Afternoon Delight

I have been trying to ride my bike more! I rode towards the city on Springwater trail and had a fabulous time. It is great to be able to ride whenever you want. I like going around 10:00 in the morning because all of the commuters are at work and many of the families are not out yet.
I have passed this massive birds nest many of times and finally I stopped and took a few pictures. I asked a few people who passed if they knew what kind of bird it was but really everyone was guessing just like I was. When I got home, I decided to google "oaks bottom reserve birds nests" and I found out that it is an osprey nest. There are many of these massive nests around portland and I hope survival rates are high.
I also have to tell you about this great bike clinic I attended. It was just down the street at the Sellwood Community Center sponsored by the Transportation department. It was called "Be your own Champion" and it was a 3-hour hands-on clinic covering basic bike maintenance, flat repair and cleaning techniques. The best part - it was all women. We listened first and started to understand the basics of taking the bike appart without worrying about putting it back together. I equate this to playing on the computer. I am very comfortable pushing keys and figuring out what they do but when it comes to my bike I was a bit nervous. The second part we took our bikes outside and did a bit of deconstruction. I deflated tires, pulled tubes out, put tubes back in, slowly put the tire back on the rim, cleaned and lubed my chain, and actually rode my bike back home again without anything falling off. The two young ladies that taught the class were bike mechanics with 16 years experience between the two. They were excellent. I had a really great learning experience and truly appreciate the environment of the class.