Coast crash, Eugene, Portland
Wowww so things took a TURN huh. I wouldn’t call it a “highlight” but most significant catalyst guiding the future of our trip was when the bracket holding Taryn’s basket to the fork snapped, flipping her over the bars at 15mph or so, and then all 400lbs of me and bike ran her over...I’m sorry I really don’t know why I was drafting so damn close. HOWEVER the incredible that is bike friends connected us with two lovelies in Eugene where we rested a bit before riding up to Portland for MADE! I gotta say (we gotta say) what an amazing few weeks it was. Helping build the show, pretending to be media then maybe accidentally turning into media 🤔 , and a thousand miles of rambling around the city on either side.
Port Angeles to Astoria
Okay so American isn’t so bad, not yet at least. Washington has some pretty good trail way up there in the northwest corner, and the roads aren’t too busy either. Completed two quests: NWmost point 📍 in the US and the Swan 🧛 House. Ate a lot of brown (all food is either brown or green, there are no exceptions) from gas station bins. Breakfast on beaches. Sand is minerals is helf, right? Fuck that fucking bridge.
Vancouver and around the Sunshine Coast to Port Angeles
This was the start. The getting back into tour mode, the oh damn bike is HEAVY again mode, and the who’s falling asleep first tent battle of the snores mode (she usually wins). Up around the Sunshine Coast we utilized the lovely BC Ferry’s and hiker biker camp grounds scattered all around. Making some of our best dumpster scores of the entire trip: literally the first morning made the best poached eggs on avocado toast that I’ve ever crafted, all from the bins. Stayed with some old friends and made some new ones. Got nearly face to face with a bald eagle. Last days living it up in the land of polite society and universal healthcare before catching the Blackball to MURICA.
Graffiti Part 2
“Graffiti is one of the few tools you have if you have almost nothing. And even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty you can make someone smile while they’re having a piss.” - Banksy
Here’s another set of some paint on walls, grounds, bins, trucks, trains, etc. It’s a lot, but I’ve shot hundreds more because I can’t get enough of the absurd power that graffiti has. Vandalism is the free-ist of speech. Homework this week: go write “fuck cars” on something.
Vancouver
Of the regular questions, “what’s the best city for riding bikes?” is a frequent one and I didn’t really have a solid answer until this summer spent in Vancouver during which I filled in well more than half the city and had the goddamn best time doing so. From the early mornings with @campcoffeeclub, to the afternoons and evenings spent rambling with @parkbaggingyvr, the @vancouver_critical_mass and hill climb party with @yvrfixed, and all my my nonsense noodles in between. I’ve never seen more people just _out on bikes_ in a city before nor have I seen more examples of well implemented traffic calming measures and bike lanes to and from places I *actually need to go.* I’d give ya a solid B+ for bikes, @cityofvancouver. It’s too bad your winters are typical PNW wet and grey otherwise you’d be a near perfect bike city.
Homework
Keeping busy has always been one of my favorite methods to overcome grief or tame rage or heal heartbreak sooo this week I’m assigning homework. Go for a ride, find something that most would categorize as trash, and make a bike thing out of it. I found this ravaged cone in an LA industrial park and turned it into fender flaps that honestly work fuggin great and look even better. If any of y’all make something you think is neat, please tag me in it and let’s make this trash-bike-crafts into a thing.
Installation assistance by @foragercycles and @silca_velo. Sticker by @perksandmini.
Takeatrip is best
This is an appreciation post for all the wonderfully strange little things that @takeatripco creates. From the My Little Bungees offered in a rainbow of colors to contain all your chaos to the over the top luxury of the dyneema Ultralunch for snacks carry and the adorable Baby Stem Bag in between. Oh and then there’s also the countless “bag” experiments that are more fine art pieces than something for EDC. The venn diagram of our following is probably a near perfect circle but in case some of y’all need some more whimsy added to your bikepacking game, they’re definitely the place to go.
Fourteen Thousand Mile Tape
@grepp.cc is known for making that very good adhesive free cloth tape that you can toss in the wash to make it brand spanky new BUT I instead thought hey let’s find out how long it can last with no cleaning?? How gross can it get and still be usable??
This week passed 14,000 miles / 22350 km on my tape (also just crossed 40,000 miles on the @omnium, maybe they’ll follow me back when I hit 50k 🤔) and it’s still hanging in there pretty well. The black fade to brown is beautiful. The body grime and grease polished in there is SO choice. Even this worn in it’s still as comfortable and grippy as it was on day 1 when installed at @twobikesknoxville. It’s become so personalized that I’m honestly having problems deciding when to swap it out and what to try next!
If anyone out there has suggestions on what tape I should test next, drop your tips down below. I’d love to see if anything else can hang on during the rigors of my kinda touring like Grepp has over the last 257 days. Also hat tip to @gevenalle for these shifters STILL going with ZERO problems.
Two Years on a Cargobike
Two years and one month ago (lol@me never getting a post up on time) I left Phoenix heading east with only the slightest clue of where I was headed. There was a definite weight of uncertainty in that first little bit rambling along the southern border around Florida and up the east coast stopping just long enough in cities along the way to get a taste of their various bike scenes. Feels impossible to know exactly when the switch was flipped in my head from a light “aw this is fun” to definitive “this is what I’m going to do with the rest of my life” but ain’t no way I’m going back.
There’s an infinite number of paths crossed, tips received, misfortunes overcome, detours to another to another detour, all nudging me in their own unique little ways towards where I am today. Thank you everyone for the last two years. Whether y’all know it or not, whether our bikes kissed or not, it all matters to me. I’ll never know which of the this and that lead to me rambling around LA with Traece for a hundred miles on a random Friday, but I’m grateful for every one of them.
