around 5pm in Oregon it was around 1am UK time. The height difference between the top and bottom of our cycle ride was around 100m. I did puff a bit - not sure whether it was the altitude, the time my body really thought it was - or just plane lack of fitness 'cos I do not do a lot of hill cycling in the UK.
We saw loads of deer, they were not easily frightened - well not as easily as the deer in the Fens. Occasionally we had to shew them of the trail.
Another one of the mountains in the area as the sun was setting.
We went out three times during the stay at the end of each day. It was great to get a bit of exercise and sun after working inside each day - it was a pleasant way of working up an appetite as well. By the third day we managed to knock around 5 minutes of the time it took to get around the track. We were not racing, but not hanging around either, but there were other cyclists of all ages on the tracks as well.
It would be great to get out there for a vacation and do a bit of exploring, apparently there is a great road run up one of the nearby mountains and then back down again.
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