I haven’t been posting a lot lately, not because I haven’t been doing anything. If anything it’s because I have been doing too much. With the winter months coming, the day light is getting short, but I still find lots to do. Here are some photos from things Angel and I have been up to, but haven’t had time to post. Spent some time trying to make my grandma’s recipe for pizzelle vegan for Angel. It worked out alright, although they ended up a little more crunchy then they should be. I still need to spend some time tweaking it. I ended up making 2 batches, the first batter failed miserably. *reminder to self, don’t use the solid fat from coconut milk, It just melts everywhere, and doesn’t work.
I got some new rain gear for this winter season. Showers Pass makes great rain gear, the Club Convertible 2 Pants, and Club Shoe Cover are the new addition with my rain cape. The pants and shoe covers work awesome. My good old rain cape on the other hand, hasn’t ever really held up to heavy wind and rain. Maybe someday I will replace the cape with something nicer, but until then my rain cape is great for shorter rides around the city, and my rain pants and booties will do their job well.
We spent some time hiking around Mount Pisgah Arboretum. With a nice break in the weather that day, we spent a couple hours exploring around. You can watch a video of the trip in my post from yesterday, or here on YouTube.
The days around Thanksgiving were spent cleaning and setting up our Christmas tree. My mom sent me all my ornaments so we had something to hang on our tree this year. And we just lazed around a bit. I had some time to organize my work space, hang out with friends a little, meet new friend, play with tesla coils, and go to the library. What could be better?
Angel made some great baklava! It was the first time I ever had it, it was delicious, so tasty and sweet. I don’t normally eat too much sugar, and after having a bit I felt a little rush. *After writing that last sentence, I must go to the fridge and eat some more.**reminder to self, don’t eat more then one piece, again, too much sugar.
This past weekend was the Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show in Portland. Angel and I traveled to the show, as we always do. The OHBS was one of the first events I saw in Oregon, even before moving here. I came to visit Angel on Halloween 2009, the show was going on that weekend and we went. I have been back every year. The show was great; I really enjoy looking at all the bikes, and talking with the builders and other people at events like this.
Here are some of my favorite things from the show.
Here are some other photos from the show, check out all 260 photos in an album HERE, or just click on some of the photos down below.
There were a lot of great things to see there, and if you didn’t make it to the show I hope you enjoy the photos. I also heard some good news about the show in up coming years. They are planning to hold the OHBS in Portland for 2013 and in Eugene in 2014, rotating around Portland, Bend, and Eugene every couple years. Can’t wait.
If you enjoy handmade bicycles, you can also see photos from our trip to OHBS 2012 photos HERE. (Now I just need to find the other photos I have)
A month ago Angel and I took our first trip to Crater Lake. I haven’t had time to post anything about the trip or the photos until now. It started out as a nice simple trip to Crater Lake, stopping off in Oak Ridge along the way. Spending a nice time climbing Garfield Peak. Then ended the day with missing our one way home and having a super long adventure. Here is a good write up Angel wrote.
Writen by Angel,
On Austin’s day off, we decided to go on an adventure, and visit Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States, and one of the deepest in the world. Crater Lake was formed when Mount Mazama (a volcano) erupted and collapsed in on itself, forming a caldera, that over time filled up with water from rain and snow, and is now a national park. Crater Lake is sacred to the Klamath Native American tribe. No rivers flow into the lake, and none flow out, which is a major reason for the pureness of the water in Crater Lake. The eruption that formed Crater lake took place over 7,000 years ago, however there is still thermal activity present on the lake’s floor. There is a 1 in 300 chance of another eruption at Crater Lake occurring sometimes during the next 30 years. Interesting, the lake contains a couple of volcanic cinder cones, the most visible being Wizard Island. Boat tours to Wizard Island are available in the summer months (although Austin and I didn’t partake this time!). We hiked Garfield Peak, which was 3 miles roundtrip, with a gain in elevation of over 8,000 feet! We stopped to rest a couple times, my favorite being when we found a rough rock bench in the shade of an evergreen tree, where I ate half of the sandwich I brought. I kept thinking we had made it to the top, but the trail went on forever. Despite the heat (I think it was 90 degrees the day we visited), there are still huge patches of snow present all over Crater Lake, that are shaded from the sun most of the day. I made a snowball and threw it into a puddle of melted snow. Eventually we made itto the top, and the view was gorgeous. We made our way back down, which was quicker than the way up. Because cell phone service is spotty away from the cities, both of our cells phones suffered. Mine died while we were hiking because I didn’t think to turn it off, and Austin’s was nearly dead. We headed home around 7 o’clock. We got to see a gorgeous sunset over the hills, the whole sky was pink for a little while. We were going to stop for some gasoline, but were excited when we saw that we could just make it into town with what we had in the tank. Gas is pricier the farther away from the main cities you get ($4/ gallon near the lake, compared to $3.50/ gallon in Eugene). When we reached the tunnel at the halfway point, we found it closed for the night (at 8, and we got there at 8:30), to reopen at 6am because of construction. I wasn’t that worried, mostly because I am ignorant of directions, and because we have a GPS for instances like this, to direct us to alternative routes home. Unfortunately, this tunnel is the only way to get back to Eugene, without driving back the way we had come, towards Crater Lake, or to Bend (which was over an hour away, and then nearly 3 away from Eugene). So, when we were an hour and a half away from home, we had to consider our options. We tried to decide whether it would make more sense money-wise to try to get a room at an inn for the night, than having to buy another full tank of gas to get us to Bend and home. Because Austin had to work in the morning (not to mention all the hotels we passed were full), we attempted to track down a gas station, which isn’t easy when you’re driving through national forests. My car has a small gas tank. It can hold 10 gallons or so, and I fill it up when it hits 300 miles. We were on 270, and desperately trying to find a close gas station in the GPS. The closest were 30 miles away, and with dead cell phones we couldn’t look up the phone numbers in order to call to make sure they were open. We finally got the GPS to find a Shell that was 15 miles away, and we drove there, hoping that the un updated GPS wasn’t taking us to an old station that no longer existed, and hoping that this one would be open, if it existed. This was probably the scariest part of the adventure. If we had made it there and it had been closed, we would’ve had to sleep in the car until they opened in the morning, because we didn’t have enough gas to make it to any other stations. In a stroke of luck, they were open, and we filled up the tank and asked if there were any other way of getting home without going through the tunnel. The gas station attendant told us our options were to head for Bend, or to go down to the very southern tip of Oregon, near Medford, and to come up that way. We chose Bend, because we’ve driven through it before. Forest roads at night are terrifying. We saw deer a few times, grazing at the edges of the forest near the road. The roads are unlit, so we drove with our brights on the whole way. Austin drove us to Bend, and we stopped at a Shari’s 24 hour diner. Austin and I had eaten all of our sandwiches on our hike, and were getting very hungry, especially knowing we wouldn’t be home for another few hours. I got hash browns (vegan eating on the road is very limited), and he had a bunch of breakfast food (he swapped the meat in a combo breakfast for pancakes). I took over driving home from Bend, and managed to get us home safely. For the first hour I was so nervous, there are deer signs everywhere, and elk signs as well. I’ve been in a car that’s collided with a deer, and I know the consequences. Hitting a deer in the middle of the night, in the woods, with no cell phones was not an option. I drove super cautiously. Luckily there weren’t too many other people on the roads so I could keep my brights on. By the time we made it back to Eugene (at 2 in the morning), I was more awake than when we left Bend (from all the singing, at least our iPod was charged fully), and feeling so thankful to have made it home safely. That was way more of an adventure than we were looking for.
Other than the unexpected longer trip home, the day was amazing, and to look back at it a month later I wish we had time to go on a trip like this again before the summer ends (minus the roadblock at the end, of course). Sadly, we probably won’t get to do a trip quite like this for a while.
It has been a while since my last post. I have been really busy lately, with some trips, visitors, work, moving into a new place, and Angel’s birthday. Here are just a couple photos from the past couple weeks.
Last week Angel and I went on our first camping trip of the summer. We haven’t had enough time since she got done with the school for summer. We went with two of our friends Tuesday night until Wednesday morning. This was a quick bike camping trip we spontaneously decided to do just days before. It was super fun. The weather called for some rain and thunder, and that is what we got. Even so, it was fun.
Due to the secret location of where we camped, I’m only going to post the elevation of what we did. There were some great hills with some gravel logging roads on the way home.
We left Eugene late in the evening, just a couple hours before sunset. It was a nice ride through the country with some nice hills between here and where we camped. Right before we arrived at the camping location we started hearing some thunders. And right when we got there it started sprinkling, although that ended really fast and it didn’t rain anymore that night.
The next morning one of our friends had to leave early to get back to work on time. So it was just 3 of us on the way home. We took our time because none of us had anything to get to that day. We took a longer way home, featuring some long down hill gravel roads where Angel ended up getting a rear flat tire at one point, which got patched up quickly. We got a nice strong bout of rain at one point, which let up quickly. And we only had a couple very small spouts of rain after that. We ended up coming across one of Oregon’s many covered bridges. Here is a 360° Photo from a clear cut along our route.
Overall it was a great trip and ride. Angel did super well riding her Linus Mixte 3speed, climbing most the hills with no or very little (at least verbal) complaints. Hopefully soon we can get her something with more gears. I’m just trying to figure out what frame would be great for her right now. Hopefully doing an internally geared hub again like a Nexus or Alfine 8 or maybe even an Alfine 11. I’m sure she would appreciate it. It was a great trip, and I hope Angel and I can go on more trips like this before the end of the summer.
Here is a collection of photos I haven’t posted from Mid June to Early July. There are a lot of photos in here I like including fresh cookies, new bike tools, fun trips, and fireworks. Enjoy!
Last year in my Environmental Science Class at Chemeketa Community College our professor took us to H.J Andrews for a field trip. Angel did the same trip the year before with her sister when they took the class. Since then both Angel and I have wanted to go back together and explore. This past weekend, we got our chance.
H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest is located in the Cascade mountains just west of Blue River, Oregon. Covering 15,800acres (24.68mi2), the forest is administered cooperatively by the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station, Oregon State University, and the Willamette National Forest. The forest is used for research, including long term research, as well as education, but the public are welcome to come visit and hike select trails. There is some information you should know before tromping through the forest though. (Visitor Info) I don’t believe many people come out here to hike. Most people I talk to about it have never even heard of it, with longer and more extensive trails to bike in more well known parts of the Willamette National Forest just a couple miles down the road. At HJ there are two public use trails to hike. Lookout Creek Old-Growth Trail(3.5mi one way) goes along Look Out Creek through beautiful old-growth forest. Your other option is the Carpenter Mountain Lookout Trail (1.6mi), which is a short hike, that consists of stunning views of the forests of the Cascade Mountains and Wolf Rock. There is a lot going on at HJ Andrews, if you are interested in finding out more please checkout their site and read about the wonderful and interesting research that is going on there, along with all the other interesting information. andrewsforest.oregonstate.edu/ More links at the bottom of the page.
Angel and I hiked some of the lower Lookout Creek Old-Growth Trail, and I was able to try out my new camera mount for my GoPro that I made out of $12 worth of 7 feet of threaded PVC pipe. It helped to allow me to get higher and farther reaching camera views without unnecessarily crushing vegetation, in out of reach spots and in the water without freezing my hands off like I am used to. It worked out pretty well, I can’t wait to use it more on future adventures, hopefully more with clear water.
It’s my 100th post on this blog. I wanted to do something a little more exciting for this post, but I think this will do for now. Angel and I have been in Eugene for 11 months now. We find new places to go, and things to do everyday. Here is a link to my first post from right after we moved here and rode the Fern Ridge Bike Path all the way out for the first time. Since then we have found so many more places to ride, but Fern Ridge is still one of the nicest places we like to ride here in Eugene. Our last adventure didn’t include the FRBP, but instead one of our favorite places to gets treats, Sweet Life Patisserie. Angel loves their chocolate tortes and pies, and I always get an oven-warmed cinnamon roll.
The other day we went to the Owen Rose Garden, and here are some photos I took there. I’m not a big fan of roses, so I tend to take photos of all the other pretty flowers at the garden. I did take one photo of a wild rose though, but they look nothing like a cultivated rose.
Last week I took a short trip to visit my brother in his new home in Phoenix (Scottsdale), Arizona. It was a fun time and my mom and little sister were out there visiting as well. To me, Arizona was too hot, but there was still a lot of cool vegetation growing around the city.
Yesterday Angel and I got a chance to hang out in Portland after taking her sister back from a visit. We started out the day by going to the newly opened Velo Cult Bicycle Shop. Started in 2006, the shop originally is from San Diego, but decided to move the entire shop to Portland, employees and all. We visited them Sunday, on the morning after their Grand Opening Party. (They were still cleaning up after it). The shop caters to commuters, tourers, randonneur riders, and other subcultures of cycling with refurbished and new bicycles, but this is not just a place to sell and service bikes, but a place where all “bicycle culture” gets to meet. There is a large and open floor plan. They have some amazing mechanic work stations, with benches for customers to talk with their mechanic right in front of them; a bar offering local beer and food, a photo booth (which sadly was shut down when we were there), and even an authentic castle drawbridge (which doubles as a stage) in the shop!! I believe the drawbridge is from Canteburry Castle, after it was demolished in 2009. This is a really cool shop and you should check it out if you have a chance. They plan on hosting shows, and screening movies there in the future, as well as putting on other fun events for cyclists.
Also while at Velo Cult I got the chance to check out the Complete Surly Troll. I wouldn’t mind getting one of these as my first mountain bike. I also think it would make a great touring bike for Angel. It would be a good companion to my LHT. If only the Troll came in some color other than orange (her least favorite).
Before we went to Pedal Nation, we stopped by the Off The Griddle food cart. With super nice staff, they offer amazing veggie burgers from their solar-powered cart. Angel went with Vegan Cheeseburger, and I went with O.T.G Burger (no lettuce, tomato) just grilled onions and added BBQ sauce; I like my burgers simple. It’s always fun waiting for your food to come out while you read through some Trivial Pursuit games.
After we arrived to Pedal Nation, I spent a lot of time talking with different people about their products and learning whatever I could. There were a lot of cool things there. The spectrum of booths was across the board, with everything from wooden helmets, a fat tire recumbent, to an upcoming indoor mountain bike park (The Lumberyard) and other great cycling groups. Full list of exhibitors HERE. One thing I thought was really cool is that Nutcase is coming out with 4 bell designs based off of their helmets, which will be available for purchase in the near future (possibly June), along with a new visors to attach to their helmets and even cycling jerseys to match the helmets. Those should all be great. I’m sure Angel will want a watermelon jersey.
Before leaving Portland we had to get our favorite pizza at Sizzle Pie. I went with 2 slices of cheese, and Angel got a rabbit salad. There was no Spiral Tap in the case, (our favorite) so we got one to go that we could eat at home. It was a super great idea. Angel wanted the pins, and I thought I might put the patch on my safety vest. This is truly good pizza.
I grew up in central Illinois. In August of 2007, I bought my first real “adult bike” after needing a bike to save money on gas. Since then I have had many bikes. In April of 2010, after moving out to Oregon, I got my beloved Surly Long Haul Trucker. I have put a lot of good miles on the bike. This blog is about my life in Eugene.
Bread Bike 