I’m on tour! Portland to Longview today

I am back on tour! And with a new bike, a Bike Friday New World Tourist (review will be posted soon).

I spent a little over a week in Portland being treated to all kinds of spectacular hospitality from friends new and old.  I’ve been overjoyed at the graciousness of my hosts and flummoxed in how I could possibly repay their kind deeds so I hope that my broken record of “thank you”s was at least a start.

Going in, I had high hopes for Portland: I was told by multitudes of people that I would love it, couldn’t be bad with that much praise. And yep….it’s awesome. First and foremost, the bike friendliness is off the charts; like nothing else in this country. Bike routing signs even have the number of minutes it would approximately take you to ride to the signed location: small feature but clearly coming from a city that puts bikes at the forefront. It felt bizarre to be surrounded by that intense bike culture actually, I hardly knew what to do with myself. I was no longer “special” for having a strong affinity to these two wheeled marvels, just about everyone does, and riding in traffic seemed completely new: drivers yielding to you, special signals for you, lanes, signs, ramps, parking. I was so used to having the “oppressed minority” mindset that this was all a huge shock.

I took my bike on MAX (their east-west train) and they have purpose built areas to hang bikes that make taking your bike with you a breeze (are you listening BART?!).

Below are some random photos from Portland and one from Multnomah Falls (which is breathtaking)

Portland is big on parks too. I stumbled across this gem on a ride

 

Today I officially kicked off the tour and rode from SE Portland to Longview, WA. Took highway 30 which was better than I expected but not the quietest (at least not before St Helens, quiets after that). My quads and knees were sore by the 40 mile mark and nagged at me the whole ride, made it a long one although it was only 65ish miles.

 

This is what Hwy 30 looked like, nice healthy shoulder width and moderate traffic.  I did find an awesome old desolate access road (picture two below) but unfortunately it sputtered out after a mile or two.

The worst part was the Lewis and Clark Bridge which was the biggest climb of the day but the bigger issue were the piled remains of fallen tree bark from logging trucks that clogged the shoulder. The choice was either uncomfortably ride over the bark and possible wipe out or ride uncomfortably close to traffic: I chose the latter for lack of better options.

Staying with my second host from warmshowers.org and just as spectacular as the first. Warms the heart to know people open their homes to traveling strangers, its wonderful. The family I’m staying with now is having me setup my tent out in the yard though which is a tad odd considering the enormity of their house and number of couches but none the less I certainly am not scoffing at this offer (and that is without mentioning the delicous dinner that was prepared for me). I like tents anyway

Preparing to ride tomorrow a short 40 miles to Lewis and Clark campground, my legs could use the rest I think. Going to try to find a hardware store to pick up some denatured alcohol for my new stove I purchased.

31.Aug.09 West Coast Tour