Tag: Bike tour

Day 0: international diplomacy and the art of bike maintenance

Today began with the unwelcome wake up alarm following a mere 2.5 hours of sleep… I had a big project due that kept me up and at ’em til the wee hours, and if you’ve ever spent time processing audio and coding websites, you know you can’t just shut down right after completing.

The flight out to Portland was eventful only because I changed up plans at the last second. A group of ten Chinese students were introduced to the American concept of “overbooking” and didn’t have seats on the only plane that could get them to San Francisco in time to connect with a flight home to Shanghai. I knew I had a little time to play with and at the end of the day, I was the 10th person to allow them to all go as a group (it was all or none) and I got the added benefit of a nice travel voucher for the two our delay it cost me. So, win win.

Once in Portland, my brother got me at the airport and I got to work on the Green Goblin. A new set of tires, a new (way too complicated) rack, and we’re good to go. I’ll be sure to snap a pic of the fully loaded green goblin mañana – it looks pretty good and rides great. Big thanks to Community Cycling Center for rehabbing the goblin… It’s a cool little vintage touring bike that I’ll get great use out of here on the west coast.

Mysterious James (MJ, I think for short as we get going on this) joins me in Tillamook tomorrow… I grab a bus from Portland in the morning, and we’ll bike about 30ish miles to Pacific City and the amazing Pelican Pub.

I hear they have beer.