Mile 1431 - Banks, OR

What's more Portland than a salted caramel apple-bacon fritter? Bicycles. We do love to bike, but Portland takes it to a whole new level. Literally.

This is a Multi-level bike, more affectionately known as the double decker or the triple-decker. From what we can tell, somebody in Portland knew how to weld and went to town on this Frankenstein. Aaron's a little jealous; not that he doesn't have one of these bikes, but that this unbridled creativity is the norm in this land called Portland.

Please note, that this picture was taken during the morning commute. Yes, while they are best fit for street fairs and sticker-tagging, we have been told that there are some who regularly pull up to busy morning intersections, steadying themselves on light poles, and climbing down once they've arrived at work. Here's an example of how it's done and here's an example of taking it too far.

Thanks to a tip from Matt and Sooz, we enjoyed a little Portland bike adventure ourselves. We rode on normal bikes, but took an amazing bike ride through the countryside just west of Portland in Banks.  The path took us through mostly shaded forest (which we very much appreciated as P-town was like pushing 100 degrees!) on a slightly uphill grade on the way in. Aaron made physical challenges along the way where we would have to sprint for 1 minute and then peddle regular for 3 minutes, then repeat.  Gotta Make the most of it!  We made it to the 10 mile mark and then turned around for the best ride back ever since it was now slightly downhill and we could coast and practice our no-handed riding.  Such a great ride!  Thanks Matt and Sooz!

We'll leave you a few pictures from our ride (1,2,3,4,5,6), and an inroduction to a little show about Portland and it's. . . culture.