Pedal Bike Tours Blog

The Car That Killed The Hat

I walked the 2 miles to work the other day. I do it sometimes because the dog can’t ride the bus, it’s good exercise (for me and the dog) and it only takes 30 minutes.

Today’s walk was a bit more interesting because of the steady rain coming down. Knowing my waist length rain jacket merely sheds water straight down, leaving me very quickly with wet pants, I opted to put on rain pants. Now I really looked like I was going for a hike, even if it was an urban one.

Now, generally when moving about the city I like to look like I’m a city dweller, not a hiker who’s wandered out of the woods and lost his way. The same is true when I’m riding my bike around town. When I’m out on a training ride it’s spandex all the way, but for errands, commuting or heading out on the town, I prefer to wear street clothes.

So, as I’m walking along all duded out in my plastic shell with my hood up I began to wonder to myself why I was dressed this way and how I might have dressed differently. For example, I could have worn my mighty fine Pendleton wool coat which goes down to my knees. THAT would shed water nicely, resulting in minimally wet pants, if at all. Of course, then there’s the issue of my head, what about keeping it warm and dry? I had a stocking cap on, but that doesn’t keep the rain out of your eyes or off your face and neck. A nice wide brim is perfect for keeping the weather off your face and neck, stylishly too.

President Kennedy was credited for “killing” the hat when he stopped wearing one around 1960. But why did he stop? Did fashion suddenly change after hundreds of years, never to return? This is what I think happened: Cars were invented, people started to buy, ride in, and drive them. Cars have roofs, heaters and later, air conditioning, precluding the necessity to dress for the weather. With a car you can move from your warm house to your warm car to the warm store, office, shopping mall, etc. As fewer and fewer people walked from place to place and more and more people used cars the necessity for hats, warm overcoats, etc. dropped rapidly. Finally, President Kennedy was the first one to take that fateful step, leaving his hat in the closet and its fate was sealed. Poof, no more hats.

Recently the hat has been making a comeback in Portland and elsewhere. British driving caps, cycling caps and various brimmed hats are appearing on heads all over the place. Whether this indicates more people are moving around and in need of a head covering to keep the rain off or if it’s just pure fashion, I don’t know, but it is nice to see hats making a small comeback.

How many other previously ubiquitous things have disappeared with the rise of the automobile and will they reappear as we move slowly away from the hegemony of the automobile culture? We’ll see…

Todd

Art by Dan McClary at Launch Pad Gallery

Last Friday 10 art loving bike riders took to the streets to go visit First Friday, Southeast Portland’s monthly art walk. First Fridays provide arts patrons and enthusiasts the opportunity to wander from gallery to gallery during extended hours on the first Friday of each month.  The galleries were all suggested by Bridget Larrabee at Art Scout, great choices Bridget!

23 Sandy Gallery

Our group met up at Pedal HQ as the sun was setting at the end of a beautiful 61 degree day. We jumped on our rides and headed the few miles to our first stop, 23 Sandy Gallery. Tucked away off Sandy Boulevard, 23 Sandy has beautiful big windows and was already full of people enjoying the works by artists such as the wonderful paper cuts by Virginia Flynn and hand made books and journals by Karen Hanmer.

After enjoying these works we rolled along the quiet streets of the Buckman neighborhood, through Ladd’s Addition on up Clinton street to Studio 2507 where owner Annie Meyer displays her own work as well as the multimedia work of Rachel Austin. Annie’s little dog was having a birthday so there was plenty of delicious birthday cake and of course no dog’s birthday would be complete without some red wine to toast him with!

On we went to our final destination of the tour. We doubled back the way we came, past the rose gardens and through the industrial area of inner southeast Portland to Launch Pad Gallery. There we found dj Bad Wizard and a bar setup featuring Eugene’s own Ninkasi beer on tap. Launch Pad’s location in a warehouse has a hip edgy atmosphere and was perfect for hanging out with a beer or glass of wine and enjoying the art by Dan McClary, Patsy Blasier, David Lechner, and Jamond Williams and music by The Archers into the wee hours.

Launch Pad

But we weren’t done yet! Biking, even meandering slowly from gallery to gallery is a great way to work up a nice appetite so several of the crew decided to go grab a bite. After finding the line too long at the great Japanese restaurant up the street BIWA, we moved a few extra blocks to Nostrana, with its James Beard award nominated chef Cathy Whims. The secret of Nostrana’s late night happy hour must be out, because the place was packed at 9PM! However, by the time we were halfway through our first Moretti beer in the waiting area our table was ready and we spent the next 2 hours devouring delicious wood-oven fired pizza, Nostrana’s great namesake salad and more Moretti.

As we all got back on our bikes for the ride home everyone declared the night a success and we all promised to meet up again for next month’s First Friday. Come join us on April 2nd!

Socializing at Launch Pad

Here’s a note from one of our riders (and an artist in his own right) John Holley:

“The Art By Bike - First Friday ride was the best group cycling experience I’ve had in 20 years of biking in Portland. It was fun to see a wide range of art at several diverse galleries. The many interesting conversations with friendly fellow bikers made it even better. Thanks Todd for providing a thoroughly enjoyable bike tour at just the right pace. John Holley”

Thanks to you John for coming along, we’ll see you again next month!

Todd

Gathered For The Ride

Woo hoo!  Last Saturday approximately 15 pinball/bike riding fans rolled out of the shop and hit the streets to go in search of some fun.  Led by our staff pinball wizard Miles, we hit the road en-masse on our way to four stops around the city.

Outside Red Flag

We left the shop and headed east, through the quiet streets and mansions of Irvington, our longest ride of the tour.  On the edge of the Laurelhurst neighborhood we found our first stop, Red Flag.  The fact that’s it’s a relatively new bar with four pinball machines goes to show how popular pinball still is.

Keeping right on schedule we hopped back on our steel steeds and shot the short distance to our next stop, The Standard.  Another newish bar, The Standard is tucked cozily away off the main drag of Burnside.  Once you pass through the patio into the bar you’re greeted by five gleaming machines of pinball beautaceausness!

Working It

After several quarters worth of ‘balling we tackled the deepening gloom with one thought in our heads, donuts!  Past the former headquarters of Jantzen swimwear we pedaled at top speed to reach the second incarnation of that purveyor of deep fried delights, Voodoo II.  The line was so long we had to take turns standing in line and playing games.  A few pinheads even decided to try their skills at the bubble hockey table.  Lucky, lucky Laura (she of the “Bile” t-shirt) actually got the VERY LAST Bacon Maple Bar!  Now that’s some good ju-ju!

mmm, Bile

Stomachs fortified by dough and heads buzzing from sugar we rode through the Lloyd district back to our own dear neighborhood and into our last stop Billy Ray’s Neighborhood Dive.  When was the last time you visited a bar set in an old house with the entire second floor devoted to pinball?  That’s right, we moved in, took over and ‘balled until we were spent.  (Bonus, the Blazers beat the Mavericks on the tv behind us).

In time, some pinners moved reluctantly on to other pursuits while others were still pounding the flippers way into the wee hours.

Great tour everyone thanks for coming!

See more photos here.

You Must Concentrate, Grasshopper

Congratulations to 77 year old Tom Hunter of Denver on being the oldest person to join us on a Pedal Bike tour!  Tom was joined by his wife Jo Ella, (she’s only 71) on our Historic Downtown tour.  This was after they had already walked several miles!  Tom and Jo Ella even braved a few raindrops at the beginning of our tour and ended up having a wonderful time.  Along the way they entertained with stories of out-skiing their teenaged grandkids.

After the tour we sent them to our favorite local microbrewery, Amnesia where hopefully they celebrated with a pint and a bratwurst!  The next day they came back to check in on us and told us about the several more miles they had walked.  I thought the fountain of youth was in Florida, not Colorado!   Jo Ella’s parting advice to me was “Don’t be afraid to get old.”  I won’t Jo Ella, not if I can stay as active as you two!

Who’s going to break the record next?  I know you’re out there!

Check out this great photo of baby Kyle from Dallas Texas in his super sporty Pedal Bike Tours Onesie.

Kyle’s grandparents Sue and Larry from Iowa went on our Historic Downtown tour and just couldn’t leave the shop without a few of our American Apparel t-shirts including this onesie.  We’ll be looking for you on a future tour Kyle!

Speaking of babies, while vacationing in Portland from Ship Rock, NM Frannie and her mom and dad, Stewart and Blair rented two bikes and a trailer for a week and took two of our tours!  All the while she rode along behind dad and uttered hardly a peep! 

We have just set another record.  So far the age record on our Historic Downtown tour is held by 73 year old Renata from Germany.  Now, 7-months pregnant  Emily Hooke has just set another one, two really, because I’m not sure we’ve had any other pregnant ladies on a tour!

Emily and her husband Joe are visiting Portland from Columbus, Ohio.  They called us yesterday evening looking to do a bike tour and we were able get them on our Downtown tour the very next morning.

Once they got back to the office they had nothing but good things to say about the tour.  Emily is a real trooper, showing no signs of being tired, other than a little sweat from the last hill to the office.  “No problem” she said “it was easy.”

“It was less strenuous than you would think a 3 hour bike tour would be” says Joe,  “The pace was easy, we took several rest breaks and stopped to learn about history and what there is to see here.  I’d say it’s good for people from 8 to 80.”

We like to think we’re going to break those records too some day!

What’s next for Emily and Joe?  “A shower and some lunch!” says Joe as they head out to enjoy some more Portland summer.

Good job Emily and Joe!  Thanks for choosing a Pedal bike tour!

The view from Penner Ash Winery

We had a great tour in wine country on July 4.  8 people all jumped into the Pedal van and headed down to Yamhill county under perfect skies for a ride through the lovely countryside followed by wine tasting at Four Graces and an incredible lunch at Penner Ash.  Here’s what one of our guests had to say:

Thanks again for the awesome bike tour Saturday!  The ride was cool, company even cooler, and now I’m left wanting to visit Portland again just so I can see more.  There’s no better way to see the wine country than on a bike.  It’s so much better than looking out car windows, and of course the sampling at the end was a nice reward for a few miles of pedaling (or coasting).  Seriously, thanks for being patient with me, too.  People bike in Birmingham, but not like they do in other cities, so I’m not an avid biker by any stretch of imagination.  I appreciate all the tips you gave me - they made a huge difference!  Betsy and I laughed many times at my little off-road adventure and you asking, “Are you going off-road on purpose?”  If only…

Jenny and Betsy Discover Oregon

Thanks again for a wonderful time.  Betsy and I both enjoyed you and the scenery.  The tour money was well spent, and we plan to do others if we’re out that way again.  Oh, and trust me, I’m telling my friends they’ve got to go to Portland, and when they go… they’ve got to check out a Pedal Bike Tours ride. 

Thanks,
Jenny

A Rest In The Shade

Thank you so much, Todd, for a super fun bike experience this morning! I really loved everything about the tour, and thank you and Rusty both for being kind, patient and wise about all things biking!  I wrote a review but wasn’t sure where to post it. Here it is, though:

I’ve just returned from my first ever bike tour and essentially my first time on a bike since my childhood, 25 years ago! It was WONDERFUL! I think I was smiling the entire time. Todd and Rusty both taught me so much, about riding a bike, bike safety, and bike friendly roads in Portland.

They tailored the tour just to my needs, which were, specifically, to get comfortable on a bike, and comfortable riding on roads near where I live in NE Portland-roads I would likely ride on when riding out on my own. They also taught me some interesting things about Portland itself, about its history and architecture and greenery, and took me into parts of Portland I had never seen before. The ride was so enjoyable and the company so amenable, I will highly recommend this to my friends and family, whether local or visiting. Thank you Pedal Bike Tours!

——————————–

You’re welcome Patty, it was fun helping you re-discover the joy of riding.  I hope we see you around town on your two wheels often! -Todd

The Pedal Bike Tour T-shirts are here!

The First Batch Of Pedal Tees at Amnesia Brewery During Cirque du Cycling