Mayhem at the velodrome

After having ridden fixed gear bikes in traffic for quite some time, we thought that we would try out the real thing---track racing on a velodrome. Portland has a velodrome outside the alpenrose dairy, and we went to the weekly track development class last night. What sets the Alpenrose velodrome apart from most other velodromes is that it is STEEP. And we are talking terrifyingly steep. Before you get used to it, you are sure you are going to drop off the sides in the curves. And indeed you can, if you are not going at the minimum speed for traction (12 mph). So was it fun? Yes, and we will absolutely be back.

Adorning your bike

Things here in Portland have moved significantly beyond spoke cards. Here is the newest trend: Ducks.

Alleycat

The other week I participated in an alleycat arranged by Morrispost. For those of you that don't know, an alleycat is a bike messenger race where you race in traffic, often at night. The challenging part is that you do not know where you are going before the race. You are given a set of checkpoints at the start (given as street addresses only), and you have to visit them in any order as fast as you possibly can.

Here our bikes are stacked up against a wall before the start. (Note the tallbike). I ended up coming in fifth out of fifteen people which I felt good about---it was my first alleycat, and everyone that got in before me messengered so their job security depends on having a very good sense of addresses in the downtown area.

A bunch of us is waiting for the start.

The race is on. I am trying to make sense of the route on the paper that was placed on my bike.

This was the manifest---the route with checkpoints and places to pick packages and drop them off.

The day of the octopus

Today was the day of octopi. Courtesy of Dan Gilsdorf at Atlas, we both got an octopus. And did it hurt? Yes. A lot. The ribcage is one of the worst places to get a tattoo. So don't try it at home. Our master plan was to be able to draw in little people everyday, and pretend that the octopi would rip and devour them with glee. We'll see about that once the skin has healed up some. The red octopus is done, but P's octopus is going to be colored in some more.

Here Amelia is bravely taking it on the chin, like a good chap.