bicycles – Riveted

Sauvie Island Bike Ride

Laura Domela — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 00:22:58 +0000

This morning we did our usual hike in the Arboretum (about 4 miles), but we figured we should really get a bike ride in too, since we're doing the 36 mile Bridge Pedal route next Sunday (one week from today) and we really haven't been riding that much lately. So this afternoon we loaded the tandem into the back of the truck and headed for Sauvie Island.

We've had our tandem for about 9-10 years and it's a great bike. (Notice, it's ALSO aluminum!!) It's a Santana Sovereign.

There's a really nice 12 mile loop around the south end of the island that looks like this:

Sauvie Island is the largest island along the Columbia River at 26,000 acres, and is predominantly farms and wildlife refuge. It's flat and has fairly low traffic so it's a great place to cycle.

Here are some photos of our ride, and oh yeah, it was 90 degrees out. Hot!!

There are several farm markets out here where you can get fresh produce and/or pick your own berries and flowers.

Corn maze and pumpkin patch opens on Labor Day:

I saw these cows. They were eating grass, just like it says.

Springtime in Portland

Laura Domela — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 17:16:40 +0000

This is the park that's 30 seconds from our house in Portland (and basically what our "yard" looks like). We're really enjoying the spring (feeling like summer) in Portland this month. Bike rides, hikes, grilling outside on our deck…we love all of it! (And yet, I'm still so excited about being out in the Airstream again in a week or so!)

Since we returned home from Italy (a week ago??) we have started 3x/week morning spinning classes (at Revocycle in Portland) and plan to continue doing our morning hike (3.5-4 miles) in the Arboretum on the days we don't spin. The hike is such a good way to start the day before settling in to work, and the spinning should just help contribute to our overall cycling shape and fitness. And while the weather's nice in the Pacific Northwest, it's best to take full advantage of the outdoor time!

Chicken & Waffles on the Springwater Corridor Trail

Laura Domela — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 20:52:41 +0000

This morning we took our bikes down to the Portland waterfront (where there's all sorts of stuff going on…navy ships, dragon boat races, carnival rides, food booths, music, tons of people kayaking and paddleboarding…oh right, it's Rose Festival!)

We parked under the Hawthorne Bridge and headed South along the Willamette River for a bit before turning East via the Springwater Corridor Trail. The weather was gorgeous!! Under the bridge on the left is Waterfront Park, dragon boats racing into frame from the left, tents, people, lots of cheering:

Guy catching a sturgeon from the dock below:

Totally insane floating shack/barge on the river:

You can't really appreciate this thing until you zoom in though. It's got a water slide!! And a conga drum! And I assume that rusty barrel is for campfires:

We had a banana before we left the house to tide us over until we got to Cartlandia, where we opted for chicken & waffles from the Coop food cart for brunch. They were GREAT! You choose your waffle (plain, cornbread, or bacon, but the cook said bacon was best so we went with that one…not to tough a decision) and there are several combinations of multiple waffles with multiple chicken pieces, but we went straight with one (bacon) waffle and a chicken breast, with maple syrup of course. Delicious! And you know, kinda sorta mostly guilt-free since we were going to be riding 30+ miles:

After brunch we continued on the trail out toward Mt. Hood. There's one spot on the trail where you're riding with a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood (but I didn't get that photo, dur.) This is a great trail, and the further from Portland you get, the less crowded it is.

The weather was just beautiful again today! I think the high was about 78 degrees F. Here's a map of our ride (34 miles, click to enlarge):

Kevin's bike on the Willamette River:

Oh yeah, and we put our little country pins on our handlebar bags the other day. So cute! (Can't wait to get more!)

Comacchio Man

Laura Domela — Tue, 13 May 2014 19:53:16 +0000

I forgot to post this one in my last post, so I gave it a bit of special vintage treatment and now it gets its own post:

Chioggia to Adria (Video)

Laura Domela — Tue, 13 May 2014 18:26:29 +0000

Kevin made another video! Here's our route from Chioggia to Adria (leg 2 of our Venice to Florence bike tour on Bike Fridays):

Cartlandia

Laura Domela — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 22:43:12 +0000

Today we rode our bikes out to Cartlandia for lunch, via the Springwater Corridor Trail. Cartlandia is a pod of food carts in Portland out at SE 82nd and the Springwater Trail. Perfect bike-to-lunch (or to the Voodoo Donut truck) destination.

We parked down near the Portland Opera offices on the waterfront and from there, Cartlandia's a little over 8 miles on the trail.

Trail shot while riding, taken with iPhone mounted to my bike:

We wandered around the carts a bit trying to decide what to get and settled on sharing a lobster roll from the Maine Street Lobster Co.…

…and a "bacon south of the border" burger (avocado, jalapenos, Sriracha, bacon, cheese, spinach, tomato) from The Rock House Grill (down the end):

Both sandwiches were excellent!

I didn't get a photo of the lobster roll, but it looked exactly like this (photo from the Maine Street Lobster Co. site):

We had a nice ride back after lunch.

We figured out that the handlebar mounts we have on the bikes for our iPhones tilt and swivel nicely for taking quick pics (or video!) from the bike while riding. This should come in handy while cycling through Italy!

Here's our first sample "from Kevin's bike" clip of me riding. Super exciting, I know. (Not really.)

Gives you a little idea of one of the more "city" parts of the trail though! Oh, and here's a map of this out-and-back ride:

Happy (Easter) Sunday, everyone!

Planning for Italy (with bikes!)

Laura Domela — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 21:48:12 +0000

So, in a few weeks we will be headed to Italy. I've never been and I'm super excited! We have some good friends getting married in Florence at the end of the month (the reason for the trip). We decided to add some time onto that and now we'll have just over two weeks on our own before the start of the wedding festivities.

Our first stop is Venice for two days. From Venice, we'll be riding our bikes (the new bikes, the ones that come apart and pack into roller suitcases that are checkable!) to Florence over the course of 6 days. Here's a map of the route:

The longest ride days are about 40 miles each (there are two of those), with the others days being between 20-35 miles. So far we've done a handful of 20 miles rides, and one 32 mile ride on the new bikes in preparation for this part of our trip. Remember, these bikes are not your typical road bikes. They're folders with 20-inch wheels, and the riding position is much more upright Dutch city bike than lycra-wearing aerodynamic speedster. We designed them for comfort and touring and exploring places from the Airstream, and they are perfect for that. I'd say our average mph is about 10, just to give you an idea. Yes they have 14 speeds and a bunch of other cool stuff to make touring great, but they are not fast.

This ride is unguided (we'll have hotel reservations for each night, plus maps and stuff, but no other people riding with us) and the tour company will schlep our luggage from hotel to hotel, so all we have to have with us is what we want for that day. It sounds fabulous, exploring this way…stopping for lunch and sightseeing along the way…taking photos…getting good exercise…

…and then…

Yesterday afternoon I was running downstairs and through the garage to meet the UPS guy to sign for a couple of boxes (wine club shipments), running, kind of on my tip toes for some reason (boing, boing, boing), and all of a sudden I felt a "pop" in my left calf and then it was instantly on fire and very painful. I limped out, signed the little brown computer thingy, set the boxes in the garage, and headed directly upstairs to the freezer for some ice. It hurt A LOT. My mom was visiting and knew (from unfortunate past experience) that I'd likely torn a muscle and we started on the the R.I.C.E. regimen (Rest Ice Compression Elevation).

Yes, that's right. I tore a muscle running for wine. Shut up.

Anyway, the immediate ice and the compression wrap and elevation and rest must have helped some because it feels better today than it did yesterday but I still can't really USE those muscles in that calf without quite a bit of pain, so I'm headed to a physical therapist for a consult in the morning. What fun. (Not at all fun.)

If I have to put my Brooks saddle back on the exercise bike downstairs and do wussy inside "rides" until we leave, I will, but I really would like not to have to undo all the training I've been doing to get ready for this trip! Bah!

Fingers crossed!

—————————————–

POST P/T APPT. UPDATE: I tore my gastrocnemius (the largest calf muscle)…it's the blue one:

It's a milder tear and I have four more physical therapy appointments, homework, plus a bike fit appointment before we head to Italy.

Therapist: Luckily, cycling doesn't put that much strain on this particular muscle (unless you use cleats, so don't do that for now). If you were going to hike the Cinque Terre though, I'd say you shouldn't.

Me: Oh. We actually are doing that too, but not until the 24th or so of May.

Heh. She said four weeks might be enough time to heal this tear. Yeeesh. Yay for being proactive on this!

Image: Fitness Uncovered

The Mill PDX

Laura Domela — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 16:34:23 +0000

A few days ago we went over to The Mill PDX (at 2925 NE Glisan Street in Portland) and met up with Paul Sykes (of Sykes Wood Fenders) to pick up a wooden water bottle holder for Kevin's bike. (We got mahogany ones for both bikes and they're great! Here's a photo of mine, only now I've moved it to the spot on the seatpost by the back rack.) The Mill PDX is a maker studio and co-op, and the building consists mostly of workspace with a small shop up front where the makers can show and sell their work. There is some great stuff in here!

That circle ceiling lamp is one of Paul's newest pieces. There are LEDs in a groove in the top of the wood circle that creates a beautiful reflected light from the ceiling. He's got a few different sizes of these lamps and they are so elegant! If we had white ceilings (we have wood ceilings) I don't think we could pass this up!

Paul didn't make our wooden bike fenders, but he does make beautiful bicycle fenders (among many other things). He generously gave us a tour of his studio and showed us some of his work.

Almost finished fenders:

Paul (and Lindsay of MapleXO, also at The Mill PDX) are using recycled skateboards for some of their work. (Lindsay is all about the recycled skateboards, actually.)

Raw shaved skateboard veneer in several color themes:

Lindsay makes jewelry and other accessories and her work is fabulous…check it out here.

We picked up a new MapleXO bottle opener for the Airstream (made from recycled skateboards, of course):

Some source material:

I didn't get a photo of it in the shop, but check out this gorgeous lamp (collaboration between Paul and Lindsay) made from recycled skateboards.

This little set of 2 containers with twist-lock lids and a recycled skateboard tray looks like it would be perfect in the Airstream! (Image from the MapleXO catalog.)

Also at The Mill, Ascari handmade bicycles:

Look at this amazing detail work (image from their website):

I love finding these kinds of artisan/maker spots. Makes me want to make stuff!!