We met Brian Saturday and bought
some supplies. He’ll start rebuilding tomorrow
(he’s got big plans)!
See more of my photos
some supplies. He’ll start rebuilding tomorrow
(he’s got big plans)!
See more of my photos
Since this worked so well last weekend, I thought I’d try it again.
Whatever bike adventures you’re undertaking this weekend, share the details in the comments below…
Do you plan on checking out the messenger racing madness at the West Side Invite at Alpenrose Velodrome?
Or maybe you’ll join us later today (3:00) at MLK Blvd. and NE Ainsworth for a meet/greet/work party with Brian, creator of the motorhome bike.
I’m sure some of you are training for Cycle Oregon, or for ‘cross season.
Whatever you’re up to, we’d love to hear about it (I’ll update this post with any photos I take).
Share your adventures in the comments below and enjoy the long weekend!
Thanks for reading.
BikePortland has served this community with independent community journalism since 2005. We rely on subscriptions from readers like you to survive. Your financial support is vital in keeping this valuable resource alive and well.
Please subscribe today to strengthen and expand our work.
screw bikes, I\’m going sailing up the gorge! Oh wait, not until we fix the car troubles we\’ve been having since yesterday. Grrrrr, cars….
Need to make some sorta multi-person trailer-towing bicycle….
Yes Westside Invite debacles and polo fun times! And a birthday gathering tomorrow for moi followed by a day at the beach. Hope you have a good weekend Jonathan!
I just biked up to The Little Red Bike Café (mentioned here earlier), which just opened, and had an awesome sammich and cuppa coffee. It\’s a beautiful space, with friendly peeps, delicious food, and a 50¢ discount for cyclists.
well last weekend i\’d just returned riding from here to SF. 823 miles, 12 days camping. There is really the most beautiful bike trail south of crescent city on the coastal trail in the redwoods, it has an old section of 101 overgrown, you just need to hike up a steep gravel hill to get to it.
I\’m staying off the bike for a while, just feet
At the moment, I\’m out in forest grove (and yes I rode out here) visiting some friends, but this weekend will mostly devoted to cross training! And training for the Kermesse…
This last tuesday a friend and I rode from SE to Cascade Locks via the HCRH. You can view a slideshow video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teRaiolKZUU
Beware the 1,000 foot climb from the Stark St. Bridge. It will tame your spirit and dampen your shorts. The first slide says it all.
My wife and I did the Club Sport Livestrong Team traning ride this morning. We (and the ride leader) expected 8 or 10 riders and we got 30! We rode around the West Linn/Stafford area. There was a complete mix of cycling abilities. Everyone had a good time. There will be more riding this weekend.
Today I headed out with some friends for a leisurely 50+ miles in Washington County and tomorrow (Sunday) I plan to launch my last assault on Larch Mountain for the season . . .
My Beloved carried me around on the back of his Xtracycle all afternoon. We had coffee at Palio and sat in the center of Ladd\’s Edition, watching cyclists and skateboarders passing by. Then we went up to Noah\’s on Hawthorne, grabbed a couple bagel sammiches and rode to Laurelhurst Park to have a picnic on the grass. We saw another guy with an Xtracycle who spotted us. We waved and he hollered, \”YAY XTRACYCLE!\” We tooled all around inner SE, getting lots of attention– it\’s not that often, even in Portland, to see a man carrying his laughing girlfriend on the back of his cargo bike!
It was a lot of fun. Normally I\’d have ridden my own bike, but I figured since I need to run 20 miles tomorrow, it was a good day to take advantage of my Beloved\’s good nature, strong legs/heart, and his big red bike!
I know MTB\’s aren\’t too hot on this site (especially DH/freeride) but there is a DH race this weekend at Skibowl. Also the last weekend for Willamette Pass to be open this season…
I got my ass handed to me at the track this afternoon, and tomorrow morning I will try to get DFL in the morning Alleycat!
We had a good time talking and hanging out with Brian (the motorhome bike guy) today .
Big thanks to Ethan, Todd, Brian S., and Kyrstin, and Bill for showing up.
We did a run to Home Depot for some supplies and heard all about Brian\’s big plans for the new bike. He\’s excited to start rebuilding tomorrow… stay tuned for more info…
Here are some photos.
yah it was super fun hanging out with Brian, Jonathan and everyone else who showed up. Brian is awesome, his charisma is pretty infectious and his future plans out of this world!
Todd
I enjoyed an all to brief visit with Brian and his mobile bike camper. After seeing him several times and reading about him for years, I was finally able to have a chance to chat with him. I was only able to hang around with the work crew for about a half and hour. I was on my lunch break from work. I wish I could have stayed longer. Brian says that he wants to help me install a flywheel in my velomobile. He claims that with the kinetic energy stored in the flywheel I\’d really be able to \”fly\” in the velomobile. Hmmm… Very interesting.
I enjoyed an all to brief visit with Brian and his mobile bike camper. After seeing him several times and reading about him for years, I was finally able to have a chance to chat with him. I was only able to hang around with the work crew for about a half and hour. I was on my lunch break from work. I wish I could have stayed longer. Brian says that he wants to help me install a flywheel in my velomobile. He claims that with the kinetic energy stored in the flywheel I\’d really be able to \”fly\” in the velomobile. Hmmm… Very interesting.
Bill
So far all that\’s been accomplished this weekend has been an leisurely ride around the hood and a short jaunt down to the barber to get my ears lowered. Might go over to the bike shop and price out some grocery bag sized panniers!
Wine tasting by bike at:
Burdigala Wine
8317 SE 13th Avenue, Portland OR 97202
503-309-6297
burdigalawine@yahoo.com
It\’s on SE 13th half a block south of the Springwater connection on Umatilla in Sellwood.
The walls behind my shower/tub started caving in and I have to spend the weekend replacing walls, flooring, and tub. The old 300 pound tub is out on the street and the new 300 pound tub is in the driveway. The Cinelli sits in the cool basement and waits for another day. Did get to ride in Montana for a week in early July so I can\’t complain. What great riding weather this weekend!
I just got my new road bike yesterday and I took that out for a spin. From Lake Oswego to 60th and Burnside and back again. Nothing really hardcore, but it was nice to be on a bike again. The weather was great too!
Hope you are all having a good time.
I got a new bike too! So I\’ve spent the weekend wheeling about hollering WHEEEE!
After riding it home from Hike&Bike Fri afternoon, I rode around SE PDX ~near Reed college Sat, w/a picnic lunch at Kenilworth Pk, then rode it round my own hood ~Wilshire Pk today. More fun tomorrow!
I feel sad for my Giant Iguana, languishing unridden in the garage, strippped of its bells and whistles and headlamp; it is now my backup, parade bike.
Me and the Little Man rode in to Pioneer Square and caught the Max to the zoo. Hardly looked at the animals (other than the ones pushing strollers and bellowing at their off-spring)as Little Man preferred the sand pit and a train ride out to Washington Park and back. We did briefly look at the \’stinky penguins\’. Afterwards we screamed down the hill on the Suede, picked up ice cream on the way and hung out at the Salmon Street fountain until dinner time. Doesn\’t get much better than that.
Jonathan wrote:
\”Or maybe you’ll join us later today (3:00) at MLK Blvd. and NE Ainsworth for a meet/greet/work party with Brian, creator of the motorhome bike.\”
Let\’s please leave the \”motor\” description out of the bike home.
I rented one of these new fangled death traps with an internal combustion engine, I think they call it a \”motorcar\”, and conducted it the east side of Mt Hood, where I hiked up Cooper Spur.
Oi! reporting from down under!
Friday, skipped Critical Mass, drank free corporate beer&wine with co-workers. The caught up with CM kids at the pub, drank more. Stayed chatting and drinking until the last girl left. Then went an explored for MMR routes. Found a dumpster from a backpacker tours place that had gone out of business or something. Lots of sunglasses, hats, clothes, and a flatfile. Got home 3AM.
Bad hangover Saturday…felt crap until evening.
In the spirit of freaky uppitiness.
Spent Saturday and Sunday hanging out with Brian and watching him make good progress on his new camper bike. He\’s making it much bigger this time. We bought a bunch of supplies on Sat.
On Sunday he worked all day. We disassembled the existing camper shell and prepped the chassis to accept the new and larger floor beams. He is going through and replacing as many bolts and aluminum pieces as possible. Some of the bracing was cracked and several of the bolts had corroded and sheared off.
He is very focused in his work. Today (Monday) and tomorrow he should make good progress and start building the walls of the camper. I am off to do some camping on the coast until Tuesday night.
Have more to write but no time… please consider stopping by the alley at Holman and Rodney (6300 block) to say hi and see Brian\’s progress.
Here is my photo gallery so far.
Our weekend began early when Sweetie and I rode downtown on Thursday night for the Oregon Symphony\’s free Waterfront Concert. Sweetie and I don\’t get to ride together much at all so it was real treat. About 15,000 people showed up for the concert, and I got some friendly, bemused looks as I pulled up with two lawn chairs and a blanket stuffed into my Bike Buckets.
NOTE: By the time we got there, all the bike racks around Waterfront Park were filled to overflowing, three and sometimes four bikes on each \”staple\” rack. There was no organized bike parking anywhere and we were reluctant to park our bikes very far away from where we sat. So we simply laid them down on the grass next to us, garnering several complaints from folks trying to pass us on their way to the restrooms or food booths.
Not sure why the BTA chose to stop attended bike parking, but someone really needs to bring it back in a big way before next summer is upon us. There is NOT enough bike parking downtown for large community events like this one and until there is I will have to just keep my bike close at hand.
We\’re on our way back from riding the [url=http://www.idahoparks.org/assets/content/docs/Recreation/TrailCDAWeb.pdf]Trail of the Couer D\’Alene[/url] from Plummer to Wallace, ID (65 miles each way) with Greg Raisman and co. Gorgeous, no cars–a really fabulous last hurrah for our summer! Write up and pics to come.
How about an easy urban trip to Asia?
Head east on the Woodward bike route to 82nd. (Yes, that one – the Avenue of Roses.) Cross 82nd and into the Fubonn Shopping Center at SE 82nd and Woodward. (Yes, a shopping center.) The three restaurants on the front are all wonderful and inexpensive.
The Vietnamese restaurant on the far south (sorry, I don\’t know the name) has supremely delicious \”bun.\” Start off with a thirst quenching fresh green coconut, followed by a bun, or one of the do-it-yourself salad roll banquets. Bun is a bowl of rice noodles topped with your selection of herbs, greens, meats, seafood, etc. and a large shot of sweet and sour fish sauce. Bun is far easier than the DIY salad rolls, but not as much fun. Don\’t be shy to accept an offered lesson on how to wrap a salad roll. An amazing feast is $10 or less per person.
After lunch head inside to the traditional Chinese tea and gift shop (Asian Arts??) just to the right of the huge grocery store where you will be served tea samples of teas with a delightful tea ceremony. The teas and gifts are high quality and very cheap.
Behind the tea shop is a great Asian pastry shop where you can score a portion of melt in your mouth cookies for less than $2.
Finally, take a shopping tour of the Fubonn grocery store. Never have you seen so many foods from the other side of the world without visiting there. Imagine an entire aisle of Asian noodles of every kind, or every savory sauce, or snack foods. Check out the wide assortment of sake and sake serving ware. Remember, you have to carry it home on your bike!
By the time you finish in Fubonn, you might find you forgot you were in the USA. Sadly, when you emerge to find SE 82nd looming, you will have to confront its difficult reality. Happily, you can come back again soon.
Oh, there are bike racks out front, too.
A couple of friends and I cruised down town for dinner Saturday night via Springwater from Oaks Park. Always a people watching adventure as well as a dog, child, weekend rider dodge party. Not a problem, just part of the fun. Was surprised to see the Blue Moon on 21st so empty till I realized it was a holiday weekend and a lot of folks must of headed out of town. So after dinner, we rode over to the Laurel Wood just off 23rd. Was kinda comical, cause as we read off the menu to the waitress, it was repeated over and over….We don\’t have that….we don\’t have that….ran out yesterday…ran out today…we don\’t have that. I wanted to ask for a menu that had…what they had. Again…no problem, had just one of what IPA they had, then headed back home, now not dodging kids, dogs, and weekend riders, but possums, ferrel cats and the occasional biker or walker without lights. And dang…just happened to have fresh made salsa from the garden, margarita\’s and some 07 PA from Widmere at home waiting for us. Was definitely everything on the menu there!!!!
Can\’t remember ever having a bad time riding the bike down town for dinner or whatever. Always an adventure……
Enjoy the rest of the weekend, Jimbo
I logged about 140 miles in training rides over 3 days, three great breakfasts, plus a few errand miles.
Germantown Rd, Skyline, Council Crest, Tabor, Jim&Patty\’s Coffeecake. Tabor, Vancouver, Frenchman\’s Bar Park, NoPo, Petite Provence. Tabor, Airport, Terminals 5&6, NoPo (Go Pilots!), Genie\’s.
Friday night, walking the dog, I witnessed a true Portland moment. Two pre-teen girls were driving around on some sort of motorized Barbie Dune Buggy thing. They looked supremely bored. Along comes a smiling young man on a bakfiets with two toddlers in the box, all three laughing and looking truly joyful.
Michael said:
\”Finally, take a shopping tour of the Fubonn grocery store. Never have you seen so many foods from the other side of the world without visiting there.\”
Indeed – for those folks who think Uwajimaya is exotic, Fubonn will be a real eye-opener.
Squeamish anti-carnivores may want to avoid the refrigerator section in the back, though. Sure, I\’ve seen my share of pig\’s ears and duck heads, but those hog uteri and bull pizzles were a little, well, interesting . . . :->
On the up side, Fubonn has the largest selection of tofu (fresh, fried, frozen) that I\’ve seen in town.
Took an incredible ride in Idaho on the Trail of the Coeur d Alenes. We rode 65 miles from Plummer to Wallace – then back the next day.
It\’s a very smooth rails to trail project where you were either in the woods or surrounded by water and mountains the whole way. No cars and hardly any road crossings.
Ten of of did it and it was incredible. I hope Kronda posts her photos here soon!
Here\’s what I got from the ride:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/84977575@N00/sets/72157601851711041/show/
Last year, 5 of us did it. This year 10. Hmmm….
Quick ride down the Springwater from Sellwood with the kids pulled behind. Not enough, but will have to do, too many chores around the house.
I just returned from a delightful bicycle trip from Portland to Breitenbush Hot Springs, a hippie spa and resort 10 miles out of Detroit, Oregon.
I went from Portland, via Terwilliger, to Lake Oswego, then West Linn/Oregon City, up the hill to route 213; then on down through
Mollala and Silverton to Stayton. There, I joined Route 22, when heads east to Mill City, then Gates, and then Detroit. Breitenbush is 10 miles NorthEast of Detroit on Forest Road 42 (also 224).
The total distance is about 105 miles each way. Going down on Friday and returning today (Monday), makes a total of 200 plus miles for a few days of vacation!
Mark
Powell Butte. Who knew!
Hey mountain bike geeks – I just rode a 29\’er on single tracks south of Arch Cape this last weekend, and I am sold on it! The bike rode over roots and rocks like they were much smaller than they looked, and even tight switchbacks were easy to navigate. The pedal clearance was great, too. (I taco\’ed the front wheel on a slow tight switch back, just from the leverage, so don\’t ride the Specialized CrossTrail on technical stuff, the spokes and rim seem to be made of flexible plastic, even thought they are probably aluminum internally).
I took three short-ish bike rides around Lopez Island, WA, (in the San Juans) this weekend, checking out such sights as Spencer Spit State Park (lovely) and Shark Reef Sanctuary (home of many, many harbor seals). It\’s a great bicycling island — rural lifestyle, plenty of camping, great scenery, a winery with a tasting room that\’s open in summer, and some of the flatter topography you\’ll find among the San Juan Islands.
Let\’s see…. drove from Tigard to Whidbey Island for camping. Lovely weather, and you could see Rainier and the Olympics from where we were at down on Scachett Head. Ate too much. Drank too much. Had a blast, then drove home yesterday.
No bike stuff there, oh well. I needed to rest my knees anyway.
# 27 above
\”The three restaurants on the front are all wonderful and inexpensive.\”
Malay Satay Hut rocks! one of my favorite restaurants.
I had a great weekend of riding. On Sunday morning out the Springwater and a surprisingly quiet hwy 26 to our annual church potluck at Wildwood rec site in Brightwood. Fueled with fried chicken and brownies for the return ride – sure is a lot of up for getting back down to home and a LOT more traffic.
Monday I made my own kind of twisted duathlon by riding up to Maclay park and running the Wildwood Trail Trial 10K, then riding back home. Really more pleasant to ride-run-ride than doing 2 runs. Actually, riding is just more pleasant than running, but it was good to mix it up a little. Definitely toasted last night though – slow commute this morning.
i met some friends in hood river for a Mt bike weekend. we took two cross country rides then headed to post canyon for a shuttle run. i hit some sweet gaps and jumps. alas i don\’t know when to quit so i\’m layed up with a broken collar bone. Still smiling about the ride though
Saturday we rode up McKenzie Pass from Sisters to finish Cycle Oregon training and see if the road was ready to open. I don\’t know if I\’m ready but the road is!
Sunday we did a mountain bike ride up Peterson Ridge from Sisters. What a blast!!! Swoopy, soft trail. Lots of dust and laughs.
I love bikes. I love my family.
Took a ride to discover the Columbia Children\’s Arboretum. What I found looked to be a mostly neglected but beautiful park, perfect for a quiet picnic. The grass is a bit long in places, but the trees are very nice, many still have their tags and there is a small stand of apples, surrounded by sweet smelling dropped fruit.
It reminded me a lot of the Lilac Garden at the foot of Terwilliger, which also seems beautiful and neglected – an old collection of lilacs, now mostly unidentified. I always try to go at the right time of year to smell as many blooms as possible!
rode the kid in the trailer out the springwater to fabulous gresham and back, then spent the rest of the weekend chasing her around the park. we took the training wheels off and she\’s unstoppable. really, she isn\’t so good with braking yet, but hey she\’s three and a half. did i mention she\’s three and a half? that was our bike fun.
Hooked the Burley Piccolo (trail-a-bike) to my Gunnar, then attached the Burley trailer to the trailabike. The *only* way to cruise with my 3 little girls. A few days of that is a good way to make sure Daddy stays strong this year.
Trail of the Couer D\’Alenes (see Greg\’s comment #31) was gorgeous! Thanks to Beth for awesome organizing, all we had to do was show up and ride.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/ephany/collections/72157601875169883/]My pics are finally up[/url].
Finally managed to get some serious riding in on my new \’cross bike (Kona) on the singletracks outside of Boise – Hull\’s Gulch, Sidewinder, Shafer Butte, and some of the nordic trails at Bogus. Pics at Flickr.
This weekend in Mt St Helens was truly memorable. The first night we spent at a campground, and so that was less peaceful, however we slept alongside the lake and enjoyed a magnificent sky.
After heading out, we did some great hiking and connected with the streams near Swift Reservoir. After that we went to the staging area where the road to Lava Canyon was closed. This was perfect because since Rt 83 didn\’t loop around, the place was minimally populated. We had a challenging ride up to June lake and picked wild blueberries.
Sunday dawned bright and clear as we packed up and rode towards Marble Mountain. The views of the mountain were just okay, but the peacefullness was awesome. I actually had the opportunity to ride Sugatta\’s \’SUV\’ bike down the hill. I now understand the mountain biking bug. As the evening approached, we headed out to a remote trail for our final night of camping. It was a wonderful bonding experience to spend the night along a remote trail. We had a great evening enjoying the kaliedescope of the evening sky.
As dawn\’s rays stretched over the tree tops, we hiked along the isolated trail. We saw amazing sights and picked more berries. The peace was completely unbroken.
We then joined the group from Exchange Cycle Tours and rode up to Lava Canyon.
(ride report to follow shortly)