Our hotel on St. Charles street in New Orleans.

I have a few posts to put up about riding in several states across this great country of ours, but we’ve hardly had a minute to breathe, let alone sit and write. However, we have a few quieter days ahead, so I should be able to blog about those soon. Meanwhile, feel free to read about our cross country trip on the little blog we set up for that.

For today, let me just say that the littlest things make me happy. For example, while my kids were all racked out from a long day of driving (complete with a nice chat with the captain of the Washington, Louisiana police force about the speed of my vehicle,) and a late night dinner here in the heart of New Orleans, I hopped on Ira’s site to see what was up. Lo and behold, there’s the phrase I’ve been waiting to read: “Paul’s cross all rounder.”

When I last met Ira, we drew up plans for a sweet cross bike that could also be able to serve double duty as an all around Pacific Northwest type of bike….fenders, racks, etc.  I’m stoked. All these months I’ve been seeing everyone elses name show up on the blog — jealous that they’d soon be riding their sweet custom builds, and today, it looks like we’re just that much closer.

I’m off to have some coffee and beignets at Cafe Du Monde (you gotta do that in New Orleans, right?) but wanted to update you on the progress of the Ira Ryan build. Too legit now!

On Sunday morning, I got the chance to put the Bike Friday to it’s first out-of-state test early in the morning in Morgan Hill. As I mentioned before, my plan on the trip is to get up on as many mornings as I can, before everyone else gets up, and put in a quick 15 or 20 miles, fold the bike back up and be ready for the day. I won’t get the chance to do any epic rides, but more of the Tour de Area Around Our Hotels. At least I’m getting the chance to keep my legs spinning.

I was ready for some sunny California riding, but that was not to be had on Sunday. It was a chilly sub-50 degrees when I set out. I almost didn’t bring arm warmers or layers, but I’m really glad I packed everything I thought I might need for all weather occassions. The sun eventually came out, but it never really warmed up to the point of taking any layers off.

The majority of my riding was simply road riding, and rough road riding at that. Next time I think that Salem/Keizer has bad roads, I’ll remember the areas I’ve ridden on vacation and be thankful. In fact at one point, the road was so bad I was thankful that there was an access road off to the side and took the chance to take the BF off-road and get a little psuedo-cross training in.

I didn’t get to spend hours out cranking up hills, but there were definitely some decent little climbs as I circled around the community we were staying in. Many of the great looking hillls all had private access roads leading up to them, so I climbed as much as I could on the public roads I could find, and still enjoyed some great views.

For miles along the driving part of the road trip, my wife kept telling the kids to keep their eyes out for palm trees. And sure enough, once we hit north California, we started seeing them. Along my morning ride I also saw plenty of them, including this really driveway to a home out in the middle of nowhere. I figured they wouldn’t mind me posing my BF in front of their house to prove I was out riding in the chilly California morning sun.

Now, I REALLY expected to see some bike folk out and about. We’re in California, right? Nope, in fact, I went almost an hour without seeing ANY bikes. Finally, I saw a dude out on a Trek who looked like he was heading out to do the same route I just did in reverse. As I rode back through Morgan Hill to the hotel, I was impressed with the size of the bike paths in town. Take a look at these babies:

Seriously, you could park a truck on the right side of that bike path, and still have a bike path twice the normal width to the left. Oh wait, a few blocks up the road, it turns out that’s exactly what they do. Still, a very roomy and comfy bike bath for riding through town. On a final note, the BF seems to be holding up well. I’m and idiot and forgot to bring a pump of any kind, and still don’t have a spare tube for this size of tire, so I’m stoping by a shop in Tucson today (my ride report from the Tucson ride will be up in the next couple days) to hopefully pick up a tube and pump.

Two states travelled, and two wheels down in each state so far! Yeehaw!

Soon and very soon, I will be on the road, and most of my updates will be about where I’m riding my Bike Friday, and/or what we are eating in that same location. So before I take off on Saturday, let me take this opportunity to update you on the Salem Breakfast on Bikes schedule for the summer, according to the blog of the same name.

“A week from this Friday, on June 26th Breakfast on Bikes will be on the Union Street Railroad Bridge. We’ll be at the east end between 7am and 9am. We’ll have free coffee, pastries, and fruit for bicycle commuters.

On Friday, July 31st, we’ll be at Winter & Mission.

On August 28th, we’ll be at 12th & Chemeketa.

And in September, we hope to offer breakfast every Friday as part of the Bike Commute Challenge!”

I’m sad that I’ll be missing the June breakfast, but will be back for July. I hope to see you all there!

I’ve been chatting so much about my Bike Friday folding bike for our 3 week trip, that I was excited to see this giveaway for a different brand; a Strida folding bike. It doesn’t take much to win the bike either, you just have to prove that your current bike sucks enough to warrant Inhabitat giving you this new Strida SX. According to their site:

“As the weather gets warmer we’re looking forward to spending plenty of sun-soaked days outdoors - and what better way to take full advantage of the beautiful weather than by breezing along on a slick bicycle? We here at Inhabitat want to encourage the use of the world’s most eco-efficient (and fun) mode of transportation, so we’ve teamed up with our fantastic friends at Areaware to give away a styling brand new STRiDA 5.0 SX Limited folding bike!

All you have to do to win is provide us with photographic evidence of why you need this awesome bicycle - is your current ride a crusty old clunker? Is there a mammoth mountain of steps leading up to your 6th floor walkup apartment? Whatever the case, upload your photos after the jump and leave a comment explaining why we should pimp your eco-ride, and we’ll be selecting one lucky winner to receive this beautiful limited edition Strida bicycle valued at $950!”

I don’t know much about this bike, except for watching this comparison race video a long time ago, but hop on out and get your entry in.

We have officially rounded the corner and are into the final stretch before our epic 3 week adventure across the country. Yesterday I was having the AC recharged on our travel vehicle, and had the Bike Friday in the back, so when I dropped off the rig at the dealership, I simply unfolded it, grabbed my messenger bag, helmet and glasses, and headed down town. I remember thinking, “I could keep this thing with me all the time!” I rode from Capitol Chevrolet down to the Beanery downtown, did a little remote work for a couple hours, then headed back when the rig was ready for me. Great set up! More on Putting the Bike Friday Through The Paces In and Around Salem

Globe bike launch as seen on Hugger Industries on Flickr.

Most of the time, my attention is not diverted by the lauch of a new bike, or series of bikes. Most of the time it seems as though one of the majors has just put a new coat of paint on a previous years model, or made such a minor change, that it’s just not that exciting. Don’t get me wrong, I totally geek out over bikes and own more than one man probably should. I’m just not usually all worked up over a new line of bikes.

Over at BikeHugger, they’ve been dropping a bunch of photos and reviewish information on the new Globe line of bikes, and I’ve found myself pokin’ around the photos more than I normally do. The Globe line is Specialized’s new effort into the up and coming ‘urban bikes’ market. I’m sure there are still many purists out there who’ll thumb their noses at these bikes, but I’ve really had a thing for nice front racks, baskets and wood crates. Click on the Bike Hugger links above for a really thorough write up and a whole slew of photos. It’s worth a few minutes of your time if you’re interested in some great city bike photos and info.

Bike Friday Pocket Sport model, on the bike path in Eugene.

Yesterday, I made a decision to tackle the Impending Three Week Dilema head on. We are heading out with our family for a three week, cross-country road trip, hitting a ton of states from Oregon to Georgia and back. I’ve been dreading the three weeks off without any riding, and had just resigned myself to losing the time, as we really didn’t have a ton of room for me to bring a bunch of bike gear on the trip. However, over the past few weeks, my wife has been saying that she really wanted for me to figure a way to get some riding in, and since she was twisting my arm so much…I finally relented. More on Updated: Test Riding The Bike Friday Pocket Sport

An Ira Ryan cyclocross bike, in it's natural environment.

I woke up early this morning sometime in the wee hours of the morning and happened to check my iPhone to find the best email I’d seen in a while; my Ira Ryan frame is next in line to be built! Oh Happy Day! I’ll be going up to get all dialed in this week, but I emailed Ira back to say that I’m really thinking I’ll have him build a cyclocross bike, but would love for it to be flexible enough to serve other road/utility duties beyond that. I love Ira’s enthusiam for all things cycling, and of course his response was as expected… More on Oh Happy Day! I Drew The Golden Ticket!

Editors Note: Yesterday as I was driving just South of town, with disco-ball style lightning in the sky, and wind and rain buffeting my vehicle, the thought occurred to me…”what if I was on my bike right now?” Well, PacificPedaling.com contributer Tina Brubaker was, of course. And lived to tell about it.

I am 100% certain that the world would be 40% happier if 20% more people rode a bike to work. These figures cannot be substantiated with anything other than smiles and are base solely on my personal observations.

I’ve been ruminating over a commuting piece for some time now, but have lacked that ONE thing that has been able to push me from thinking about it, to typing it. Yesterday, while at work, I heard the push. SEVERE WEATHER WARNING. It was on the radio, the internet, coming out of customers mouths. While the masses are in a panic about this, I’m am slipping into my Sidi’s and helmet in great anticipation of my ride home.

Tina on a normal, non-monsoon work day.

My love for the forces of nature are deep and I’ve always had a John Muir-like love for the elements, much like you can read about here,  so the very utterance of the words ‘Extreme Weather Conditions’ elevates my blood pressure and puts a wry smile on my face. The sky goes from sunny to dark grey in a matter of minutes as I start to pedal home.

It’s hot out and sprinkling and smells like rain. The sky is black to the north were I’m headed, this makes my already ear to ear smile even bigger. About a mile out of downtown it hits. The wind is all over the place, but mostly at my back. The rain comes down hard, and loud. I hit stop lights and notice people in cars are staring at me in my soaked tank top and skirt and smiling or laughing. I keep pedaling to the next stop light, all the while feeling pretty euphoric about my current state of affairs. At this point, the streets are like rivers and the rain is pouring out of the sky like that of a hose nozzle being sprayed in your face from about 10 feet away. And it’s so WARM, it’s crazy!

I’m cautiously manuevering through the flooded streets and smiling, all the while casually watching the people, in their cars, watching me. Besides a lot of smiles, I got a few thumbs ups, a couple “Yeah’s” and an “awesome” from some teen-ager in a truck, but the best of all was a comment made by a well dressed woman driving a mini-van. She drove up next to me as we were both going about 10mph and rolled her passenger window down and yelled “I’m so jealous!”…and I knew she was. I also know for sure, based on the smiles I saw in that storm, that she wasn’t the only driver who felt that way.

The Veloforma as an all-season, tornado-tackling commuter bike. Yep, that's standing water, darn near up to the hub.

I finally made it to the bike route, out of traffic, where I was able to think about how great it was that I was soaked to the bone, on my bike and smiling about it! And this is where it occured to me, as it always does at some point on any ride, that going anywhere by bike IS awesome! And this in only ONE of the endless commuting stories of Epic adventure I am sharing. Calm, beautiful night rides home, taking the ‘long way’ on those perfect sunny days, tailwinds that make you feel like you’re not even pedaling. Even the completely average, uneventful rides still leave you feeling good. Every day offers something unique and different, but there is still the comfort and familiarity of the bike - you get to feel it ALL from behind the handlebars and I wouldn’t trade them for a steering wheel anyday*.

It’s raining quietly this morning as I get ready to head out and it seems almost negligible after yesterday’s monsoon, but I still think I’m gonna wear a raincoat today.

(*see me about this statement in January, after a few months of typical Oregon ‘34 deg and rain’ days. I might just be eating my words)

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If you haven’t commuted by bike yet, you’re missing out! Tina also sent along these other photos of the great things she typically gets to see on a ride into work. Part of the beauty of getting to work on two wheels is just that….seeing the beauty:

A nice wide open field in North Keizer.

Another shot on a peaceful morning ride to work.

And the beauty of Robert Fox! Robert is involved with the Willamette Valley Bicycle Transportation Alliance, Breakfast on Bikes, Salem Bicycle Club, and too many bike-centric things to mention. He's a dang fast rider too!

To learn more about cycling in Salem, commuting by bike, bike safety or just about anything else, checkout the BTA’s website, or hop over to the Breakfast on Bikes blog, which provides so much local information, it’s scary!

I got this update from Alex Phillips, Bicycle Recreation Coordinator for the Oregon Parks & Recreation Department. If you’re interested in the Oregon Scenic Bikeways, this would be a good meeting to attend.

Oregon Scenic Bikeway Committee meets in Salem June 16

The Oregon Scenic Bikeway Committee will meet June 16 at the University of Phoenix* Salem Learning Center, 670 Hawthorne Avenue SE. The session will be from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in a first-floor classroom.

Agenda items will include the criteria for rating scenic bikeways. The committee also will continue discussions on management and marketing plans, and explore the future roles of bikeway proponents and resources to support their efforts. A time for public comments (three minutes per person) is reserved at the start of the meeting.

The committee was established to consider routes nominated by the public for state scenic bikeway designation. Appointed by the director of the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, the 11-member group includes a representative from a bicycle advocacy organization, a citizen *at-large* member, an Oregon Recreation Trails Advisory Council member, an Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee delegate, and representatives of the Oregon Department of Transportation, Bureau of Land Management, Oregon Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus, Association of Oregon Counties, League of Oregon Cities, Travel Oregon and OPRD. More information about the committee and the bikeways program is available from Alexandra Phillips, OPRD*s state bicycle recreation coordinator, at 503-986-0631.

The meeting site is accessible to people with disabilities. Special accommodations may be arranged up to 72 hours in advance by calling 503-986-0655. ###