infinitely sustainable pace

west coast trip

August 5, 2009 - Author: mandy

i’ve been doing a ton of riding and stuff in general over the past few weeks, just haven’t made a lot of time to post it up.

The third week of July I had a whirlwind work trip that took me to the Resort at Squaw Creek in Tahoe and Skamania Lodge in the Columbia River Gorge. This trip took me through 8 different airports in 3.5 days.

I loved the opportunity to visit Tahoe. I’ve always wanted to go there and it was on the top of the list of places to move to after I graduated from UVM. They took great care of us at Squaw and the resort was very impressive. Early on the morning there I got out for a 30 minute run and was pleasantly pleased that the altitude didn’t bother me that much. I can remember being 24 years old and working a big meeting in Denver for the big B and being winded walking up the stairs. Not so much these days.

We had to leave Tahoe all too soon and our flight up to Portland via Seattle was brilliant. Clear day brought views of all the volcanoes on the way up the coast. Skamania Lodge is in familiar territory for me as my brother was married just down the road last September. Again, they totally took care of us during our short stay there. I even got a massage!

My brother and his wife live in Portland, so after wrapping up my business they picked me up so we could hang out before my red-eye home. The absolute most fun thing to do with my brother in Portland is to pub crawl by bicycle. They were game so that’s what we did.

my sweet ride

My brother has a collection of recumbent bikes, so that’s what we rode. Steve and Lisa on the tandem and myself on the single. Such a complete change to go from riding a big wheel singlespeed to a recumbent. Tiny little wheels and you’re supposed to spin, spin, spin when climbing. And twitchy. Did you see the fairing? Very handy when commuting in the rain I’m sure, but adds to the whole twitchy vibe of the bike. I was sure I was going to dump the thing, or perhaps get hit by a car. I’m not accustomed to urban riding these days.

checking out the used parts bins

Portland is filled with cyclists these days, not that it was unpopular before, but while we were riding around we saw thousands of people commuting or riding on every type of bike. Just getting to our first pub involved stops at two different bike shops to check out what they’re selling and how they’re selling it. Got to see Clever Cycles which was cool, I’d been on their website in the past. Besides the cool bikes, they had an entire wall of Brooks saddles and what looked like the full line from Ibex.

turn your head, i don't feel like editing photos

We went to Roots Brewing first, and all-organic brewery . I believe I enjoyed their IPA and a very tasty hummus dish for dinner. The place was full of riders in spandex, crunchy commuter types and hipsters. We then pedaled several blocks to a crazy little establishment furnished from tag sales with a bathroom that featured 1967 copies of Sunset Magazine. They were serving up Witbeer brewed by Captured by Porches which was quite tasty. We sat outside and watched people go by on bikes. It was awesome.

transportation secured

Our mission was to have me at the airport by 9:30 pm, so we still had time for one more stop. A little bit of a hill to climb, time to see what that recumbent could do – and it could definitely push a little higher gear than Steve normally recommends. We’re having a nice ride, I was wondering if it was adequately fitting into the “one hour easy ride” on my training schedule. Thank goodness this trip fell into a recovery week, good timing.

again, rotate head

Last stop was dessert. We went to this tiny pastry shop with a phenomenal beer and wine selection. We chose some tasty treats and shared a bottle of sparkling wine. I was feeling divine by this point, loving the time with Steve and Lisa and feeling the results of the pub crawl as well. But we had an airport to get to and finished up with a few blocks pedal to stash the bikes. They dropped me off and I was so sad that our visit was over so quickly. Somehow I got myself checked-in, through security and poured into my seat for the red-eye to NYC.