Tag Archives: portland

Fiets of Parenthood…the Report

Thank goodness Todd shot this great video of Tim and the 7-year-old on their 3-lap parent/child run at fiets of parenthood. Otherwise we would have no record of the boy tripping over the tape, and Tim would probably still think it was his fault and feel guilty for causing his kid to fall down and get a scrape. Despite the fall, the Carfreedays boys still managed to eek out a top 5 finish. Continue reading

In Training for Fiets of Parenthood

2 up PandaDon’t call us this week cause we probably won’t answer. We’re in training for fiets of parenthood in Portland next weekend. Continue reading

Bike Dates … with Friends in other cities

We like visiting Portland, not just because of it’s bike culture, yummy food and modern architecture, but also because we know some great people in town.

Last week, Tim and I got together with some of my college friends for dinner and beers as part of a long weekend (without children!).  We went to college a while ago so these really are old and super fantastic friends. As always, we had a  great time catching up and  sharing stories and cutting loose with them.  Even us semi-old people need to do that from time to time.

(Mitch, Julie, Vincent, Anne and Tim enjoying dinner and beer at Seraveza. Photo by Jennifer

Mitch, Julie, Vincent, Anne and Tim enjoying dinner and beer at Seraveza. Photo by Jennifer

Since our kids were at home with grandparents, we were the only couple that didn’t have to worry about relieving babysitters and picking up kids and putting them to bed etc.  So naturally when our friend Jennifer had to leave early to pick up her kids, we offered to be helpful and give Vincent a “ride”  home.

As most of you know, our four wheels are not of the usual variety but since we ride practical city bikes, an extra passenger was no problem. Continue reading

48 Hours in Portland

Taking the Appliances on VacationIt turns out you can take your appliances on vacation. (btw Stephan – even if Anne has to eat her words, the trip was well worth it).

We have been trying to get to Portland for a childless getaway for awhile. The stars aligned this past weekend and we were able to get the grandparents to watch the kids so we headed down to the Rose city to celebrate our anniversary.

We ended up driving our VW van after much discussion of trains (no go since we read you have to box odd shaped bikes) and Zipcars (we didn’t think our bikes would fit in any of their cars). To complicate matters, we had to pick up our kids at the grandparents house in the suburbs at the end of the weekend and driving simplified all of that.

Did you like all of those excuses for taking the stinky car?

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Update of the NAHBS Update

Black Sheep Escargot Longbike

I’ve been agonizing over how I’m going to make a quick post out of this trip. Frankly I’m buried at work and tired and I’m just not going to do all these bikes justice tonight. Sorry about that. Let’s just say the show was a great experience. I love bikes. All bikes. And these were some amazing bikes. Can we call it good right there? Continue reading

NAHBS Update

Trucker Racks -- bikeportland.org photoI spent an amazing Saturday at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show. While I’m not the type to drop $5k on a bike anytime soon, it sure is fun to look gawk at these incredible bikes/works of art (and talk to their very friendly builders) in person.

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NAHBS

We too are headed to the North American Handmade Bike Show this weekend. Looking forward to checking out some cool bikes, visiting with family and friends and of course riding around the lovely city of Portland.

 We’ll report back next week.

Cheers — Anne and Tim

Family cycling

Bike Portland ponders family cycling  – is it the next big thing?  Way to go, Marion, looks like fun.

Maybe in Portland, but Seattle has a long way to go. I’ve never seen that many bikes at either of my kids’ schools. Our schools are at the top of a hill – so that’s probably why ; – )

 – Anne

NY Times ♥’s Portland Bikes

NY Times Loves Portland Bikes Picture from my kitchen -some rights reserved

I opened my Gray Lady this morning to find I wasn’t the only one smitten by the bike. This time, it’s the Times with an early November Valentine for our neighbors to the South. It is a good read and don’t have a lot to add, other than:

  1. I’m Jealous: Why can’t my city do better? Why can’t we live in Portland?
  2. My friends know how to get to me — four of them sent me this article.
  3. The article is pretty shallow. The article emphasizes high-end frame builders and how Nike and Columbia sell cycling products, but lacks info about the large number of cool shops, amazing resources like BikePortland.org, and the other businesses who cater to regular cycling folk.
  4. It’s the Times’ most-emailed article. Hey, you crazy politicians take that. The nation is indeed interested in bikes as modern transportation alternatives.
  5. The PDX buzz is nearing an unsustainable level and I’m concerned about a hype fallout. I remember when all the college kids were moving to Seattle in the early 90s because of the music (and later, the dot.com scene). I got so sick and tired of meeting people from Virginia whom had moved to Seattle because they heard it was cool. And then they decided it wasn’t, but hadn’t got around to moving to the new IT town.
  6. At least we had jobs here, back in the day. I think the reality of BYOE (Bring Your Own Employment) in Portland might not be so kind to this generation of hype gypsies.

  7. If you think I’m dead wrong on #5, keep in mind #1. Envy isn’t always fair or rational or …

-Tim

Free Beer at Clever Cycles, Portland ?!?!

Photo Credit Jonathan Maus/bikeportland.org

Sure, it’s not enough that they’ve got the coolest city-bike shop anywhere, or that they’ve managed to double the size of the shop in five or so months. No, they have to give away free beer, too.

It’s just not fair, I tell ya! Seattle needs some of this two-wheeled excess!
Seriously, if you get the chance, check out Clever Cycles, right across the street from the Lucky Lab in PDX …

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