Autumn Has Arrived

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Dave Feucht
Greyscale morning

Things have been a little quiet here lately – my apologies. There hasn’t been much to report, other than that we’ve finally got some color in the trees, just in time for the leaves to fall.

I love autumn.

It’s getting light later and dark earlier, and the rain has begun.

Somebody build an ark!

Despite the rain, we have to keep getting places, so we do.

Sometimes the best you can hope for is 'it could have been worse...'

Thankfully, mixed in with the rain, we also have some brilliant autumn days.

At the top.

And apparently, even the trash that gets left in your bike basket overnight is high-class over in NW Portland.

Treats left in the bike basket overnight.

How are things where you all are at?

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  • Micheal Blue

    Well, Dave, here in Toronto the fall is falling. While some trees are leafless, some other still have green leaves. What has come with the drop in temperatures is the wind. You probably don’t get much wind in Portland, being protected by the mountains to some degree, eh? Toronto is mostly flat and my commute along the lake shore enjoys the wind in it’s full glory. It would be great for bike sailing. I’ll be switching to Marathon Plus tires soon.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      We don’t get heavy winds all that often, but when we do, we get winds so hard you almost can’t keep moving forward on a bike. On those days, you hope you happen to be wearing a tight-fitting hat :)

      We are in-between mountain ranges, but we’re also on a river, so sometimes wind comes streaming down the river path like a wind tunnel :)

  • Micheal Blue

    Oh, BTW, one of my co-workers took a fall arrest training. It doesn’t work. Fall is still in progress; even when wearing a harness. Regarding your picture…if you find a bottle of V8 in your basket one morning, that will be like…major…

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Yes, the seasons pretty much continue no matter what we try to keep them at bay :)

      My wife might actually be happy about V8, she likes it :)

  • Brandon

    Down in Salem, we are settling in–grudgingly, to a degree–with the fall weather. I’ve been blogging a bit about it. For now, the compensation would be the leaves and the occasional glorious sun-break. In a while, the problem will be the leaves (piles of soggy wheaties) and the occasional dim reference to the sun! After a summer of seeing much more cycling activity here, things are getting pretty sparse, as usual. However, fall remains my favorite season for cycling. Just have to remember to go a little slower (not hard, considering my ride).

    Glad to see you back on the blog. I really look forward to your posts, Dave.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Yeah, the wet, soggy leaves are always a fun problem – for walking too! I’m always tracking in dirty, soggy leaves into the apartment when coming in during this time of year.

      I do really love this time of year for cycling as well, it’s cold, but not frigid, rainy, but usually not *too* rainy all the time yet, and it still feels like relief from summer, and not yet like endless wet monochrome :)

      Thanks for reading!

  • http://twitter.com/SimplyBike Simply Bike

    Keepin’ it class, Portland! I love the wineglass. Around here, it would have been a Miller Lite can or something like that. Gotta love a town full of college students :)

    We’ve been having amazing weather here lately, which has really allowed us to bike so much this fall. I hope it continues on for a while. I guess as long as there’s no snow on the ground, we’re good. Do you get studded tires for riding in the winter? Or do you guys just not get that much snow and have pretty clear roads?

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Well, we’ve also gotten a full, unopened can of Bud Light, a half-fully can of Bud Light, a used paper plate with grease stains, an empty pack of cigarettes, and a Red Bull can. So, we do get the whole range :)

      In the winter, we’re lucky (I say lucky because I love snow and wish we’d get at least a little bit more) if we get more than 2 inches of snow, and if it lasts more than 2-3 hours. So yeah, not really any need for studded tires here. The couple of times I’ve had to ride in the snow, I’ve been fine just riding slowly, especially with my big, wide tires.

      I’m always so happy to be on a bike when it does snow, though, because auto traffic becomes an immediate clusterf**k here when we get any snow at all :) People spending 5 hours sitting on the freeway trying to go 10 miles home, streets full of abandoned cars (yeah, it’s crazy, I know).

  • crankypants

    wine glass? nice! lovely crisp autumn mornings with peak color here in Boston. it’s getting darker earlier, but that doesn’t seem to deter bike commuting as much as it used to.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Yeah, it’s been kind of dark and drizzly here this week, with a couple moments of downpour (as you can see) – but I’ve still seen people out and about. It used to be that at the first hint of any wetness, you’d suddenly be alone out on the roads. Not quite as much now.

  • twowheeltravel

    Things are good, but getting chilly here in Eastern Europe. Still waiting for the rains to hit and the leaves are hanging on, but just barely.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      I remember the year we lived in Lithuania, we actually had snow right around Halloween, before the leaves had all dropped. Was really pretty with the brightly-colored leaves all dusted with snow.

      It’s getting chilly here, as well, but not that chilly (more like the mid-upper 40′s (7-10 C).

      • twowheeltravel

        well, i spoke too soon. Snow this morning. We’ve yet to achieve the pretty colored leaves and snow status. It is after all Warsaw. ;/

        • http://www.mairzydoatsdesigns.com/ Patrina Feucht

          GAH! Oh i miss snow!!!!

          • twowheeltravel

            OK, I’ll send you some. :P

          • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

            Wooo!

  • William Scott

    Cool mornings, crisp cool days. Here in Nevada,the rabbit brush is blooming everywhere causing mass allergy problems. The recent rain and snow flurries fixed that problem for a few days. Been buying winter commuting supplies, including some Mach Schnell goggles from Portland Design Works. Have you ever tried these goggles?

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Nope, I’ve never really felt the need for goggles, personally. I did just get a couple of new wool sweaters, though. A lightweight one to layer with other stuff, and a heavier one for good warmth.

  • Ampyali

    Today during my commute into PDX I tried to come up with a good name for the sludge that is created when dead leaves, rain and car tires co-mingle for weeks at a time. The best I could do was “schmutz”, courtesy of my Jewish grandmother. It seems we should have an official word for this substance, since it causes so much misery for cyclists this time of year.

    • http://pin-hole.tumblr.com Dave

      Certain languages have great words for certain things – like in Lithuanian, that really wet, fluffy snow is called “šlapdriba” (š is pronounced like ‘sh’ in English). For some reason, that word to me seems to perfectly fit that big, wet, fluffy snow. It just *sounds* like the object itself, somehow.

      Unfortunately, I also don’t know a good word for that leafy sludge, but schmutz seems to work as well as anything :)

      Hope you don’t have any major run-ins with it this autumn!