Month / June 2023

by Adron

Train Life, Bike Life! Portland & Richland trip is done, back to Seattle!

After that last few days I visited some family and friends it was time to head back north to Seattle. On this trip back to the train station I take a slight different route and show that route. All good, all valid, all generally the same trip times.

I get into the station and get the bike tagged, and this time per the baggage attendant’s suggestion I check my Burley. More on that momentarily.

I then went and relaxed in the first class sleeping car lounge to wait for the boarding call. In short order the call was made and out the door to board. As always, with roll on bicycle service I headed to the baggage car, lo and behold I knew all the handlers today! I was greeted warmly, handed off the bike and we chatted for a minute or three. After wrapping up a good conversation with some interesting details – as always with the crews – I headed for my roomette.

When arriving at the sleeping car some other passengers and I waited outside for the car attendant to make up some beds and straighten up real quick. This is a common practice at Portland since so many people detrain and so many board for Seattle. You’d be surprised how many opt for roomettes and such just like I do for the Portland to Seattle trip. While out I snagged a video pic of the station…

and ended up giving a knowledge drop on the station to some fellow passengers that found the plight of Portland’s station rather interesting.

From there I enter my room, and oh yeah, I didn’t get a roomette I got a bedroom! Even MORE space, so that being the case I decide to provide a short tour of the bedroom accommodations.

For the final short segment of the video, enjoy a ride through the dark streets of Seattle as I head back to Redmond, with a quick – as I do often – one take session of some thrash metal for ya. 🤘🏻

  • 0:21 – Back to Union Station in Portland, but with another arrival trip, just like the previous one discussed in this episode    • Bike + Train Life…   (time marked so you go right to it).
  • 2:20 – No bike box for this trip, just rolling on. But I do check my Burley trailer.
  • 5:02 – A tour of Amtrak’s Superliner Bedroom accommodation.
  • 8:00 – Getting comfortable and a few words.
  • 9:23 – Arrival in Seattle, detraining, and into the streets accompanied by a little thrash from yours truly! 🤘🏻
Episode 35 of the VLOG.
by Adron

Train + Bike Life! Leaving Richland via Pasco for Portland, Oregon on The Empire Builder!

As I departed Pasco on the Amtrak Empire Builder, the sun rising in the east came in through my roomette window, and let me tell you it was stunning! Check the VLOG for footage of that site, but always know, VLOGs and photos and all that are fun but they compare in no way to being there in person! The tranquility of a roomette, as we roll along on steel rail, with the rising sun is absolutely stunning every single time I get to experience it!

When we arrived into Portland I detrained and went to baggage pickup. Within just a minute or two the bike arrived in the ole’ bike box. I slid it out and with the two tools I brought, I had the bike up and going in just another 90 seconds or so. Slung my backpack back on and out the doors of the station I went.

With a ride, almost parallel to my original departure from Portland the day before yesterday I alternated to the Williams St corridors for the majority of the trip back. In doing so I got to race the Trimet #44 bus! What fun, what excitement, what a slow and relaxing race! The real question though, who will win!

After the race I arrive back to Office PDX and make a cup of coffee with the MiiR pour over and it is excellent! I also use some techniques that you might not always use, but it’s worth a watch just so you can give it a try if you ever need to give it a try! It kicks off at 9:42 in the video.

  • 0:21 – Leaving Richland via Pasco on the Empire Builder. Catching a stunning sun rise!
  • 1:48 – Arriving in Portland.
  • 2:38 – Reclaiming PDX Orange from baggage, getting her back in riding condition. Tips + tricks on boxing your bike and unboxing it.
  • 3:30 – Departing the station and a tip for egress from Union Station via the Broadway Bridge.
  • 4:19 – Watching the Empire Builder cross the Steel Bridge, buy why, learn about it here!
  • 4:48 – Bus🚌 Leap Frog🐸 with the #44! Some thoughts on the buses, their speed, and the fact that I basically pace the bus for the whole… well, listen to the segment and you’ll see. Along with the oddities and other things along the way.
  • 6:50 – Riding through Peninsula Park. With odd unexpected elements! 😬
  • 9:00 – The final stretch, do I defeat the #44 or do I get beaten by the bus!!! It’s soooo close!
  • 9:42 – Caffeine Induction System from Miir, the Pourigami, via Bicycle Coffee from Oakland (link below). In this segment I show you a wicked cool pour over travel setup, using minimal kitchen tools.
Episode 35 of the VLOG.
by Adron

Bike Life. Gravel + Sand + Muck + Tarmac + More in Richland.

Into the haze of desolate cold lands of Richland. Coursing through the relief of the single track, with sparsely laced water elements to misdirect your route. Thickets sprung over the top of what seems like walls between you and your destination. The routes are interesting in this stretch of these woods.

In this episode I’ve made it to Richland and off my brother and I went to explore the surrounding single track, food options, and other sundry of things.

The route overall that we ended up taking was about half tarmac (i.e. paved surface) and a whole lot of gravel, dirt, rutted dirt, horse shoe trodden dirt, and a dose of sand thrown in that made it impossible to traverse.

Surfaces

Tarmac is of course the easiest surface to roll on. No need to even discuss that.

Gravel, in general, when mixed well for trails is a fairly easy surface material to roll on with the added friction. It is a lot of fun when mixed right with a bit of rock dust and dirt and whatever else to create an almost tarmac like surface. This route had a significant dose of both, very loose gravel and well packed gravel.

Dirt can have vast differentiation. Dirt can end up being mud and the issue of sinking comes into play or dirt can be as solid as tarmac too! On this route, the dirt was rarely just merely dirt, but often rutted from motorcycles of some sort or off road vehicles, and then on other parts it was stamped into horse shoes. I’d never thought about it much, but rutted with horse shoes can be some very difficult dirt to get through. When dried and hard, it creates an incessant bumpiness that can just rattle the bones while if muddy it creates an almost suction like pull as you attempt to roll through each shoe imprint.

Sand can be described in one word. Suck. Sand just puts an unquestionable halt to rolling through. If it isn’t mixed with something to solidify it a bit it’s impossible to ride through. In the image above I’ve hit some sand and just opted to hike through it and carry the bike. It was the easier choice.

As we rolled along through the first 2/5ths of the ride we worked up some hunger. We checked the ole’ “Google Maps” and fumbled our way over to Baby J’s BBQ & Burgers. A good stop indeed – even had a chance to eat and just shoot the breeze while we did. Check that out in the video at 8:31.

Mystified? Not particularly, but fed we were now ready for the other miles.

On the way back, we’d looped around and came back along the river, which gave us the treat of a glorious sunset while we road along riverside tarmac trail – unfettered by any traffic. A most excellent ride wrapped up this way would have been great.

But there was one more layer of icing on this cake, we went rolling through a golf course for that final leg back home! It was a somewhat hilarious thing, since we had no intent of rolling through a golf course. However once in the midst of the thing, we realized we were indeed in the middle of a golf course.

Great trip, great train ride, always great company being able to hang out with my brother, great food, and just a whole giant good ole’ time!

  • 0:21 – Quick intro to the ride.
  • 1:30 – Initial map trace and ride start.
  • 8:31 – Baby J’s BBQ & Burgers along with the BBQ Conversations and some ride recap.
  • 13:34 – Final stretch of the ride.
Episode 34 of the VLOG.
by Adron

Bike + Train Life. Boarding the Empire Builder, with PDX Orange, for Pasco 4 Gravel Rides!

VLOG posted at the bottom of this post, so scroll down if you want to skip the *reading* part and just watch the video. 🤙🏻

The trip started off with a departure form Fort PDX (where I stay when residing in PDX) and I headed south bound from Rosa Parks toward the train station. For those familiar with PDX routes, then you probably know this route, but I add a little detail for those that are curious or want some tips for south bound trips to downtown (or specifically the train station).

I zig zag a bit and then get to the loopity loop that goes up over the highway (or maybe it’s just a major street. It’s Going Street so I guess it’s just a major freight arterial, but whatever the case, not really worth going over multiple block just to cross it when you can take the up and over. In the video you’ll see more, it’s a rather interesting – yet oddly pedestrian unfriendly way to make things more pedestrian friendly.

After that I cut over to the Williams Corridor and had a Whole Bowl. More on that in the video, but suffice to say they’re so top tier quick meal options that’ll leave you with energy for the day! This kind of food, and the fact there is a plethora of options around Portland is something I miss extensively living in Redmond (Seattle metro). The Seattle metro, and especially in the surrounding metro, food like this at this quality and price just doesn’t appear to exist.

After getting into the station it was time to box the bike. Generally on Amtrak you don’t have to do this these days because you can just hand the bike off at the baggage car. However, Amtrak has had some equipment *incidents* and is short of baggage cars and other equipment options that enable that, so this is one of the routes that is minus a baggage/equipment for that option. Do note, it’s the Portland stretch of the Empire Builder, so when it reconnects at Spokane, the Seattle baggage car joins the train and has roll on capability. But between Portland and Spokane it’s down to boxing it.

In the video I show you how I use two simple wrenches to take the pedal off and adjust the bars. It takes all of about 30 seconds to get done and get it boxed, then they just take the box and will load it for you as a checked bag. Easy peasy.

Once the bike was boxed and ready I strolled off to wait in the first class lounge. Once time was called we all headed out to our train for boarding. One of Amtrak’s new engines was setup to lead our train.

Once aboard I just settled in for the ~5ish hour journey, had snacks and hacked away on some video edits and such. These videos don’t make themselves.

Finally wrapped up the trip by rolling into Pasco! Got the bike and rolled out to my brothers. Next episode, we ride! Where shall we go? What shall we do? Do we get any flats? Do the bikes stay intact? Does it rain? Does it snow? All will be answered in the next episode of whatever it is these VLOGs I make end up titled. 🤣

  • 0:21 – North Portland to Union Station via the Broadway Bridge, with a few route suggestions to avoid inclement segments. First up, Whole Bowl, a bite to eat before boarding the train.
  • 5:55 – Right turns for the route that are important to get right.
  • 6:41 – Broadway Bridge and loop around and under route trick to Union Station.
  • 7:27 – Not turning left on Broadway Bridge, loopity loop to the right, into the Pearl and then under teh Broadway Bridge.
  • 9:20 – Arrival @ Portland Union Station & boxing the bike for boarding the Empire Builder. More details on bike boxes here https://www.amtrak.com/bring-your-bic…
  • 11:16 – Metropolitan Lounge, the sleeper/first class/business class waiting room accommodations plus the bathroom secret!
  • 12:58 – All aboard Empire Builder!
  • 14:04 – On to Pasco! A relaxing journey via Roomette!
  • 14:24 – Arriving Pasco, detraining, a bit of FRN activity, into the station, and waiting for the bike baggage! 🤙🏻
Episode 33 of the VLOG.
by Adron

Bike Life. Combining “New Bike Day” with “New Glasses Day”!

This VLOG is a bit oddball, at least it felt to me. I was just chasing down stuff it seemed like; first a new bike for gravel rides and then second to get some new glasses. In my normal fashion however, I’m taking you along for the ride to check out what I’m getting with a little bit of *why* I’m getting it.

Metropolis Bikes

The first place I headed to was Metropolis Bikes. I was hoping they’d have a bike that would be perfect for my upcoming gravel mission. I headed out from Fortress PDX (that’s what I’m calling my location in PDX these days) and headed south along the Williams Corridor (which is made up of two streets, Williams and Vancouver).

  • 0:21 – Welcome to Portland, Oregon.
  • 0:38 – “New Bike Day” @ Metropolis Cycles.
  • 2:51 – Heading to Blink for “New Glasses Day”…
  • 3:15 – But first coffee at Nossa Familia.
  • 4:49 – The first 2 glasses I’ve purchased and received, another is still on it’s way (as of the original recording).
  • 6:00 – After returning to Portland Office, I booked off for a short haul on the MAX back to Metropolis Cycles to pick up THE NEW BIKE! Much excite, very wow!
  • 6:58 – New bike day pick up, I introduce “PDX Orange”! New glasses, new bike, and ready for some gravel riding the next day – and thus gravel riding next episode! 🤙🏻
Episode 32 of the VLOG.