We're not alone

Today was packed full of activities and socializing. I got up early and headed down to River City Bikes to lead the women's ride as part of my volunteer duties for Sorella Forte. The nice thing about leading is not having to wonder where the ride will go and also being able to plan a nice lazy route with basically no hills. We spun our way through north Portland, along Marine Drive, around to St Johns and back to the shop via Willamette Blvd and Greeley for free espresso.

I was hoping to find replacement pads for my aero bars at the shop but they were out. Fortunately downtown Bike Gallery had some, so I jetted across the bridge before heading home. The odometer was close to forty miles by the time I pulled up to the house.

There was just time for a quick shower and then it was off to meet Maureen at LRBC. Luring new people there gives me an excuse to loiter even more than I normally would which is great for my tummy and not so great for my wallet. But the food is just sooooooo good and today Ali's mom was helping out by putting her foot into some biscuits and gravy (meat or veggie style). I can't have my own mom's cooking anymore, but Madeline's will do nicely for not-so-sloppy seconds.

While we were there, we met Deanne and Jonathan, weekend regulars (three weeks and they already have regulars!). Jonathan had a Dell laptop and Deanne had a Macbook, which caused Ali to inquire about how their relationship worked out, having different operating systems and all. Turned out J was running Linux, which upped his cool factor considerably. Deanne had chosen her Mac for work-related compatibility. I assured Ali from my own experience that bi-OS relationships can in fact work very well, as Jess and I can attest.

I had noticed the matching yellow helmets behind their laptops when I walked in, but I didn't really think much about it until I walked out of the shop and saw this:


I practically ran back inside to their table. "You guys have matching bikes! You're bike dorks!" They grinned sheepishly and I explained that they are the first couple I've seen sporting the dork matching bike style. I left the shop shortly after, but ended up calling to get their email address before they left so I could send them pictures. I felt like I'd found our people. Maybe we can all go on the Twin Ride for next year's Pedalpalooza.

Later on I met up with a couple of friends for the revival of the WBP. That's the Weird Black People. It's the closest I've gotten to 'fitting in' somewhere. Yes, we're still black but we just don't do things quite like the others. For instance, you might find us camping, cycling, swimming..all things you won't find the "normal" black folks doing...at least in our neck of the woods. When's the last time you saw black woman doing Cycle Oregon? Yeah, I thought so.

We hung out and caught up for a couple of hours at the Nutshell vegan restaurant, the newest G-spot in north Portland. That's gentrification, get your mind out of the gutter! I really wanted to finish the evening by heading to Live Wire to see Storm Large perform, but alas, my tummy, which was still full from the biscuits and gravy, decided that I should really go home and sit still.

Besides, I have to get up for work tomorrow--managing the rest stop for the Bike to the Future ride put on my the good folks at Good Sports Promotions. The mountain bike fund is looking better and better.

Food Porn & Good News

I barely got this picture in time. Trying to take pictures of LRBC food is kind of like trying to take a picture of your crack before you smoke it. I think this half of the sandwich amply represents the goodness: Applewood Smoked turkey breast w/ gruyere, lettuce, tomato, red onion, cranberry jam & avocado aioli on ciabatta.

I brought Jess here today so we could have a comforting and supportive atmosphere in which to tackle and daunting chore: our finances. We both have the same program to keep track of our spending but you still have to log in and assign your transactions to categories so you know where your money went. Neither of us have done this for the past mumble mumble months.

We're also celebrating our new employment status! Jess just got a job offer to do IV nursing at Emmanuel hospital and I got a modeling gig with Getty Images. Sure it's only one day, but they're paying me $500 smackers--roughly $100 an hour. Maybe I should reconsider this school thing and change careers...

Nah. I might have to give up treats like these:



Sweet Cream Marionberry Swirl & Roasted Brown-Sugar Banana and Sweet Cream

Loitering

Since I moved to Nopo, I haven't really had a good place to loiter. In my first two terms of school last year, I practically lived at the Alberta Street Tea house, spending up to six hours a day doing homework, drinking tea and visiting the loo. It helped that they were close to my old house and open till 10pm.

Since moving, pickings have been slim and unsatisfactory for various reasons, which is why I was so excited when Little Red Bike opened up.

Yesterday I remembered that my good friend C is footloose and fancy free for a few weeks between quitting her job and starting school. I started to call her but then she popped up on gmail chat. I successfully convinced her to meet me at the cafe for lunch. Thus starts my plan to lure in ever more unsuspecting diners to the warmth and yumminess of that fine establishment.

We had a lovely visit, and lingered long after closing time. Ali put on the best of Michael Jackson and C and I experienced a bit of a time warp as all our old favorites came on. Pretty soon we abandoned conversation in favor of singing along with "Man in the Mirror" and other classics. Shortly after 3:30, Abe the wonder dog showed up with his people Tim and Lindsey. Abe was just as sweet and adorable as described and I had loitered around with the hope of finally meeting him. Lindsey saw how totally wrapped I was and said, "You can come hang out with him anytime." Ha...she should probably be careful what she asks for. :)

We did eventually leave and I went home and made some progress on the fence and not much else. After dinner, when the question of dessert arose (as it usually does), I decided to indulge.

Little Red Bike Cafe

We're headed out for one last summer trip this afternoon...but first I had to visit The Little Red Bike cafe which just opened a couple of days ago. Owners Ali and Evan have been teasing us with blog posts and food pictures for a while now so it was great to finally go in, and see that the small place was packed to brimming already with customers, mostly from around the neighborhood.

The food was every bit as good as expected and I can't think of a better way to start a bike trip.

We're off to Idaho to ride the Couer D'Alene bike rails to trail. Sixty-five miles and no cars! No camping this time so stay tuned for updates from the road.