Today I had to ride over to NW for a work meeting. Knowing I needed some groceries, I took the Long Haul Trucker and some panniers with me for a trip to Trader Joe's.
I stopped by North St. Bags to look at some nice panniers and chat with Curtis, the bag-maker. More on that in a future post.
When I left his studio in the Eastside Industrial district, I noticed that my Planet Bike Blaze headlight had been yanked. Great. I know, I know, I should have taken it off, etc. etc. I just get so used to leaving it on. In the ten years of biking in Portland, I've only gotten lights yanked once.* And the tweaker didn't even take the mount off, making reselling dubious. Ah, whatever. The light was getting janky and needed to be replaced anyway. Just gives me an excuse to make the wanted "upgrade"--dynohub lighting!**
The meeting went ok. Stopped by Couch Park afterwards. The day turned out good, and now at 4pm it was sunny and a temp around 50F (10C). It should be this way for the week. I will definitely enjoy it.
After a slice at one of my fave Portland pizzerias, Escape From NY, I loaded up on way too many groceries at Trader Joes. One particular product caught my eye from my previous trip, so I got it:
Yes, I'm a sucker for bikes on packaging.The sundried tomato ones they had were good, let's see how these ones are!***
It was dark upon departing, so I put on my lights on (the ones that remained). My rear light on my bag was dead. Damn. Thankfully all my helmet lights still worked, thank you redundancy!
I decided to take the Ankeny/Couch/Davis/Everett bike route (via Burnside Bridge) back to Montavilla. It was a great ride back. Beautiful weather still, I felt a bit overdressed with my jacket on! This was the first time I got to experience the new bike lanes on E Burnside between the bridge and SE 13th. It was a fun experience to actually ride up through the heart of EastBurn for once!
At home:
April: "I'll never get through Pedaling Revolution at this rate. I only seem to read it in the bathroom. I'm only up to the part about ISTEA."
Me: "Oh, he's in there? I really like him in Law and Order. Wasn't he also in Breakin'? Or Crush Groove? I forget."
April gives me a frustrated look.
A day in the life of Shawn!
*I also got an underseat bag yanked. Tweaker got nothing more than a janky used bag with a patch kit and tire levers. Sometimes I don't know why people do what they do.
**Try to get that one off, tweaker!
***Sorry April, no vegan ravioli options at TJs.
There are other places to get vegan ravioli.
ReplyDeleteAlso, don't tell Jeff Mapes I read his book in the bathroom. I've started reading it other places too! Like in bed.