2024 Coffeeneuring Challenge #2: Sunflower days

Today was Sweetie’s birthday.Her oldest friend in Portland took her out for breakfast while I had an online counseling appointment. After that, I enjoyed a little bike ride through the Alberta Arts District.

I treated myself to a cheap quesadilla at La Sirenita. Strangely, it’s next door to another Mexican restaurant called La Bonita, and both places have remained successfully in business for over a decade. I prefer La Sirenita because it’s a little funkier, more down-at-heel, and the food is hot, fast and fresh. And cheaper than La Bonita.

Afterwards, I rode a little farther down Alberta Street, and ducked into Golden Pliers to use their restroom. I sat outside for a few minutes to read the free weekly and enjoy the people-watching along Alberta.

Finally, I unlocked my bike and prepared to ride home along residential streets. But as I walked my bike to the end of the block, I looked down at the next bench and found this:

I looked around, saw that there was no one near it or looking for it, so I pocketed it. It still works and has a pleasant sound. I might make a gift of it later, to someone in need of a nice bell.

The weather was cool and cloudy, enough for me to keep wearing my hoodie. Along the way, I admired the decay that has become more prevalent since the pandemic and anti-police protests of the past few years. There’s a fence up around this building, which may mean some forward progress. Maybe.

On the way home, I enjoyed autumn leaves in a rainbow of greens, golds, reds and oranges.

Gardens everywhere we’re in the process of turning into the next season, with tomato cages coming down and mulch being laid in.

We still have some sunny days ahead, but with gradually lowering temperatures and fewer hours of sunlight. I love this time of year, though I wish the transition wasn’t quite so gradual. In past years, the rainy season would have hinted at arriving by now, but global warming has made a difference. 

I passed by this enormous sunflower and had to stop for a closer look. When the buds turn to seeds, the birds will go crazy.

I’m not adhering to a strict schedule this year. The Challenge began during the intermediate period of the High Holy Days, and allowances simply needed to be made. But I’m hoping to keep up with a couple of rides a week throughout the Challenge. 

Riding is a little harder these days, because it depends on how my balance is, and from day to day it’s not as predictable as it was before Long Covid. So if I have a good day that’s too close to the previous week’s rides, I’m not going to worry about it, I’ll just ride.

Happy autumn.

2024 Coffeeneuring Challenge #1: Neighborhood jaunt

I began my Challenge with a neighborhood jaunt.

I took coffee with me in a thermos so I could sip along the way, and had no destination in mind. 

Did I ride at least two miles? Probably. I haven’t used a cyclometer in years so it’s all guesswork now.

Here are some photos.

Most of my ride was taken n an errand, but ended with a stop at Metropolis Cycles to use the restroom. I was pleasantly surprised to find an old former Citybikes co-worker turning wrenches there. She was glad to see me, and told me that she still enjoyed working on bikes, so she’ll keep doing it awhile longer. (She’s ten years younger than me, and probably in slightly better health, so more power to her.)

I enjoyed taking a look around at some lovely bikes, then rode home.

The end of Swrve

Because of my ADHD-type brain, I often don't follow the latest news from every source.
So when I checked in on Swrve, the California-based cycling-oriented clothing makers, I was surprised to see an announcement that was actually dated February of this year.

Swrve is closing down.

They are slowly selling off what stock they have left, at somewhat discounted prices, until they get down to the dregs. Then they will blow out what's left (by then it will be pants for 28-inch waists and some leftover pandemic masks), turn out the lights and go home.

In their announcement, they explain why they're closing down. Basically they had a good run for fifteen years. Then, though they don't allude to this in their memo, the pandemic came along and made all of us wonder why we were spending $125 on a pair of jeans, especially since our jobs were lost and the government checks hadn't started rolling in yet.

They say that the landscape has changed, and indeed it has. But not only because of Covid. The landscape changed for a million little reasons -- a thousand tiny cuts, as they say -- that signaled the end of the last bicycle boom, the last great gasp of Big Oil, the rise of electric vehicles and the revitalization of the car industry, and the beginning of late middle age for an entire generation.

The fast is, if you don't live in a bikeable place, you're not riding bikes so much right now. I can't speak for the rest of the country, but Portland is losing the momentum of previous decades and losing the ground gained on bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly infrastructure. We're losing safe place to walk and ride for so many reasons, and have been since we began to "bounce back" from Covid. Bouncing back is looking different.

Hell, my body looks different after Covid, Long Covid and so much change.

Instead of keeping up with newly emerging realities, Swrve tried to stay in its old lane for too long. Their largest pants do not extend beyond a 38 inch waistline. (I have had to regularly go through my old Swrve pants and add gussets in the back to accommodate in increased girth. I stopped caring about what that looked like long ago, because I no longer tuck in my shirts.)

They insisted on limiting their sizing range to the young and skinny, long after I and others had grown beyond it. And they insisted on selling clothing that fewer and fewer people could afford in a post-Covid world.

Adapt or die.

Or, more accurately, you can adapt and it's probably a good idea.
But you will still die.

Save your resources for things you can use for a long time and then pass on.

Happy riding.