Jane and I drove down to Portland on Thursday morning for a much needed mini vacation. We brought the bikes down with a final pre-STP training ride in mind.

We arrived in town around 1pm and found the hotel quickly. I spun around the block a few times surprised at the lack of parking options I had at the time. We were able to snag a 90 minute spot, and we had to hold it until 7pm that night. Needless to say, we stuck around the Pearl District for the night.

The hotel was beautiful and felt like home right away. The rooms were a bit small, especially with our bikes taking up a wall, but we were very comfortable. They had claw foot tubs reminiscent of our first apartment in Seattle that brought back warm memories. The TV with cable was a special bonus since I was able to watch a bit of the Tour between rides and eats.

One of the first spots we hit was the food trucks between 4th and 9th. The food is amazing and cheap. Interestingly, most of the trucks are only open during the week… so I’m guessing there are a portion of people in the city that aren’t able to ever enjoy them. It is a shame too, because I had a wonderful burrito for 4 dollars that made my eyes roll back.

We ran in to Jane’s old girlfriend on day one and ended up going out for drinks with her later that night. It was the first of many random meetings with old friends that weekend. We got a taste of the nightlife in Portland and I did my best to take it easy.

Day two was definitely food oriented. We drove out to my mom’s new place with her boyfriend Tom in HIllsboro. It was a dual purpose party for the 4th and Tom’s 80 year old mother. They made 8 racks of ribs, stupid amounts of bratwurst, a massive pot of beans and all of the potato fixins’ a boy could wish for. None of it was left by day’s end.

We were able to dump the car off with my mom in HIllsboro, so I felt a bit better about getting around Portland without worrying about it. Jane and I went down to the water front amongst the riff raff and watched the fireworks that night. The people were the true show though. There was a little bit of each kind on display… hippies, jocks, junkies, suburbanites, yuppies, burn outs, gangsters, bikers, and lots and lots of sandals on all of them. The sandal to person ratio is quite high during an Oregon summer. I managed to snag a video of a lady who was very excited to watch the fireworks. She was fist pumping her tall boy can as if she were watching a(nother) Sabbath reunion tour (note: I don’t seem to have access to software to show you said video… maybe some day). Nothing is more magical.

Speaking of magical, we set out Saturday morning with one thing in mind. Bicycling.


We spent a good chunk of the day climbing the hills outside of Portland for some pretty epic views of the Oregon countryside. The first climb was a monster 1,000ft climb from sea level up a “road” that was best described as a fire trail. None of it was paved but the gravel wasn’t extremely loose. Jane did awesome up it. We stopped a few times to clean the mud out of our brakes as it stuck loose stick in our fenders. Almost the whole climb had a “snake hissing” sound emitting from our rear wheels. The few hikers that were on the trail were surprised to see people on it with road bikes.

There were 3 climbs in total, the last dishing out the most pain. Jane was cursing and cramping by the end up the final climb. She probably wanted to punch me by that point, but it would be wasted energy. She did amazing.
The descent down the last hill was mind blowing. It was a series of switch backs followed by some tunnels and a tight drop in to the city through traffic. Beyond fun. I love riding my damn bike. Jane described it as “the best descent I’ve ever ridden”… and that girl loves going down hills.

After a shower and some rest, we hit the town again with food and beer in mind. I knew that I wanted to go to the new Hopworks Urban Brewery. I’d be lying if I said that it wasn’t a bit of a disappointment. I guessing it expected it to be a bit more “bike themed” than it ended up being, and it was quite a bit out of our way to find that out. I foolishy thought they might be playing the Tour and we basically planned the night around it. Still, the beer was fabulous and there was nothing to complain about. My expectations were just too high.

Gelato, coffee, and the Tour completed the day. Vacations are great.

On our final day, we met Mom and Tom again for breakfast at Cup and Saucer. We ate, said our goodbyes and checked out of the hotel before our cut off. Jane let me stop by River City Bicycles before we left town and (graciously) let me buy a couple of things tax free.

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend and pretty much exactly what I needed to get out of this slump.