Surley Troll

Thinking, planning, scheming.  The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route (GDMBR) is on my horizon and as such a new bike was in the equation.  My LBS, Campus Wheel Works, kept me in their sights for almost a year, looking out for a bike that would perform well in a wide variety of settings.  The GDMBR is comprised of single track (one lane dirt trail), double track (old roads), dirt roads and pavement.  Trying to find a bike to cover all aspects of this trail and carry panniers or tow a trailer is a challenge.

In late August, Ethan pointed me towards the Surley Troll, a hybrid/road/mountain bike which is able to morph into many different things, due to the multitude (ooooh- I've used that word twice today) of dropouts and braze-ons.  This configuration allows Rohloff hubs, which contain internal gearing to take the place of a derailleur, disk brakes, cantilever brakes, fenders and racks. Ethan poked around until he found a front suspension fork which could accomodate a rack (something mountain bikers would generally frown upon). I will miss using the really cool OEM fork, which has braze-ons for water bottle cages on the outer edges, along with braze-ons for anything else you can think of. The price tag comes to under $2,000, which is still a whole heck of a lot of money to me.
There is now a Thudbuster seat post on it and pedals which will accomodate Power Straps.  It seems like the Power Straps will outperform cages and give some of the advantages of clipless pedals without the special shoes. Addtionaly, it has a King water bottle cage and a new fangled Camelback bottle, which doesn't leak when turned on its side.
Now the bike just needs a rear rack and better reflectors and/or lights.  Here is a wonderful resource on tail-lights.  So sweet when someone does my homework for me and does it well.
 Oh, and when I asked about the dreaded "chain slap" which occurs when the derailleur can't absorb the slack caused by going over big bumbs, Ethan suggested a Cycle Stuff Chain Stay Wrap, which will probably be more durable than a cut up tube. I think the handlebars are Multibar Butterfly bars.  They should offer up a nice variety of hand positions for all the washboard road along the GDMBR.
I will be aiming for the summer of 2013, unless Adventure Cycling calls me to lead a tour, in which case I will gladly shift gears.

Review:
This is the first mountain bike type bike I have ever owned that was sized properly.  It rides smoothly, with the Thudbuster taking some of the jarring out of the rear without the weight of a full suspension. The fork (Rockshox) seems to offer a nice balance of absorption and has the ability to lock the suspension.
The rack is an Old Man Mountain and came with several options for mounting, but is designed for a suspension fork.  The disk brakes on this bike will help with the brutal braking conditions the bike will be subjected to, carrying a full load of panniers, water and me. Mud and water have affected every touring bike I have used, but this bike will see more mud than on a road tour, though not necessarily the downhill speeds seen on a road tour. I thought the tires would be too much for roads and not enough for of road- wrong: pretty good all around.

Two irritating things- the front derailleur cable comes out diagonally, impeding my ability to grab the bike and carry it by the seat tube up/down stairs and that same derailleur's clamp is placed between the two water bottle mounting points on the seat tube, necessitating the use of spacers (which it didn't come with) to attach a cage.

Netherlands July 16

I left at around 5pm Buffalo time.  The flight is about 8 hrs, but travels back 6 time zones. This puts me in early the next day. Last night I deliberately slept for only 4 hours, so sleeping on the plane would be less difficult. I watched one movie and then slept a bit, on and off. This flight has many empty seats and the one next to me was empty, making sleep much more comfortable and likely.  We passed a huge thunderhead spewing lightning, which towered above the surrounding cloud bank but we were above and to the side of it.  For the most part there is a continuous carpet of clouds below us, with some beautiful thunderheads, which we were above.

thunderhead

 Windmills near Windsor, Ontario and again in France maybe, an oil rig off the coast of Holland. The clouds below us over the ocean were distinctly cotton candy pink, even though we were long past dawn.

Note the field of wind turbines off the coast.

 

Totally a land of water

Bill managed to find me right off and gave me my first lessons in cycling in the Netherlands. It started raining as soon as we left the airport and never stopped, though at least it was about 60 or 65 degrees.  There are roads where the two way car traffic gets only one lane and the cyclists get two.  And the cars have to wait if there is not room for all to pass. The drivers scare me sometimes, because they are forced to pass so close, but they are used to it and there is no maliciousness.  Flying overhead it had looked like there were pastures without fences, ditches serving that purpose and while cycling around, it was clear that the ditches are quite effective for that purpose. Arriving in Utecht was an eye opener, since the first sight you come across is the red light district. Little rooms perched on the edge of the canal, about two in a space equivalent to a shipping container, the women show their wares through picture windows with red neon down the sides. They all had on bras and underwear and weren't terribly risqué, but most were talking or looking at their phones. It is unclear whether they are engaged in sex chat or talking to friends or just surfing. Just a little further down the canal, beautiful canal/house boats line the edges.  We have seen several windmills already.  It appears there are only 900 left, but they are heavily protected.  It is supposed to be as difficult to run them as to pilot a ship. We arrived in Utrecht quite soaked and searched for the hostel and then a specific hotel, but finally gave up in exasperation and took a pretty pricy hotel. We dried our clothes on the heating registers successfully. Utech isn't especially lovely downtown, mostly owing to the massive railway station construction going on, the rest owing to the rain and grey. Thousands of bicycles are parked on every permissible surface.
On a separate note, Bill got 2 free pieces of luggage, though he only used one and brought his boxed bike for $50 via Icelandic air, while I only got one piece of checked luggage and had to pay $80 for my second piece (that being my bike in its suitcase). He may have gotten a better deal, depending on how much he paid for his ticket. He threw out his cardboard bike box and will buy another for the return trip (I think maybe he said he can buy it from the airline for about $25).

Time is running out...

One of the coolest things about living in a four season climate area is the frenzy with which the inhabitants celebrate good weather. I met someone who moved here from San Francisco and at the same time she was bemoaning the chill and length of our winter, she noted the vibrancy of spring, both botanical and zoological.
This weekend has been so beautiful that everybody and their mother is outside. Jumping in the fray, I determined to do a century
Traveling from Buffalo to Lake Ontario, along the shore, dropping down to Medina and the Iroquois Wildlife refuge near Alabama, NY, the dominant impression involved "where the heck were all these snakes the rest of the year?" Seriously. Tiny little garter snakes less than 6 inches long, sunning themselves along the road appeared about every 8 miles. Some were dead and the live ones were easy to avoid, but it was a little weird.
I had never been to this refuge. There was a sign at the beginning of the road I chose, which warned the bridge was closed 1 mile ahead. I ignored the signs; worst case scenario, I would have to come back. But really. How often are they seriously speaking of bicycles? Sure enough the bridge was ped only and crossed a really beautiful span of the swamp.

It was interesting to see the crops not yet harvested. Grapes-heavenly smell, cabbage, not so much, apples and soybeans, which it took me an astonishingly long time to recognize.

Such a beautiful day.

Impromptu Minneapolis

6:45pm Minneapolis airport: Delta airlines asks for volunteers to lay over 24 hours, hotel and meals included, $400 travel voucher.
7:15- I'm all set and rescheduled for tomorrow, same bat time, same bat place.
24 hours in Bicycling Magazine's #1 ranked bike friendly city, and the whole day sponsored by Delta.
At the Mall of America Ramada hotel (which treated me just as well as if I had paid for the room), I used their public, very fast computer to look for cycling info and print 3 pages (no charge).
Results: a whole listing of shops renting bikes, info on obtaining path maps and countless links to further info.
Picked one close to the Hiawatha light rail.
9/3 6:00am woke, showered, packed, checked out, asked to leave my duffle, used the Delta meal vouchers for breakfast and lunch (Ramada packed me a box lunch) and walked the short distance to Mall of America.






7:30 jumped off at Lake to walk a quick 1 mile to Freewheel Bike Shop.





Amazing. They rent really nice carbon Treks- $50.
Problem- they have to put a hold on your credit card for the value of the bike. $1,400. Several years ago I asked my CC company to reduce my credit limit to avoid cc fraud. I am at that limit (set it pretty low, didn't I- thought I was sooooo smart). Called CC company- could they please up my limit? BUT OF COURSE! What a stupid question.
Crash couse on using a CO2 cartridge to inflate presta tubes. All new to me. No toe clips. At least I had a helmet and mirror. How embarrassing, I had to go back to the shop to ask how to shift.  Such an old school girl, with her bar end shifters, toe clips and steel framed bike.






Followed the Greenway Trail until I saw a likely candidate for a riding partner. Out for several hours, avg 17- 22 mph. Sounded plausible. Then he was joined by 3 others. Really lean guys. It should have flashed a warning. Didn't. First half, about 15 miles, well within my speed limits. Second half, not so much. On two occasions at least, they waited for me. No computer, so I have no idea how fast, but I would guess well over 20 on the flat. After about 5 miles they slowed down again, but a little off, I had to draft to keep up then. This group... maybe part of a triathlon team out of Urban Tri shop. They could have and probably should have kicked my Buffalo butt and dropped me. But kindness ruled. So sweet. I know, I know. But I really enjoyed myself.






After they finished, I kept going to cross the Mississippi into St. Paul, then back into Minneapolis, around "The Lakes" and back to the bike shop. I joined forces with a rider going the same way who knew the route. Such a pleasure. He went a more manageable pace. Kudos to the cycling community of Minneapolis. Very welcoming. I think I did 45-50 miles, but am guessing.
Compare Portland to Minneapolis: apples to oranges. One is more fabulous for recreational, the other maybe for all around commuting. Maybe. Both nice. What says you? 6 months in Portland, 6 months in Minneapolis. Would you like to guess which 6 months would belong to Minneapolis?
Full light rail train cars. On a Saturday.  And the trains had bike hooks. The amazement never ends.




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Galveston, TX hotter than...

We did 32 miles from Port Bolivar to Galveston in 105 degree heat; ah the memories of the Trans Am, eastern Kansas and western CO.



There was a ship that looked from afar as though not moving, until we got quite close. It created a large wave at its bow and I saw it hits something. As it happened again, I realized the it wasn't hitting something, there were dolphins jumping its wake. I love dolphins. You gotta eat and work, but you can have fun while doing so.



Afterword, we did what I wish we could do after a long hot day on the bike. We drank margueritas.

Biking in Ireland (though I am not)

Some observations about cycling in Ireland:

• The streets (all of them, urban and country lanes) are extremely narrow with little or no shoulder (except the highways).  In the country the visibility is often very limited by twisting roads and high hedges or stone fences. We are talking about sometimes 30 feet.
• Country speeds are quite high by US standards.  60 mph is the norm on these narrow roads
• drivers yield to cyclists every time, often to their own disadvantage or the curse of other motorists
• cyclists were seen under all circumstances, from narrow urban roads with trucks and buses to country lanes seemingly in the middle of nowhere, as well as on highways, were there were broad shoulders
• There were many touring and casual cyclists and hoards of commuters
• people obviously use their bicycles for transport every day, as most were outfitted with pannier/s
• less than half wear helmets and those wearing helmets were often on racing bikes
• most riders were adults
• riders were never observed being "squeezed" by passing cars
• some communities have identified cycling "routes"; Roundstone, near Galway seemed to have quite activily pursued the routes and been given extensive feedback by cyclists

Though cycling here is not for the faint of heart, I would likely return to bike Ireland, but would probably plunk myself (via public transport) down in a town away from the hub-bub of the few urban areas.  If I get the chance, I will look into and report how bike friendly the town to town public transportation is, for example if you flew into Dublin, how easy would it be to get a conventional bike to Roundstone?  Cycling in Dublin alone would be a fabulous way to get around (again, not for the faint of heart).

As for communications and routing, there are information centers in the major towns and cities.  AAA was useless to me when I contacted them before leaving.  t-mobile (phone carrier- US) was excellent, per usual.  They have poor service coverage in rural areas, but their customer service exceeds all.  They told me to remove the sim card on our smart phones, since roaming is impossibly expensive in foreign lands.  We asked them for an unlock code for one smart phone, a MyTouch and they gave us this promptly.  We bought a foreign sim card at an airport phone store in Ireland and the man there helped us through the install and activation, though we needed to play around with the settings ourselves (there are sooooo many models).  When the phone later locked itself, I used wi-fi and Skype Out to call t-mobile and they emailed us directions to unlock it, even though it was the foreign sim card which locked up.  Their info and the info on the sim card ultimately helped us unlock that sim card.  Kudos.

The GPS unit we paid extra for with the car is useless.  Possibly user error, it is really not smart or intuitive. The phone GPS (50 MB per day included in the phone sim) is quite good, especially in urban areas, and the maps are fine in the rural, on the occasions when the data fails. Map most often used (surprise, surprise) is a spiral bound "official" atlas.

Wireless- we are staying exclusively in B&B's, since a good deal, including the rental car, was available.  The wireless in these B&B's varies from poor to great, with most of it so far at the poor end.  At one B&B, I was forced to stay in our kid's room, next to the wall, to get a signal good enough to hold.
Finally, Skype Out is a worthwhile investment.  I think I pay $25 per year for this.  It allows my computer or iPhone to use wireless to dial US numbers without additional cost.  I called t-mobile and could call phones in the US at any time without any fees, since it all goes across the internet. People can't call me with Skype Out, however.

   
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GAP near Pittsburgh, PA

We spent the Fourth in Pitt watching fireworks from up on high.











I took Bill down to Pittsburgh, PA to start his trek down the GAP and C&O to return to his car near DC. Riding 15 miles from Versailles (near Pitt) brought back memories of the first time I did this trail. The GAP part at least is quite smooth and easy. We were doing 16.5 on its limestone without much trouble.
Though more of the path between Pitt and McKeesport has been completed, it is still not quite there. That group is sure working hard, though.

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Olcott to Buffalo

Up early, but slow to start.  We all ate breakfast at the cottage, then Linda accompanied us to Wilson, where we parted ways.









The trek to Buffalo was pretty uneventful, though interestingly, though I have gone to Wilson from Buffalo several times, again I have never gone the other way.  Bill whined about the only hill in this part of the country: the Niagara Escarpment.  I tried to tell him to look at it as a final challenge for this area; you are actually climbing Niagara Falls, for this is the drop which is the cause of that cataract.
We didn't even stop for ice cream, though we did about 50 miles.
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Holley to Olcott

As an asside, it should be mentioned that in order to keep myself close to the Amtrak two bag limit and also for me to be able to carry all my things in one shot, I elected to go without a sleeping bag. Looking ahead at the weather report, the lowest nightime temp was predicted to be 55. This turned out to be unwise. My bag is down and quite small, takes up only about 4
Times the space of the liner I did bring and 55 is pretty cool when lying on the ground. I repeat that last night I wore almost every stitch of clothing I had brought, including three short sleeved tops, smartwool bottoms, pants and rain pants, two pairs socks and my Gore jacket. Still cold. Still cold. Did excercises. Only helped for 30 min.
Lesson? It would be better to leave behind the second set of cycling clothes or bring an empty bag to bungie on the rack for food or whatever.
Despite this Holley was one of the most pleasant sleeping spots one could ask for.
We returned to town for breakfast. So pleasant.
The towpath is well kept, except for a small patch near Medina, which goes over a deep rivine and creek far below.
We watched them raise a bridge to allow a canal boat to pass. That boat and several others are obviously charters and looked pretty cool.







We got snacks and a bag lunch in Medina and parted from the path near Gasport.



This is Bill and Linda. People asked if Linda and I were sisters. Curly hair. I think Bill is very lucky to travel with two such lovely ladies.
We traveled up towards Lake Ontario and Olcott, always conscious of the chimney from the Somerset power plant. It reminded me of the prarie castles (grain elevators) of Kansas. You could see them for 20 miles, but they never got closer.
Nearing Olcott we found an ice cream stand. Having overshot our mandatory 30 miles, we gratiously accepted its siren's call.
We arrived at Linda's cottage and got to meet her parents before jumping in a car to drive back to Syracuse to retrieve Linda's car.
A grocery store provided us with dinnerous stuff so we could pretty much collapse on our return.





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45 miles, no ice cream

We headed into Macedonia for breakfast and possible laundry.
Sorry to be so negative, but how can they mess up a vegetable omlette? Put a really gross sauce on it with no herbs.
There was a beautiful empty cobblestone house. I am not sure I would call it abandoned, but the grass was two feet tall. Hard to believe that house would not sell.
Returning to the closed bridge, Bill suggested we use two people to lift each bike over the cable barrier and this worked fine.

The day was cool and overcast and probably never made the predicted 77. We met a few other touring cyclists, including one from Wisconsin. He had crossed Superior on the ferry and never had heard of Adv. Cycling.
Lunch was in Spencerport.




They could have gotten more money out of us, but offered poor service and uninspired food choices. The Ac directions through Rochester confusing and I was busy second guessing myself though I have been through there at least 5 times. I don't usually go in that direction.





Holley has a beautiful canalside with a camping area, but there was no bridge attendant to help with the access code for the shower and bathrooms. Going into town for ice cream, Bill talked to the town clerk, who called the bridge attendant to get the code!
Although there was no grocery store per se, there was a huge "mini-mart", from which we procured cheese, crackers and Mike's hard lemonade. The evening was completed by visiting a lovely falls in the nearby park. Loads of poison ivy deters leisurely strolls through the woods however.
Second note to self: too cold without sleeping bag. I put on every item of clothing, collapsed the tent's vestibules and put my panniers under my feet. Absurd in the end of June. A surprisingly restful night fraught with waking to make sure my full back or front was against the sleeping pad to maximize its warmth potential. But I didn't have to admit defeat by getting into Bill's tent!
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Contrasts 50 miles

A lovely start to the day, with moderate fog over Lake Ontario looking out from FairHaven State Park. It rapidly cleared while we breakfasted in town. There we met a couple from Montreal a few days into an extensive tour. They are going to be doing a Lonely Planet Guide to inexpensive bicycle touring.
The cafe had wireless, but some fool IT person told the owner that the name of the wireless network and password could not be changed. As a result, the network was generically named C390 and the password was about 25 characters long, including 15 zeros at the end. If she had had the password to get into the router, I would have fixed it for her.
We toodled up to Sodus Bay, ate local cherries and strawberry rhubarb pie



and got caught in a warm thundershower.







Unable to find a decent lunch stop in Williamstown, we grabbed sandwiches from a grocery. Bill picked up wine and local cheese and we got crackers for the evening.




Hopping on the Erie Canal towpath at Palmyra we headed towards Macedon to camp. Passing by the hiker/ biker campsite at lock 30, we tried out the marina, but there was no one in attendance. The bridge to it was barricaded, but I took off my two panniers and lifted the bike over the barricades. Instead of the marina, there was a huge set of ballfields and after a little searching and help from some soccer players, I located him and got permission for us to camp out. No showers, but clean flush toilets. The caretaker, Lorb Miller, managed to locate the person who locks up and the toilets were left open for us. So sweet.
Washing, wine and cheese and bed. Frogs serenaded us.

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Tiny Tour

Gave Amtrak another try. I haven't ridden a train in twenty years. The cost has been too high and I have memories of being unable to get a seat. But $27 for a single person to go 120 miles with the folding bike was too good to resist. No other bikes are allowed on trains without baggage cars and most trains lack those cars.
I would have had to make two trips to put the two panniers, the handlebar bag and bike on the train, because the angle of the steps and my inability to lift the bike one handed over my head would have made it impossible. Instead a porter at the top of the steps grabbed it and moved it to a stow area for me.
The train was 1:15 late to Syracuse, but otherwise it was a pleasant trip.
Bill picked me up there. He and Linda had arrived There after finishing an Atlantic tour.




50 miles from Syracuse we landed in Fair Haven on the shores of Lake Ontario. Beautiful sunset.



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Temp drop

This past Saturday I rode from Buffalo to Wilson on the shore of Lake Ontario. Leaving Buffalo, the temperature was cool and expected to rise to 80. In Wilson, 40 miles away, the temp never topped 68. Brrrr. On the way, I performed my smallest rescue yet. Any smaller and I would have thought it a rock.



That is my bracelet encompassing this tiny turtle. I passed it by, sighed and went back for it.

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Adventure Cycling Flickr Post

Oooooh. 15Kb of fame.  4/5 of the way down. See us all!  (1) Bobby, (2)Rich, Nick and Mac, (3)Mike, Heidi, Jamie, (4) Sara, Leslie, Janelle, Ted, Bill.  Soooooo cool.

Returning to Bicycle Gearing

I came across my original table for calculating the gear ratios and gear inches of my original road bike. Searching through my older posts, I realized I never put that information out there, even after I had decided to buy the Bike Friday New World Tourist.  Determined to not dive into spending more money without guaranteed results, I had used this very fine site to determine the inches and ratios of each bike to make sure I would be gaining something meaningful.

Steps:

1. make a table with the number of teeth on each chain ring in the front and each cog in the back
2. divide the front chain ring teeth by each of the rear ring cogs to get the proportional (ratio) size difference between them for each combination
3. mulitply the size of your wheel by the proportion (ratio to 1) to get the gear inches.

Note in the case of my two bikes that I lost a little at the top end of the BF (I can't pedal downhill as fast), but gained significantly at the bottom end. The highest gear inch on the BCA is over 100 and on the BF it is only 94.55.  The lowest on the BCA however, is 28.93.  On the BF, I can get all the way down to 18.75.  Screaming downhill was far less important than effectively chugging up those steep hills. My top speed on the BF was 49mph, by the way.

Weather report

Early last week- weather report for this week:
highs in the mid to upper 50's, lows in the mid 40's, very little rain

Middle of last week:
highs in the mid 50's, lows in the low 40's, chance of rain

End of last week:
highs in the low 50's, lows near 40, chance of thunderstorms

Reality:
Highs near 40, lows in the low 30's, snow

I looked out on my planned trip to the Finger Lakes on my ONE WEEK BREAK and saw 26 mile per hour winds and snow. Then I wimped out. Maybe I'll leave on Monday. Nope. Still snowing. Maybe Tues...



Cleaning bike instead. White BCA is perpetually nicked and dirty. So I am trying out black nail polish, paint pens and sharpies. Here is pretty much how I was thinking it would look. Pretty amazing, but we'll see if mine comes out nearly as spectacular. The BCA name is a little odd. With a mixed brand history, it seems unclear whether I got a really high quality bike, but it has lasted extremely well in my hands. Some leads state BCA was related to Ross.
I've started by making some doodles on paper. I realize the paper is flat and the bike is not, thank you very much.

Two months of winter commuting

I shifted jobs, so to speak. Instead of being responsible for one building, I am part of a team responsible for 6 building. I try not to switch buildings during the day, but instead to make multiple appointments in one building and stay there all day. I am not opposed to cycling from one to another, but when the temperature dips below 45, I have to switch clothes and it is time consuming to dress and undress. The time between buildings is not a problem. Gruesome detail: in a pinch, if you arrive stinky and have a change of clothes, you can use hand sanitizer to freshen up. Works by killing the bacteria causing the odor.
I recently purchased Foxwear tights and a NTS (next to skin) polar dry long sleeved top. Very impressive. Keep in mind that the guy is almost a one-man-band. He take the order, sews the stuff, and ships it. The tights are polar tech 250 weight, water/wind repellent and warm. Sometimes I wear them by themselves, but combine them with Gore rain pants if it drops below 25 degrees. The top has no zipper (and I would not recommend against getting zippers on polar tech- the guy struggles with sewing them in flat). It is the 2nd thinnest grade, pale yellow with black stitching and performs almost as well as my smartwool. I often layer the two, with the polardry next to my skin. Pricing is great and he will make it like you want it. I asked him to give me a little extra in the looseness of the tights and to make them 2 inches longer than the inseam measurement he asked for. I like to tuck my tights into my boots. So nice.
I also bought a Gore sunshine yellow jacket. Wind and water repellent, I got caught in a shower and arrived dry underneath.

Touring in late fall

In early October I stated my desire to ride to the annual tech in Ed convention in Rochester, NY from Nov. 21st to the 23rd. People nodded and smiled. She'll give up on that idea; she forgets it's cold in November. But 32 degrees isn't so bad. As a matter of fact, it was 40 when I left. 94 miles. The thing that almost got me was the day length. And the fact that you can't average 18mph on a limestone trail. But I did it. It took 8 hours.
I got away with a long sleeved silk top, long sleeved smartwool top, wind resistant gloves and the brilliant Foxwear leggings. I also was never quite able to lose the thinsulate beanie. But by the time the sun was going down I had to add in a fleece and was reaching for the rain coat.





Behind me note the "bridge", which is the remnant of an aqueduct which long ago carried the Erie Canal over the Genesee River. Yup. Though some rivers were utilized for the canal, this one needed to be avoided to keep clear of a major elevation change. When the canal went kaput, the city capped the aqeduct and turned it into a bridge.


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Do they know who they're dealing with?

November 1st? Are they kidding? It was November 20th and I was out there daring a snowplow to run me down.



BTW- the white SUV in the photo belongs to a guy who turned around and came back because he thought I took a spill while riding on the sidewalk. In truth I was just lying on the ground trying to set the camera up for a timed photo.

Portland for 5 days before heading home

I spent 2 days driving around with my whole family, then 3 more days just with my daughter. Portland would be such a fabulous place to live, if not for the weather and lack of jobs.
What makes Portland so fabulous? The whole bike culture. In Buffalo, if you needed to make a left turn, you would wait until traffic cleared or proceed to an intersection, then use the light to make your left. In Portland, you stick your arm out to signal your intention to turn left from the bike lane on the right. Even if there are three lanes of traffic going one way behind you, they all stop so you can pass in front of them. Story #2: Five of us with bicycles needed to get on a 3 car train, the stop after the location of the Italian Festival at 5:30 at night (no comments on the choice of stops). We broke into 3 groups to get into separate cars. I pulled forward into the car with my bike and realized my daughter and I were not going to make it: too many people. As I looked backwards to begin backing out, then forward again, the whole mass of people had parted to let us get to the hooks in the train to hang our bikes. Just like that. When we got to our destination, all 5 of us had experienced the same phenomenon. It is not that every driver and pedestrian was fabulous, but that the majority were. It made Buffalo pale in comparison.
Here are some pictures of the special bike boxes to protect bikes locked in one place for an extended time (one rents most of them):
Here is my Bike Friday leaning against a rental bike box. This one was at a park and ride lot. I suspect you can leave your bike there, then take your car or the train the rest of the way home.
This one is a hinged device, which swings down onto your bike and "skewers" your diamond frame and each wheel. It locks the main components, but is really only good for a day, not an overnight.












This cover is hinged and drops down over your whole bike, then locks into position.