Pedal Bike Tours Blog

Very interesting choices were made in this article by London's online newspaper The Guardian, but I won't look a gift horse in the mouth!

Portland, Oregon

What's going for it? Do you like letterpress? Do you like vintage clothes? Do you play in a nu-folk band? Then get ye to Boise, Eliot and Overlook in Portland. The city has been the capital of liberal, hipster USA for decades. The Dandy Warhols wrote Bohemian Like You about their very home town. There are some, indeed, round these parts who'd like the entire Pacific Northwest to break off from the rest of the US and go it alone. So very liberal is Portland that it's a home from home to anyone from Europe, especially if they read the Guardian. Cyclists are loved, not loathed. There are planning restrictions on crappy developments. Portland has the highest number of microbreweries in the world. Everyone is lovely. My auntie lives there and will make you a nice cup of tea if you're homesick. H.E.A.V.E.N. Shockingly, it still remains relatively good value. Especially the patch north of the Willamette river above the railyards. When I first visited in the early 90s, Boise, Eliot and Overlook were the kind of spots you sped through: always the first sign of a neighbourhood you should buy in. Now you can't move for contemporary modern antiques shops and dinky record stores.

The case against Bit too cool for school. Everyone's like you. Who will you have to hate? Oh, yes, everyone like you. The weather: like Britain, but more so… hotter and colder and danker.

Well connected? Unusually again for the US, cycle and walk without abuse: the most bike- and foot-friendly city in the country, packed with proper cycle routes (15 minutes to downtown from the northside). You may use the car. Occasionally. Perhaps for a surf trip to the coast, or a ski trip to the mountains (both 60-100 minutes).

Hang out at… A food cart: all the rage (check outfoodcartsportland.com). Or, for the indulgent, Grand Central Bakery, in an old scrap metal yard. Artisan, innit.

Property The area is full of 1910s and 1920s bungalows that the local real estate guys call "craftsman style", with handsome stoops and carved wood decoration. There are a fair few vacant lots, too, for the brave, plus 1960s and 1970s infill apartment blocks that, with a zuzz, could be nice. Look off the main drags, like Mississippi and Interstate regeneration projects. Huge detacheds, £415,000-£575,000; four-bed-plus detacheds, £225,000-£415,000; two- or three-bed detacheds, £140,000-£215,000. Condos below this.

Bargain of the week Two-bed detached on NE Sacramento, £128,000, with propertiesofportland.com.

"You like us you really like us!"  Well, we already knew it, but luxury travel magazine Global Traveler recently announced the winners of the 2011 GT Tested Reader Survey awards and Oregon was named the “Best Domestic Tourism Destination."

Nearly 36,000 Global Traveler readers voted on nearly 70 different categories covering everything from airlines to hotels and travel destinations. Each year new categories are added recognizing innovation in the travel industry throughout the world.

Distributed nationally, Global Traveler, focuses on issues and concerns of interest to business and luxury travelers.

Nice job being so cool Oregon!

To give you a taste of our state Uncage the Soul Productions recently released a spectacular video titled "Finding Oregon," which showcases the natural beauty of Oregon. The video is a compilation of 6 months of timelapse photography across the state. Read more here.

Finding Oregon from Uncage the Soul Productions on Vimeo.

Local building management company Melvin Mark has recognized the partnership between Go Box and Pedal as a great way to go green and stay in shape.

More Ways to Go Green at the Haseltine Building
Greetings!
Eat your lunch and love the planet too.

GO Box is a new, innovative service providing reusable to-go containers to downtown Portland food carts and their customers. With GO Box, food cart customers get their meal in a reusable, durable container. More GO Box containers mean less trash.

Now E-San Thai and Pedal Bike Tours, located in the Haseltine Building, have added a GO Box program! When you order take-out from E-San Thai, ask to join the GO Box program, your food will come in a reusable container that you can then rinse and drop off at Pedal Bike Tours. You will then be given a token for the next time you eat at a food cart or restaurant participating in the program. To learn more, go towww.goboxpdx.com.

2012 Resolution #5: less gas, more fitness.

Pedal Bike Tours in the Haseltine Building offers free lunchtime fitness rides. Available starting in January on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays at noon, they are a great way to get some exercise and see our great city of Portland. A changing room and shower is also available at the shop. For more information or a list of other bike tours, check outwww.pedalbiketours.com.

Here's a great article using fun graphics that sums up How Bikes Can Save Us

Created by: Healthcare Management Degree

Holidate with Downtown:
Every Thursday Evening in December
From 4-8 p.m. every Thursday evening in December, cross things off your to-do list and have some fun with special events, free parking at SmartPark garages until midnight (enter between 4-6 p.m.) and live merry music sponsored by Portland Mall Management, Inc.

Come Holidate at Pedal this thursday from 4 to 8 PM.  Enjoy holiday beers, wine and hot cider while browsing for unique locally made gifts like

chic bags from Po Campo

beautiful jewelry from Velo Gioielli

playing cards featuring local landmarks by local artist Aaron Trotter

and much more like t-shirts, jerseys, socks, wallets, cards, panniers and more.

Everyone who comes in will get a free copy of the brand new edition of Pedal's Picks, Portland's only combination bike map and city guide, featuring 160 of the best restaurants, bars, cafes and sightseeing.

This year’s BikeCraft was a great place for local crafters and retailers to network, and fortunately we happened upon Amy Erickson’s stellar Firefly Gear.  Now you can find Amy’s handiwork in our downtown shop any time of year.  What’s Firefly Gear all about?  Here’s what Amy has to say:

Firefly Gear is my playground for adding some fun and mojo to your cycling experience. As an artist living in Portland, it's easy to find inspiration from our vibrant bike culture here. Whether you want a "patron patch" to keep you safe, a reflective flower to jazz up your visibility or piece of art, this is the place to find it.

The “Patron Patch” is a bike themed iron-on patch featuring the Madonna del Ghissalo – patron saint of cyclists.  And who knew cyclists even had a patron saint?  Thanks for looking that one up, Amy.  It never hurts to have a little extra help out on the road.  For those of you less inclined to catholic saints, Amy also makes Bicycle Buddha and Spoke Fairy patches.

Of course her products offer more than just spiritual protection.  Amy’s stylish ankle straps and pins are even reflective, so you’ll be visible at night.  Let’s face it; if you wear cute stuff, it makes sense to be as visible as possible.

Don’t wait for next year’s Bike Craft.  You can find Firefly Gear patches, straps and pins at Pedal Bike Tours all year long!

Welcome to Broken Spokes Designs to Pedal's collection of locally made Bike Crafts: "A large majority of the materials are picked up via bicycles in the Portland area. 90% percent of the materials are re-used: tubes, derailleur cable and chain. "

To celebrate their addition to our family of beautiful and useful products, get 20% off through Friday, 12/9

Broken Spoke Designs originated from a 2009 bicycling tour in New Zealand, where owner Nathan Engkjer spent 3 and a half months exploring the north and south islands. 3600 miles (5794 km), 0 flats and 2 drive-side rear broken spokes later, Broken Spokes Designs had its origin. Fast forward one year to a concept of using upcycled bike materials to create a very sustainable, durable and one of a kind journal and sketch book and you'll find our first prototype: a somewhat horribly designed and user unfriendly product. Bringing you to the present and another year later, Nathan has fine tuned his journals and sketch books. After many labor intensive hours and product revisions you will find a truly earth friendly and unique product.

Unlike other companies reusing tubes we are not picky. In fact we celebrate and incorporate all tubes, big, small, beat up, patched up, marked up and otherwise worked over. There's a couple of reasons for this. First off, we want our journals to be as unique as each of the people purchasing them. While the design remains consistent, the writing, patches, lack of patches and numbering are all different. No two are alike, making each truly one of a kind, just like you. Secondly and maybe more importantly, Broken Spoke Designs is doing its best to create a product using as low a carbon footprint as possible. A large majority of the materials are picked up via bicycles in the Portland area. 90% percent of the materials are re-used: tubes, derailleur cable and chain. 8% of the materials are recycled: paper 100% post consumer waste. 2% of the materials are new: heavy nylon thread used to stitch the covers and newspaper board which lie inside the front and back cover of each journal and sketch book.*

At Broken Spoke Designs we're not looking to reinvent the wheel just reuse it. Help us in our mission to reduce, reuse and upcycle. Thank you for caring and we hope that you'll enjoy our products. *Broken Spoke Designs is continually striving to create a truly 100% upcycled/recycled product. We are committed to making this a reality and welcome anyone with ideas or knowledge to recycled materials in this category.

US News and World Report's online travel magazine has just come out with their rankings of best food cart cities in world, and guess who came out on top?   The list reads like a dream round the world vacation including Vietnam, Turkey, Mexico, Germany, Morocco, Vietnam, and the good old USA.

Of course I wouldn't be writing this if Portland hadn't made the list, but the really cool thing is PORTLAND WON.  Naturally we who live here take our food carts for granted ( I just had spicy pork ramen from a Korean cart for $5.95), but this is a wake up call to get out and enjoy them even more!  (Maybe I'll have a second lunch.)

Naturally our shop is within a block of several of them, with hundreds more within several more blocks.  And yes, several of our tours either go to carts or pass right by them, including Bites By Bike and  Historic Downtown.

Hats off to the city of Portland for lowering barriers to entry for the small business owners who start these carts, and of course the entrepreneurs themselves who bring us such a lively, delicious, varied and creative cart city!