For Sale: North St. Bags "Route 7" Panniers

Hello friends! I just wanted to let you know that I currently have a set of handmade North St. Bags "Route 7" panniers for sale. I bought these beauts last year and they served me well on my Cross-Con Tour last year! But I don't need them right now, so I am willing to part with them for trade or for $65 USD.

Please see full information over at my Bike Stuff for Sale page.

This post will be up as long as the bags are available.

My Pacific Coast Tour 2006 Journal, Part 2

Here is the second installment of illustrated journal entries from my Pacific Coast Tour of 2006. Hope you enjoy! And you can click on any image to embiggen.

Blasts from the Past: My Pacific Coast Tour 2006 Journal, Part 1

It's become "unearthing buried treasures" month here at the Urban Adventure League!

Back in September 2006, I embarked on an 1,100 mile (1,800 km) bike tour from outside of Portland (Tillamook) down the Pacific Coast to Cambria, California. It was my first "epic" bike tour. And it was appropriately great!

Digging through my bin of old sketchbooks, I found the one from the trip. I started a journal for the trip, where I would use the rough outline of the route-map to illustrate my day. I started out pretty good, but only managed to keep it up for the first nine days of riding (which is the first ten days of tour when you factor in the break day.) As it is with many things in my life, I stopped doing it mid-way. I think I just didn't have the time to keep up the journal (as I remember I was doing a few entries days after the fact) and let it slip.

But hey! Nine entries are better than none. And now you get to see what my trip was like from Tillamook to the Avenue of the Giants in Redwood territory. Today you'll get the first installment of three. And if you want to check out photos from the trip, go check out my long-dead old flickr account for more.

And click on the image to embiggen!

The Oregon History Comics release is Sunday, PLUS Urban Adventure League workshoppy-presentationy type events for Spring!

First, I'd like to remind my eleven loyal readers that there is a release party for the Oregon History Comics box set written by Sarah Mirk, for which I illustrated the comic on Oregon Bicycle History. It will be happening this Sunday, March 4th, at 7:30pm at the main Powell's downtown. The full details can be found here.

As part of the promotion for this event, the Portland Mercury, one of the two local alt-weeklies (but the snarkier, better one) had a decent write-up. I'm not mentioned in it (cue The Replacements song "Left of the Dial",) but in the print edition of the piece there is an actual illustration of me. You see, not only did I illustrate a comic in this series, but there is also one about me. Well, it's about Portland's Dead Freeways, which is a ride I lead, so I'm featured. (If you actually pick up that comic, you'd think I lost 80 pounds before the ride I led. Seriously.) So I'm in two of the comics.

And the Dill Pickle Club (the publisher of the series) has an "interview" with me over here. Unfortunately they edited it down because I'm supposing they wanted a more "serious" tone than I was in the mood to provide. So they cut out what I felt were the two best questions/responses, the first and last. For your benefit, I will include them below:

Tell us a little bit about your process for illustrating the comic.
Step One: Get the sketchbook open. Two: Make some coffee. Three: Sharpen pencil. Four: Coffee is getting low, make more. Five: Look at script and reference art, scratch head. Six: Damn, that coffee went fast! Should I use the Moka Pot or the French Press this time? Seven: Is the pencil sharp enough? Eight: Isn’t it 10pm? “Get the Led Out” should be on KGON. Can’t have enough Zeppelin in your life. Nine: I don’t think I can drink any more coffee. Ten: Draw comic.

Anything else you'd like to add? 
“Get the Led out” normally consists of three Zeppelin songs.

*****
Anyways, there is some awesome Urban Adventure League happenings in the near future!

First up, I've been invited to "speak" at this month's Bicycle Brown Bag. The Brown Bag is a lunchtime series hosted by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) that occurs every third Thursday at noon at City Hall or the Portland Building. This month they are talking about the Oregon History Comic that I drew, so it will be myself and Sarah Mirk!

The details:
Thursday March 15th
noon-1 pm
City Hall,  1221 SW 4th Ave 
2nd Floor -Lovejoy Room
And as this is a "Brown Bag" you are encouraged to bring lunch, so long as you don't throw it at me. Bonus points if you bring me a veggie burrito.

And spring is coming, so that means a return of my ever-popular Bicycle Touring Workshop!

Bicycle Touring Workshop
Monday April 2nd
6:30pm
HI-Portland, Hawthorne Hostel
3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd (in the Mt. Tabor Room)
Are you itching to hit the open road and explore nature in a way you haven't yet? Are you a regular bicycle rider but have never taken a bicycle tour? Then join us to learn more about Self-Supported Bicycle Touring, We'll be discussing equipment, planning, and cost as well as day-to-day life on the road. We'll also have a few loaded touring bikes to check out. Touring can be easy as an overnight camping expedition close to home, and can be as complicated as a cross-country or around-the-world expedition! But it will be fun!


Note: I will have another Bike Touring Workshop during Pedalpalooza.

And did you want to hear about April and my adventures touring across the continent in person? Yes you do!

TRAVEL STORIES
Monday April 16th
7pm
HI-Portland, Hawthorne Hostel,
3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd (in the Mt. Tabor Room)
During the summer of 2011, intrepid travelers and Portland citizens April Wiza and Shawn Granton rode their bicycles nearly 4,000 miles from the Rose City to the Windy City. Riding through western mountains and central prairies, the couple explored pristine natural areas and bustling urban centers in the US and Canada. It was a journey of big cities and bear encounters, spectacular Rocky Mountain heights and Great Lakes lows, meeting many an interesting folk along the way. They'll share stories and photos and hopefully inspire you to take a two-wheeled adventure of your own!


And finally, for those who want to lead bicycle rides, especially during Pedalpalooza:

Bike Fun Workshop
Thursday May 10th
7pm
HI-Portland, Hawthorne Hostel, 
3031 SE Hawthorne Blvd (in the Mt. Tabor Room)
Pedalpalooza will soon be upon us. Will this be the year that you finally lead your own ride? But maybe you have some reservations, since you've never herded a group of bicyclists around before. What goes into the planning of a bicycle event? How can you make it not suck? Join bicycle event planning "experts" Carl Larson and Shawn Granton as they go over the process, step by step, of creating bicycle events from scratch. Planning, logistics, promotions, and more will be covered. By the end of this workshop, we will have posted a ride to the Pedalpalooza calendar!

Half-Hour Retro-Grouch Comedy Hour, 28 February 2012

Like Grant would say, click to embiggen.

Thank you to the approximately 38 people in the world who may get this joke.

Of course, much love for Grant and Jan, who hopefully are okay with jokes at their expense. (BOB list, please don't burn me at the stake.)

Retro Grouch Touring Comic, 22 Feb 2012

Click to embiggen.

Back with more! Hope you enjoy!

The End of Letter Writing Month: A Review, of Sorts

It almost seems like a lifetime ago, but some of you may recall my venting about the woes of the United States Mail at the onset of February. Then, nary a day later, you may also recall me talking about Letter Writing Month. The idea was that I would write at least 24 letters or postcards during the month, one for each day the United States Postal Service delivers mail. I would also respond in kind to anyone who sent me something via post.

Well, it's leap day, so the end of Letter Writing Month. How did I do?

Not so good.

The bad: I did not write for twenty-four days. Maybe a little over a week's progress, tops. Yes, I had the ambition to see it through. But then I got distracted by so many art assignments I didn't get around to writing.

The good: Anyone who has written to me during the month, or gave me their address so I could write them, has received something (or will receive something if they already haven't.) I made good on my word for that.

And I did receive some interesting stuff in my P. O. Box this month! For example, possibly the most "interesting thing" I got was from Amanda of the Knit Cycle:

Yes, it is a cork from a wine bottle. Dressed up with some yarn. A little cork "man"!
He's been keeping my Kaito KA1102 AM/FM/Shortwave radio company.

I bought this radio second-hand from these people.* Haven't been able to work the Shortwave for shit though, which is a shame. Wouldn't mind listening to some CBC if possible.

I also got some nice zine action from north of the border:

U.S.A. indeed!

More about them soon.

And a letter written on some lourvely Japanese stationery, with this guy on it:

And this mystery postcard. I say "mystery" because although it was signed, there is no return address, so I can't respond. (Hey Scott, if you want a postal response, let me know what your address is!)

Nice postcard, eh! I like that it was drawn well. I've seen way too many badly drawn bikes out there. However, please note the descriptive text on the back:

Now if you can't figure out what's peculiar about this text, let's look at the front again:

Yes, that is a "mountain scene". But a "mountain bike"? Yes, I realize that a few mountain bikes have drop bars, but I highly doubt that is actually a mountain bike. (Caliper brakes?) Then again, those spokes are pretty beefy.

Though I actually got these before Letter Writing Month, I should also share what I received in January from Dan of DITIBIWEBISHKIGAN Bicycle:

A set of Panaracer Pasela tires! I'll be putting these on the Long Haul Trucker at some point in the future. Thanks, Dan!

*****

Even though Letter Writing Month is officially over, it doesn't mean that letter writing has to be over! Throughout the month of March, if you let me know your mailing address, whether in the comments below or via email at urbanadventureleague@gmail.com, I will write you! (You do have to write back, however.) And into the indefinite future, if you write me by post, I will definitely write you back! If'n you forgot that address, here it is:

SHAWN GRANTON

P O BOX 14185

PORTLAND OR 97293-0185

USA

*Along with our current tent!

Postcards from the Road, Fall 2007 Tour, Part 4 (the final installment.)

Here is the last four postcards I can find from my Fall Tour 2007, covering my time in Quebec and the Maritimes. This wasn't the end of the trip as spent the better part of a week in Halifax. Then I hitched a ride to Toronto for Canzine, then another ride to Dee-troit, and then finally a ride to Toledo, where I took the train back to Portland (with a side trip to Champaign-Urbana.

I'm guessing the lack of postcards from the last part of the trip was due to me losing the energy to send them. Sometimes it happens. Enjoy these, and remember you can click on the image to embiggen.