Weekend Escape

Words by PJ


This weekend my girlfriend Stacey and I took off on our bikes to Seabeck, WA, in the Hood Canal. Stacey just got a new Raleigh Rx-1 cyclocross bike and this was a great opportunity to test it out on a 40 mile round trip trek around the Olympic peninsula.

{those that rode}

Our trip began late Saturday morning when we hopped the Bremerton ferry from downtown Seattle. We enjoyed some delicious $6 beers on the ferry to prepare us for the hilly twenty-mile ride to the park. I was trepidatious about the trip because I was towing a loaded 70+ pound trailer filled with all the necessary items needed for 3-day camping trip. Well I don’t need to say my legs are a little tired after the weekend but we managed to get to and from the campsite with all the necessities.

{Loaded...the trailer that is}

Even though the campsite at Scenic Beach was sold out, the ranger had an extra campsite for us she held for mixed-up reservations. There is special bicycle camping available at Scenic Beach, which is not as nice as the car camping site we camped in, but it was nice to know that was available just in case we got booted from our campsite. The ranger gave us the bicycle camping rate, which is half the price of car camping, so we were stoked. And, the camp host gave us free firewood so we didn’t have to ride the two miles to the town of Seabeck to buy it from the general store on our first night. Our luck couldn’t get any better.

{caption choice...Pitch'n tent or You can't beat free wood}

The peninsula has some killer hills but the trip went off great and Sunday I had some time to cruise around without the trailer. The weather was pretty darn good except for the 48-degree evening on Sunday, which didn’t make for pleasant late night bathroom trips. We rode back on Monday and got lost in Bremerton somehow. Then we hit a road block, literally, where the bridge had been washed out and we decided to walk our bikes (and trailer) across the creek instead of following the detour all the way around. We stopped by the Blackberry Festival in downtown Bremerton and ate $4 corn on the cob before hopping on the ferry back to Seattle.

{Bridge?! What bridge?!}

Anyway I highly recommend biking to Scenic Beach for a quick getaway weekend trip.

Holy Crap!

My Raleigh Team Bike and I are a banner on the Rapha website. I wrote earlier about the ride we all did in honor of Andy Hampstens memorable stage. Turns out the folks down there decided to add the ride to their list. Check it out here.

Anyway. Yesterday we had a break from our June-uary weather and the sun broke out. Amazing what a little Vitamin Sun will do for you.

{this just makes me happy looking at it}


{a little excerpt from our ride yesterday, I'm slowly learning video stuff...}

Made it to a good friends 40th Birthday last nite. Shoot...I remember when turning 21 was a big deal. Then 30 seemed like things were creeping up on me. Now my friends are rounding 40...which means I'm not too far off as well.

40 is the new 20...right?

{happy birthday Shenanigans}

{Sidi smut}

Who knows what the weekend has in store. Georgetown is having their music festival...and I loves me some Helmet. A good friend is having an entire going away day. And it's Fathers Day on Sunday, so make sure you give your Pa a call or go fire up the grill with him.

The suns out, the weekend is calling, and it's time to go to work.

Forever Hopeful

With temperatures hitting the 80's last week, and Seattlites flesh burning faster than this guys eyebrows. I got excited and removed my fender from my bike.

While this might not seem like a big deal to anyone outside of Seattle...I'm sure everyone in Seattle reading this are shaking their heads. Why? You don't remove your fenders till July 5th. Our official start to summer.

{you're smart...I'm dumb}

{yuk}

To avoid the looming deluge of water, PJ and I ducked into a local watering hole. With our shoes drying and our livers drowning we took up a game of 'Speed Connect 4' to pass the time. While the pretty colors and fast paced action are usually more than enough to keep us entertained. We spiced things up by spinning the 'game board' every few drops. Believe you me, it's a lot harder to refocus your attention than you think.

{prepping}

{ready...........}

{GO!}

{I thought these signs were reserved for hippies}

I placed my fender back on my bike this morning. However, that doesn't mean I've learned anything from yesterday. I will remain forever hopeful and at the next sign of sun...I'm sure it'll come off again.

"Yup, Life Moves Pretty Fast..."

"If you don't stop and take a look around once in a while, you might miss it."

---Ferris Bueller

From the moment I rolled out of Raleigh America on Friday, life was rolling. It seems I spent the entire weekend on my bicycle.

Friday we came across a little bit of Tee-Pee from a departing co-worker

Some Commuting Salmon swimming up stream

And some pretty amazing colors in the sky

Saturday was See-Ya-de-Mayo. Two good friends are leaving the Emerald City for PDX. (Based on those two nick-names, which would you rather live in?!)

Photograph based Alley Cat, and all around fun. With stops that had us at venerable Seattle Beer establishments like Linda's, the Canterbury, Athenean, Shorty's, and the Summit. Various landmarks including the Jimi Hendrix statue, Bruce Lee's grave, "Cool Guy" Park...and me being paired up with a girl who was new to Seattle and another who was new to Bicycles, what could go wrong?!

{high heels and bicycles...}

{Largest Paint By Number, and a local Comedy Troop}

{yup, we have baggage}

By the way...we didn't hit all the stops (we really couldn't) and we rode away smelling like victory. I kinda felt bad for some of the other participants...(labled 3 hour tour)

Sunday was a Birthday ride in Anacortes...Bikes, Bros, Beverages, and Single Speeds. Sound just about right.

{all about product placement}

{Happy Mothers Day!!!!}

Friday's Bike to Work Day...

STILL BUZZING FROM OUR PDX HIGH

And they were off to Portland!
{shared words & images by brian & carey}

{leaving Raleigh HQ - 6 bikes and 3 people}

{CLICK CLICK CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE}

You’ve seen all the pictures from the Handbuilt show. You heard that Lance was in attendance and Robin Williams would neither confirm nor deny a Mork and Mindy remake…it couldn’t be any worse than the remake of Starsky and Hutch.

You’ve seen pictures of the prettiest working bikes there by Signal, Black Cat, Ant, Ira Ryan, and IFAB You’ve heard everyone praise the city of Portland, and complain about the fact the show will be in Indianapolis next year.

But...
Did you hear it was Diablo Rojo’s Birthday during the show?
Did you hear that Carey and I exchanged shots/drinks with Steve Hampsten until the Clyde Common shut down.

Did you hear that the best way to spend a sunny afternoon in Portland involves bicycles, the Doug Fir, beer, cheesy fries, a fire pit, and a never ending stream of hipsters and douche bags for entertainment?

{Brian}

{PJ}

{Carey}

Did you hear about the Roller Races that Rapha hosted?

{image by dontbecreepy}

Did you hear that even the Canadians are confused by the ‘hipster’ movement? (someone please flush)

Other random snaps of the weekend:

{Portland's beautiful bridges - we couldn't get enough of them}

{every morning, every afternoon, everyday - Stumptown rules!}

{the ACE Hotel was the most wonderful place I have stayed in awhile - Brian and I took advantage of the Stumptown coffee bar every morning which was conveniently placed in the lobby}

{after 6 straight hours of looking at the most beautiful bikes of 2008 we went back the ACE scoped out our propaganda from the show}

{all most everything at the ACE was either recycled or handmade - Portland is awesome! photo credit - bloom and rot}

All this…and apparently we’re becoming ‘blog famous’ (as we were recognized in a bar by some Yazoo folk) . Not bad for something we have to do in our spare time. Next trade show for me (Brian) is Taipei next month. Can’t wait to see what 09 kids streamers are going to look like!

Later.

Other great links:

Handmade bike images:
Urban Velo
CyclingNews
ClockWorkBikes
Bike PDX.org

Events:
Teams Of Portland Exhibit & here
PlanB - Bike PDX Party
Rapah Roller Races

WHAT DO YOU DO?

{words brian photos and short movement carey}


When you go to meet your fellow commuters for a cup of ambition and the Barista over sleeps? Plan B.

Seattle is, as everyone knows, littered with coffee and espresso stands. Most of us ride past the corporate headquarters for both Starbucks and Tully’s on our daily ride. Unfortunately, once you pass All City Espresso in Georgetown the scene becomes very bleak. The heaven of coffee stands turns into a virtual purgatory the farther south we go to work, and we all know this. So All City was closed this morning. Why? We may never know. Many of us left the house without “fueling” counting on our shop to supply us with our fix. Quickly my mind scrambled for coffee stands…and came across the one stand that we all talk about but almost never stop at…Cowgirls Espresso. A little coffee stand attached to a Casino with more character than you can shake a dollar bill at that we pass everyday.

Upon arrival the familiar line up of construction vans and trucks were stretching around the side of the casino. Being on bikes we went straight for the walk up window, grabbed a stool and placed our orders to the Barista dressed in lacy underwear. The 15 minutes it took us to drink our coffee and watch the spectacle, that is Cowgirls, was interesting. Watching the cavalcade of Canyonero style SUVs waiting for the barista to either act excited to see them or flip them the bird and give them advice on their hygiene almost had my Americano coming out of my nose. The Americano isn’t bad by the way. No where near what we would have received at All City, but we wouldn’t have received the same show that we did at Cowgirls.

As we rode away I recall Busto commenting that we stayed 13 minutes too long of 15. Sometimes the fantasy of something is far better than the reality.

I crashed right there one time and my chin hit the curb.

I (carey) will leave you with a very raw, un-edited film clip of our ride in.

Enjoy.