Mark & Mike's Grand Adventure - West End Bikes

Ok, this is right up front - a plug for Mark and Mike's new store here in Portland - West End Bikes.

West End is opening their doors at 1111 SW Stark Street Portland, OR 97205 - (503) 208-2933

I've known Mark Ontiveros a long time and this baby is close to his heart. All the love of cycling he exuded for years comes to fruition in this new Specialized Concept store - once inside and you look around the feeling is immediately, 'this is what a bike shop should feel like.' There are old stores that are cool, and I have been in many across the US and Europe, but creating a new shop from scratch that has this kinda vibe is not easy - Mark and Mike France, is business partner, with the support of Specialized bikes, have pulled it off.

Jonathan Maus, on bikeportland.org said, "West End Bikes is likely to become one of the top shops in town the moment it opens for business. And in Portland, that's saying something."

See photos and Jonathan's other thoughts on A sneak peek inside West End Bikes - take a look, it's a shop worth getting excited about.

John (Hatfield, alias 'stokerboy') and I are proud to be wearing West End kits when we race the Calfee tandem this season. The new WEB kits can be seen a few photos down in Jonathan's article.

What's a ride without a ferry?

Last night's Tuesday Night ride was a mixed bag of everything Tuesday Night rides can be - a few flattish spots, some fast rollers, a couple kicker little hills to stretch the legs and strain the lungs, and of course everyone taking their shot at escaping off the front - to no avail. Oh, and one nice little ferry ride.

We, John and I, brought out Stealth, our first time this year. With all the above route features it should have been the perfect Stealth evening - one a tandem should rocket away with - should have.

Stealth, as she was christened almost the moment we first test road her and knew as insane as it was to buy an all carbon 27lb Calfee tandem, loves to go fast and much to the contrary of common perception, Stealth can climb. I mean think about it, we have to guys who are pretty good climbers on their own now teamed on the equivalent of 13.5lb bikes each - why shouldn't Stealth fly up a hill?

From the parking lot at Tualatin Park (weekly start point at 6PM) things were starting to signal Stealth was going to be argumentative - we dropped a chain twice. The group rolled out, gorgeous evening, chatting, socially reconnecting as usual; in the back John and I were grinding through gears as the chain jumped and skipped under a fraction of the pressure; in the big ring we were fine - all else was a mess. And maybe that's the point of this blog - maintenance - the better the machine, the more ya need to care for it.

When the route loped through the gentle rollers along Mountain Road and we could sit in the big ring we powered along at 45+ mph without a hitch, giving the few that could hang in our draft a rocketing little ride down to the Canby ferry. The ferry is generally a regroup as we all pile on and everyone resumes the socializing, or catches their breath, downs a GU and get's ready for more speed.

Up out of the ferry is a short steep climb, easily 12% - we coaxed Stealth up. A few miles later we held our breath as we headed for South End Road from the south, an initially sharp climb in the 8-11% range. We geared down with trepidation and hit the incline - perfect - shift - ut oh! - grind, clank - crap! Dropped. It was the beginning. We did get going again, over the top, back into the big ring and except for the steep climb up Sunset, sweet-talked Stealth back to the park.

Wednesday morning - into River City Bikes - maintinance. By the end of the day Stealth was back to being a rocket - with new chain rings, drive chain, cassette, and a healthy dose of cable care and ajustment. Tandems take a lot of torque, especially under the race and climbing load we pile on Stealth, and need more regular attention. Lesson learned - I've mapped out a regular maintinence schedule for the bike and posted it on the wall in the bike room.

If you're interested here's the Oregon City South End route MAP

A weekend – of bicycles built for two... or three... or four!

This past weekend we, my stoker Jenn and I, packed up the ‘stealth’, alias the Calfee Tetra and headed north 200 miles to Victoria BC for the 2009 edition of the annual NorthWest Tandem Rally. About all we knew was the weather looked great and we were going to be sharing the experience with a couple hundred couples in matching jerseys – as Jenn said, “it’s better than name tags” (we did end up with bike name tags).

For me a tandem rally was the other side of the cycling planet from the past couple weeks of racing; the average age doubled, the average speed was halved, but other things were pure bike you can’t change - the pastry and beer calorie count, billboard-like jerseys, and the predictable journeys into bike-component-geekiness was easy to find (with or without beer). In the end “Rally” means social.

The NWTR moves about the Northwest each year (NWTR2010 in Medford, Oregon) and while we haven’t rallied before it’s hard to imagine the hills, beaches and roads of southern Vancouver Island being topped. Look for ride routes and maps in July’s Ride of the Month as well as other links to future tandem happenings over on my website BicyclingNorthwest.com

Now, for the really important details: Beer & Eats. Acouple microbrews worth noting: Swans on the corner opposite the Johnson St (blue) bridge has a couple of award-winners, the IPA and ESB were quite nice. Their endamame beans are great – lots of salt – halibut & chips are also a nice score. Avoid the nachos – how can you blow something so simple – for those cross the street for the Mexican place. Across the blue bridge and a left on Catherine Street (half mile) is the Spinnakers. Beers didn’t match up to their food, but the small deck is a great places to relax after a ride and view the harbor.

For all the new friends we met these past few days enjoy the slide show and Gallery of our weekend. Special thanks to the guys at Rider's Cycles for volunteering to sag the rally and fix our broken front spoke!