Road Trip Part 1
I just got back from a trip to one of my favorite places, Oregon. It is one of the most wonderful places on the planet, in summer. Winters in Oregon are a little hard to take since it rains and/or is grey from October to May. I have been told that our current climate change has dried up the winters somewhat but they still sell T-shirts that say “I fell off my bike and drowned” I had a great time visiting old friends and meeting new ones. This trip should give me topics to write about for a while. Some wags would question what a trip to Oregon has to do with cycling in South Texas but if you can’t see the connection you need to push your helmet back a little to ease up on the blindness.
I did not take a bike with me on this trip. I borrowed a couple when I was in Eugene. The first was a town bike that was way too big for me. I did provide me with a much appreciated source of transportation. Eugene has a network of bike paths and bike only trails that make riding across town a snap even if you are an out of towner. I went for a ride with the friend who built my racing bike, Dwan Shepard. The CoMotion factory is out of town a little ways, about nine miles or so from where I was staying. I had a nice little ride over in the morning and most of it was along a little creek. (It was a fetid little swampy thing but it was summer.) Dwan let me ride a bike from out of the showroom and we had a pleasant ride out through rolling hills. The hills alone would have made the ride a treat but the tall trees and greenery were like candy. Dwan and the crew at CoMotion make bikes that are a delight to ride but I will discuss bikes later.
Portland was our next stop. I did no riding there but feasted on the fixed gear scene, Sacha White’s Vanilla bikes and funky little bike shops. Nancy (my wife) and I climbed the stairs in SW Portland. Imagine 200 or more stairs, they are hard to count due to the echoing thump from inside your chest after the first 100 or so, zig zagging up a hill so steep the houses are supported by telephone poles on the “air” side and only the doorstep touches the hill. Bicycles are not the only thing to incinerate your quads. The most amazing statistic in Portland is the 12,000 daily trips over the four bridges open to cyclists. Do not attempt to adjust your set, that was 12,000 daily trips.
I did not take a bike with me on this trip. I borrowed a couple when I was in Eugene. The first was a town bike that was way too big for me. I did provide me with a much appreciated source of transportation. Eugene has a network of bike paths and bike only trails that make riding across town a snap even if you are an out of towner. I went for a ride with the friend who built my racing bike, Dwan Shepard. The CoMotion factory is out of town a little ways, about nine miles or so from where I was staying. I had a nice little ride over in the morning and most of it was along a little creek. (It was a fetid little swampy thing but it was summer.) Dwan let me ride a bike from out of the showroom and we had a pleasant ride out through rolling hills. The hills alone would have made the ride a treat but the tall trees and greenery were like candy. Dwan and the crew at CoMotion make bikes that are a delight to ride but I will discuss bikes later.
Portland was our next stop. I did no riding there but feasted on the fixed gear scene, Sacha White’s Vanilla bikes and funky little bike shops. Nancy (my wife) and I climbed the stairs in SW Portland. Imagine 200 or more stairs, they are hard to count due to the echoing thump from inside your chest after the first 100 or so, zig zagging up a hill so steep the houses are supported by telephone poles on the “air” side and only the doorstep touches the hill. Bicycles are not the only thing to incinerate your quads. The most amazing statistic in Portland is the 12,000 daily trips over the four bridges open to cyclists. Do not attempt to adjust your set, that was 12,000 daily trips.
posted by Speedo at 4:59 PM
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