First, I had a full glass of Flying Fish Bourbon Barrel Abbey Dubbel which is a delicious Belgian-style Dubbel. Then, I had tastes of Rogue Ales Imperial Porter, Boulder Beer Sweaty Betty Blonde, Green Flash West Coast IPA, and Laurelwood PNW Pils. I deliberately tried to get beers from non-locals breweries since I seen many of the local beers in bars or stores.

It snowed over night and this morning. We got a total of about 4 inches of accumulation. I worked from home since it wasn’t worth braving the roads or waiting for the bus. They ended up closing the office for the day. It always amazes me how different my neighborhood looks covered in white. The other interesting thing is that there are more people out walking than even for the weekend. I guess cold and snow is better than just cold or rain.

We haven’t had a significant snow in Portland in a couple of years. This one looks like it won’t be as bad as the one three years ago where there was ice on top of the snow and everything stayed frozen for three days. Since that winter, we have only had light snowfalls and ice storms.

I originally planned on doing the 6-bridge ride which is just the downtown bridges plus the ride to the downtown start. This year, the 10-bridge ride came down to the Sellwood Bridge and went right in front of my place. I couldn’t resist and joined the stream. We went down the Marquam Ave to the Hawthorne Bridge. Past that point, all the different rides sort of merged together. Then, we went over the Hawthorne, Ross Island, and Marquam bridges. Then, we went over the Burnside, Broadway, and then the Fremont Bridge. I thought it was less crowded than last year; I didn’t have to walk up the Marquam. There was some confusion with different groups of riders merging together and routes crossing but I didn’t have a problem.

I decided to do the longer ride to the St. John’s Bridge. I hadn’t been up north in previous years. That added probably 10 miles to the total. The climb to the top was struggle. I ended up walking most of the way. Unfortunately, my camera exhausted its battiers so I couldn’t take any pictures to document the achievement. After that, we came down Willamette Blvd and Interstate Ave to the Steel Bridge and the finish. Then, I had to ride back home down the Springwater Trail. I discovered that my legs give out after 35 miles. Unfortunately, the whole ride was 36 miles and the last mile was slow and painful. That is the longest I ever ridden, beating the previous Bridge Pedals of 20 miles. I spent the rest of the day sitting down because I could barely walk.

First, we filled out a lengthy waiver. It basically said that they had no liability. I joked that they could kill us as long as they used a parachute. I thought it was interesting that the people involved in the actual jump were independent contractors. I handed an envelope contained cash to my tandem partner. We had a short training class which mainly involved being told what to do or not to do. Then, we waited some more while two plane loads went skydiving. One had a formation skydiving group. We could see from the ground them leave the plane as a group and stay in formation until they burst apart and opened their parachutes.

It was our turn. We got fitted into the harness which was like a beefy climbing harness. The harness was pretty snug and hard to walk in. We climbed into the plane, a Twin Otter. For the first 1000 feet, we were belted in. Our partners attached their harness to our harnesses. I was the second group out of the plane. Mike, the birthday boy, went first. He sat on the edge before going maybe to make it easier for the cameraman who had climbed out first. It was difficult to walk to the door and stand on the edge. Partially from fear and partially from being strapped to somebody else.

I didn’t really jump, it was more like falling outwards. We tumbled upside down for a little bit before assuming the belly first position. Freefall is hard to describe. The wind was really ferocious; I couldn’t bend my head down because the wind would get under the googles. I didn’t really look around and was focused on the ground getting closer. I didn’t feel like I was falling or weightless except for the first couple of seconds.

My partner pulled the ripchord and deployed the parachute. There was a sudden sensation of gravity as the harness went taut. A strap that was at the level of my chest came up to my neck and almost choked me. Once we were stable, he released the tension on the strap so it stopped choking but it was still in an annoying position. He handed me the toggles, which are straps to control the chute. I was able to turn the chute to face the field. As we turned, I was able to see five of the Cascade volcanos, from Rainer to Jefferson. I was also able to see the rest of our group circling underneath.

We came in right over the middle the field and skimmed the ground. I was told to keep my legs up since landing the butt is the standard way with an option to do a standup landinge. At the last minute, I was told to put my legs down but we ended up falling over. We were the last tandem group down although the solo jumpers later in the plane took a while to land.

My ears were plugged up for the rest of the day, like from a plane flight. But it was a really fast descent. It was a fun experience and I am glad I did it. I am not sure if I would do it again. A solo skydive must be a very different experience with your life in your hands. A tandem was very much like being a confined passenger.

There were dragon boat races going on downtown. There seemed to be a swarm of pleasure boats on the river. I saw both the Steel Bridge and Hawthorne Bridges raised to let boats through. I never seen both of them raised on the same day.

Also, some Navy and Coast Guard ships were visiting Portland like there do every year. There was a Coast Guard cutter, a Canadian frigate, two US frigates, and two US destroyers. They were giving tours but there was a long line for the tours.