Monday, July 21, 2014

Portland 2014 (13-16 July)

After my ride on the STP, I stayed it Portland for a few days.

Here's my post about the STP. Unlike last time, however, I didn't have my bike shipped back to Seattle on the truck and had it with me the whole time. Similarly to my STP post, this'll mostly be tweets and photos. You'll find even more photos from last year's album, too.

More after the break…

Sunday, 13 July

The only riding I did this day was from the finish line to my motel.

The motel was listed on a hostel website, and the hostel from last time didn't have any available rooms when I was booking. This hampered me a bit, as motels don't have kitchens. I'll have to book earlier next year!

A two-person room would've actually cost more, oddly enough.

I went with my aunt for dinner at a Cuban place, followed by browsing through a few shops and a trip to the grocery store where I got some food. I didn't have any plates or utensils at home, so I had to make due with the stuff Whole Foods has for eating stuff, and handsoap for washing the utensils for the night.

(The photo is from 14 July, but it's the same place.)

Monday, 14 July

I rode around Portland throughout the day, seeing sights and stopping for food and water periodically.

I got some camping utensils and dish soap here.

Using my GPS to scan the roads in the area, I found a route back to Portland via Lake Oswego.

I saw the closed Oaks Amusement Park and the full view of the Sellwood Bridge replacement.

To parallel the Willamette back to Portland, I took the Springwater Corridor. At the northern end, I saw the Tilikum Crossing under construction.

While there, I chatted with another guy who talked about how he tours a lot of the Fuji bicycle he was riding.

I also saw the Oregon Rail Heritage Center, but it was closed.

From there, I continued northeast.

I stopped at a tea shop where I learned a lot about Dragon Boats in the US.

(In response to that tweet, my mother contacted me later the same day and told me to get into contact with a family friend.)

I stopped by the Rose City Food Park for dinner since the folks at the tea shop advised it.

"Gunnar" is the lower-range set of frames from Waterford. I've been contemplating getting a Waterford for quite some time, but it'd be quite an investment and I'd be out a touring bike for some time while the other components are moved over.

I headed straight back to the motel after I was done at the shop.

In all, I got 48.04 miles in.

Tuesday, 15 July

The ride today was from my motel to southwest Portland to visit someone.

I tried to talk to a homeless guy who had a bike about bikes, but he was just using it as a push cart and wasn't interested.

I ended up riding around a bit to try to find a park, but was unable to find it…because I overshot it.

While at the coffee shop, I chatted with a local cyclist about some things. He told me to go to Southwest Bicycle, but it wouldn't have been open for a while by the time I got there, and I had somewhere to go sooner than that.

After fighting the steep hills there, I hung out at their house for a few hours.

I then zipped down the hill to Portland, then went back to the motel.

And this day ended up being 30.26 miles.

Wednesday, 16 July

I first rode to the train station with all of my luggage on the bike.

On my last day, I just packed up and headed to the train station.

I chatted with a lady behind me for the last hour or so. I also read a bit of 1Q84.

Of course, I rode from the train station home.

Epilog

Something of note was how there seemed to be few 'racing' cyclists during commute hours in Portland than in Seattle.

And as it turned out, I ended up sick for a few days starting the following day.

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