cycling – 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.

More Banks-Vernonia Trail

Laura Domela — Fri, 20 Jun 2014 19:16:55 +0000

After we finished up some work today we headed out on the bikes and decided to ride to Banks (the other half of the Banks-Vernonia Trail ride that we did yesterday). This is such a great trail. These are all taken with my iPhone right from my bike-mount while riding (with the exception of the railroad bridge one, cuz…well…you'll see):

That railroad bridge was super fun to ride over. It's SO FAR DOWN when you stop and look over the edge! Oh yeah, the trail from Stub Stewart to Banks is ALL downhill. You know what that means…not so fast on the way home!

We had a nice frosty coffee concoction at the Banks Trail Cafe in Banks and then headed back to camp.

Now were going to work a bit, shower, and then meet up with Aluminarium (they're a few spots down from us tonight!) for some happy hour and dinner (and a lot of catching up!)

Here's the map and elevation of our ride: 21.5 miles

Stub Stewart State Park

Laura Domela — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 17:22:17 +0000

We grabbed the Airstream and came out to Stub Stewart State Park yesterday afternoon to meet up with some friends. After stopping at Trader Joe’s, Camping World, and suffering the world’s longest wait for propane at the nearby Pilot (they’re not usually that bad), we were on our way and had camp set up by about 6:30pm.

Our view through the trees at the back of our spot:

This morning we got up and decided to ride into Vernonia for some breakfast. It’s about 11.5 miles from here along the Banks-Vernonia Trail…a gorgeous ride!

We locked up the bikes and had breakfast at the Black Iron Grill on Bridge Street. Kinda dark inside, but our double cappuccinos were great and so was our breakfast! Also: every single song ever remembered from my childhood…ALL of those songs played during breakfast. Horse with No Name, Hotel California, Wildfire, Band on the Run, Go Your Own Way…well, you get the idea. It was kinda great. Also, this.

Sunny ride back to Stub Stewart after breakfast:

Back at camp now working for the rest of the day after a 23 mile bike ride! Here’s the map with elevation, if you’re curious:

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!

Brisighella to Florence (Video)

Laura Domela — Mon, 19 May 2014 08:23:00 +0000

Here's Kevin's video of the last day of our bike tour (Day 6!) from Venice to Florence. This is the leg from Brisighella to Florence (with a train ride at the beginning):

"This was the sixth leg of a multi-day Eurobike tour from Venice to Florence – riding Bike Friday folding bikes. This leg (34 km biking) left Brisighella by loading the bikes onto a train traveling over the mountain to Borgo San Lorenzo, then biking through the remainder of the mountains over some steep hills, and descending down into Florence through Fiesole. This was by far the hilliest segment of the tour – with some 13% uphill grade, some steep descents, and about 1500 ft of elevation gain. Descending into Florence by bike via this route is amazingly beautiful."

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):

Last Day in Calistoga

Laura Domela — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 22:00:13 +0000

Today we rode our bikes over to Chateau Montelena.

If you've seen the movie Bottleshock, or if you know about the 1976 Paris blind tasting upset (also known as the "Judgment of Paris") when a California Chardonnay won first prize over its French competitors (unthinkable!), then you'll probably have heard of this winery.

The Paris Wine Tasting of 1976 or the Judgment of Paris was a wine competition organized in Paris on 24 May 1976 by Steven Spurrier, a British wine merchant, in which French judges carried out two blind tasting comparisons: one of top-quality Chardonnays and another of red wines (Bordeaux wines from France and Cabernet Sauvignon wines from California). A California wine rated best in each category, which caused surprise as France was generally regarded as being the foremost producer of the world's best wines. Spurrier sold only French wine and believed that the California wines would not win. [Wikipedia]

The grounds are spectcular.

The Chardonnay they make today is apparently made in the same style as the 1973 Chardonnay that won the Paris tasting, and it was very good! We also really liked the 2010 Montelena Estate Cabernet Sauvignon.

Cute sticker on the bike rack:

From there we headed back to camp, worked some more, then went to our 2pm tour appointment at Reverie, up on Diamond Mountain.

Reverie is one of Napa Valley’s smallest estate wineries. The vineyard is nestled on a steep, 40 acre parcel high up in the Diamond Mountain appellation (we did not ride bikes up here), and the wine they produce is wonderful. We started our tasting outside with Sara (She's awesome! Hi Sara!) and then headed into the caves.

A French oak barrel. These cost about $1200 and can be used once or twice:

Kevin in the caves with oak and temperanillo:

Our favorite wines of this tasting were the Petit Verdot, the 2008 Cabernet, and the Reserve Cabernet. The tour was fun and educational and I would highly recommend making a reservation here at Reverie if you're in Calistoga. It was one of our favorites!

Next was a wine and cheese pairing/tasting at The Von Strasser Winery (right next door to Reverie, also up on Diamond Mountain).

John was our guide and gave us a nice tour and took us into the caves and to a small table for our tasting.

It was just the three of us so we had a time for some fun casual conversation, as well as learning about the Von Strasser wine and winemaking. Our favorites here were the 2009 Sori Bricco Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and the 2009 Spaulding Cabernet Sauvignon.

Back at the Airstream now. I think we're going to grill some salmon and some veggies, and then ride bikes to the market later to get some groceries before heading out tomorrow morning. We've had such a nice time here in Calistoga and it definitely feels like it's going to become of the "regulars" now. (You know, the places you return to over and over again.)

Happy Friday everyone!

Bike Ride Along the Columbia River

Laura Domela — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 21:44:30 +0000

We took our tandem out the other day and rode the path parallel to Marine Drive along the Columbia River. We only did about 10 miles, but it was a gorgeous 10 miles. (At home we have a shiny aluminum Santana Sovereign tandem that we sometimes ride…)

The nice thing about riding in the stoker position on a tandem (also known as "the back") is that I can whip out my camera (or iPhone, in this case) and take photos while pedaling.

There's an RV park out there that I know some of you have stayed at when in Portland, and if you go back and want a nice bike ride from the park, this is it. You'll even get the occasional great view of a huge plane flying overhead! (We saw a few hawks and herons, as well.)

We've decided to replace our Dahon folding bikes with some custom-made Bike Friday folding bikes that we test rode down in Eugene a couple weeks ago. We're going with the Bike Friday Silk … they are SO smooth (belt drive) and they ride much more like a regular full-size bicycle than our present folders do. We didn't skimp much on the Dahons when we bought them (seems we paid 600-700 bucks each for them about 5 or more years ago, using the $1000 I won on penny slots with $20 in Vegas). We get a lot of use out of them when we're on the road but they're a fairly basic folding bike.

The way we're outfitting the Bike Friday Silks is not at all basic. We're going totally high tech bike with vintage old school styling and they're gonna be SO cool. I'm going glossy white with darker leather saddle and accessories, and Kevin's going black with honey leather accessories. Here, I'll even be geeky enough to show you the super nerdy mood board I've been making while adding links to the "things I might want for my new bike" Pinterest board (which you can see here if you're into geeky stylish bike stuff):

I'm so happy to finally have found the bell that was on my bike in Holland, too!! The Crane sakura springy bell…this bell has the best tactile bell action! Remember when you were a kid, laying on the floor in your room, doinging that little thing behind the door that kept the door from hitting the wall…over and over again so it made that sound and you got to feel that springy action?

It's like that, only smaller. And it makes a nice clear "ding" sound to alert those on the path ahead of you. (I'm hoping I can limit myself to using it only when necessary so I don't drive Kevin insane OMG enough with the bell already!!!)

Crane Bell Co. makes these bells, and they come in spring versions and lever versions (but why bother with a boring lever, really?)

So there you go. Update on the Airstream's folding bikes!