60.39 miles (Total: 4416.2) Avg Speed: 11.8mph Max Speed: 26.5mph
We decided on a casual start this morning which was summed up by me eating a breakfast burrito in bed then knocking over a 44oz drink all over the floor, the picture below shows the room 5 minutes after we were supposed to check out. We got going eventually onto busier roads as we approached the city of Portland. The shoulders were pretty good the whole way though and when we passed through towns it turned into a bike path.
Motel room 5 minutes after checkout time.
Only 38 miles now, he might as well ride the whole way.
When we arrived on the outskirts of town the bikes increased, people zipping in and out of the traffic. This seemed a long way from Kansas. Once we made it into downtown we split from Siemen as he headed to stay with a friend whilst me and Wim managed to go the wrong way down one way streets several times. A friendly local gave us his bike map of the city and we figured out a path to Stefaan’s, this isn’t small town America anymore, even though we are in Portland Stefaan’s house is still 8 miles away.
Portland has won bike city of the USA 14 out of the last 15 years and it also claims to have more micro breweries than any other city. Joe Meyer warned me that you cannot out weird Portland in a similar way to which you cannot out weird people in one of my favourite places in the US, Austin Texas. It had the same vibe as Austin but seemed to have abit more style and the bike paths are amazing. The bikes allow cars to drive on the roads here not the other way round. At this point I’m already thinking I have a new favourite city in the US.
Me and Wim stop for a celebratory beer while double checking the route to Stefaan’s. We arrive to his place and are introduced to his lovely wife Tara then given a tour and shown our rooms and shower, they don’t use the downstairs. We head out for a dinner in the neighbourhood of St Johns where they live, this is a new place for Stefaan & Tara too, they have only been here a few weeks themselves but I think they made a fine choice in choosing Portland. I finally found the Odometer setting on my cycle computer a few days ago so now have digital evidence of the miles covered, picture below is the current total, looking healthy.
Joe Meyer told me you cannot out weird Portland, we met some characters straight away.
Stefaan’s lovely home.
We allowed ourselves a lazy start, which I marked appropriately by eating a breakfast burrito in bed and then knocking a 44-ounce drink clean across the floor — the picture below is the room exactly five minutes after checkout time, for the historical record. Eventually we got moving, onto busier roads as Portland grew closer. The shoulders held up well the whole way in, and every time we passed through a town the road obligingly turned into a bike path.
By the outskirts the bikes had multiplied, weaving in and out of traffic like they owned it, which apparently they do. It felt a very long way from Kansas. Downtown we split off from Siemen, who went to stay with a friend, while me and Wim managed to ride the wrong way down one-way streets more than once before a friendly local took pity and handed us his own bike map of the city. Even with it, Stefaan’s place turned out to be eight miles further on — this may be Portland, but it isn’t quite small-town America either.
Portland has been named America’s best bike city fourteen of the last fifteen years and claims more microbreweries than anywhere else in the country, and both felt entirely believable within the hour. Joe Meyer had warned me before I left that you cannot out-weird Portland, the same way you can’t out-weird Austin, Texas — one of my favourite places in the country — and he wasn’t exaggerating. It had that same loose, unbothered energy, if anything with a little more style, and the bike infrastructure was on another level entirely: here the cars seem to defer to the bikes, not the other way around. I was already fairly sure I’d found a new favourite American city.
Me and Wim stopped for a celebratory beer while we double-checked the last stretch of the route, then rode on in to meet Stefaan’s wife Tara, who gave us the tour, showed us our rooms, and made clear they simply didn’t use the downstairs. We went out for dinner in St Johns, the neighbourhood Stefaan and Tara had only just moved into themselves — a few weeks in, and already it looked like they’d chosen well. I’d finally found the odometer setting on my cycle computer a couple of days earlier, so for once I had actual digital proof of the distance behind me, and it was a healthy-looking number indeed.
Joe Meyer had been right about the characters too — we met a few before we’d even properly arrived.
Stefaan and Tara’s home, already looking like exactly the right place to land.
5 comments from 2010
I keep thinking 'that must be his last day riding' but the blog entries keep coming and coming! Never get bored of reading what your getting up to all the way out there, so jealous of all the new places you get to visit day by day!
Pint of ya best. Love that pic of the hotel room 5 minutes after checkout. You guys are bums. You're looking pretty dapper holding that beer. Not a bad drop, eh?
4,416 miles... I'm petrified of doing 13.1 in the Great North Run next Month!! Can I borrow ya bike!? Haha. You must be enroute home to the Mead now like, a fantastic Summers entertainment!!
Congratulations! I have so enjoyed your story. Am i going to have to check my email first now when i log on in D213? Best wishes Martin@Kenton
Congratulations Ryan, have totally enjoyed your blog every day with posts of new places and people. Think that yellowstone park was some of the best scenic photos you took although you had great pictures up for everyday. A bit of RnR is well deserved. I'm sure your dreading coming back to the UK. Make sure you fill us in when you do lad. Good luck. Gutters