PSSSST! Hey kid! Wanna buy a bike shop?

Kenton Cycle Repair is for sale.

In business for twelve years, Kenton Cycle Repair has built a nice presence in North Portland.

But the owner is ready to sell the business, or close it down if he can’t find a buyer.

The only challenge I see is that Portland’s bicycle scene hasn’t recovered from the lockdown, and anyone wanting to own a bike shop in 2024-25 had better have a deep trust fund, a solid business plan and patience.

With a new, tariff-happy administration coming aboard in two months, the costs of taking on a bicycle business, even a successful one, will only go up. And with more wholesalers willing to deal consumer-direct now, the profit margins are getting so thin as to be virtually unsustainable. Last time I stopped by KCR, there were two mechanics working at benches alongside a rich, the owner, so factor in employee wages and potentially some health benefits as well. 

I’m not sure who could afford to take on a project like this in the winter, and in this economic climate. A dozen Portland area bike shops have closed their doors since the beginning of the pandemic, and I won’t be surprised to see more closures in the coming year, especially if President Drumpf gets his way on tariffs and sends bicycle and component prices sky-high.

Still, maybe there’s someone out there who’s always dreamed of owning a bike shop, and who has the money and the stamina to make it work.

If Rich can’t find a buyer in the near future, he will close down the shop and sell off everything inside it.

At some point soon, it will be difficult to remain in denial.

It’s a done deal.

Donald Trump will return to the White House for a second term as President.

I won’t consider all the reasons for this, except to say that, just as in 1980, I and other voters who hold similar values are more firmly in the minority than ever before in modern history. Hearts and minds were won generations ago, educational systems were weakened and poor people believed the pap the GOP and their friends at multiple conservative think tanks sold them, and all of that is a big part of how we got here.

It may not happen overnight, but I believe that an awful lot of these things will happen in the next couple of years:

— Medicaid will be drastically cut.

— Social Security will be cut, and new applicants for Social Security disability will be told not to bother filing.

— SNAP will be cut, and those who qualify for it will be told they have to work in order to get anything at all. 

— Student loan plans will be consolidated into one, harsh reality with unaffordable high payments and no forgiveness under any circumstances.

— Everyone on Medicare will be funneled into a more expensive version of Medicare that will cover far fewer medical needs.

The end result is that people will literally die for lack of access to medical care and food.

I don’t see a way out of that in my lifetime.

Unlike the many wealthy and famous people who’ve already trumpeted their plans to leave the country, I don’t have that option. I will be stuck with whatever happens here, and I will be powerless to do anything to stop it. I have no one to take me in and take care of me when I become unable to keep up with the rapidly changing landscape. 

As someone who depends on these social services in order to actually live, I know that if they all collapse  I may not survive the second Trump administration. At the very least, diminished access to healthcare will shorten my lifespan by some unknown amount.

That’s not drama. It’s fact. 

Unlike the current President, who is playing nice in his final months in office, abiding by a code of honor his opponents openly scoff at, I hold no such sense of honor anymore. I suspect I’m not alone in this. Those of us who are stuck here will do what we need to do to survive, and when we can’t survive that way anymore there is no predicting what will happen. But it will require younger, healthier people to make it happen.

So while I continue to take whatever walks and the short little rides my body can manage, to take naps when I can’t manage more, pray in the tradition of my ancestors, and hold my loved ones close while I can, I am also having some profound conversations with my mortality. I believe it’s what any sane person in my position might do.

I’ll also try to focus as much as I can on the local rather than the national or global. Because I’m here and not going anywhere else, and because at the end of the day all politics is local.

If you can, go outside and ride your bike. It will be one of the nicest things you can do for yourself during this trying time.

And be kind to each other. Just because it feels like the world is burning, we don’t have to help it along.

Coffee Outside - another way to Always Be Coffeeneuring

A short, but truly lovely #pdxcoffeeoutside at Alberta Park.

No pix because no camera at present, but it was so nice to be able to ride to a park that was local to me, drink coffee and chat for an hour about weather, dogs, bikes and even a little about my time at Citybikes (totally okay, don’t worry).

The only downside was that I had to cut my time a little short because the city closes the park bathrooms in the fall and I really needed to find one. So I said my goodbyes, hopped on my bike and searched for a place to go. I found a porta-potty that was not locked up (thank goodness!) and then enjoyed the rest of the ride home under fast-moving clouds and a light, cold breeze.

I also made minor adjustments to my saddle to see if it would help my knees at all. I seem to be heading in the right direction, and will take some measurements from the Peugeot and see if I can dial them in on the Rivvy, which I’m now having a second thought about letting go of next spring.

Darn, it’s a lovely bike, and I DO enjoy riding it.

If you want to find out more about Coffee Outside, search for @pdxcoffeeoutside at Instagram. They announce that week’s location a day or two in advance. And you don’t even have to ride your bike there. Just show up with coffee (treats optional) and enjoy.

Ride bikes, drink coffee, enjoy life.

2024 Coffeeneuring Challenge #10: the last phone booth

I wasn’t planning on adding a tenth ride.

My joint pain ramped into high gear with the deluge and wind earlier this week, and I just wasn’t into it.

Then, this morning, the clouds broke and the sun came through for a little while, long enough for me to hop on my bike, run to the grocery store and grab a few things, then take the scenic route home so I could stop at Koken Coffee for a very small, very delicious cup of espresso. 

I got home just before the rain started falling again.

Sadly, my camera went on the fritz in the middle of the ride, so the only photos I managed to take were these two, one en route (at possibly the last phone booth in Northeast Portland) and the other just after I got home.

Still, it was nice to get out and grab One More Coffee Ride before the deadline.

Happy riding.

#alwaysbecofffeeneuring

Bike Happy Hour has moved, and I couldn't be happier

Due to financial pressures at the Ankeny Pub, Bike Happy Hour has been forced to move to a new location, at least for a while.

The move does not sadden me.

Located basically across town from me, the ride to and from the Ankeny Rainbow was getting harder as the hours of daylight became fewer and the weather turned cold and wet. While the eye surgeries I had a few years ago definitely helped sharpen my vision, they did not improve my night vision much, and riding after dark has become nearly impossible for me, especially when it rains.

The move to Migration Brewing (a former sponsor of my old racing club, Team Slow -- see team meeting table setting at left) comes as a welcome change. I will no longer have to ride nearly as far to attend, and the ride home will be accompanied by more ambient street lighting so I can stay a little longer. Plus, the indoor space is large enough to accommodate more people, so it may even see an increase in participation over the winter months.

And if I can't ride on a given Wednesday afternoon, there's nothing stopping me from taking public transit there and back.

It's not quite as centrally located for all of Portland, but these days I admit to feeling some healthy selfishness about my bicycle riding, and anything that's closer to home works better for me.

Tomorrow, Coffee Outside PDX is meeting up at Alberta Park. It's supposed to be nearly ten degrees colder tomorrow than today, so I'm playing it by ear. But if I can manage it, I might go.

*******

In other news, I am closer to making the changes to the Peugeot that will allow me to get the Rivvy ready to sell in the early spring.
I need to figure out the saddle height so I can swap over my older Brooks Flyer -- more broken-in and more comfortable -- to approximate the position of the current saddle, which I can swap over to the Rivvy or sell separately.

I also need to decide how much I care about the parts on the Peugeot. They work fine, and I'm comfortable on the bike. I suspect that any other parts-swapping will be sparked by vanity rather than practicality, and the more I think about it, the more I think I may just swap saddles and call it good. After all, I honestly don't know how much longer I'll be able to ride my bike at all and would rather not be stuck with an expensive albatross. Or how blingy I want that bike to be with all the homeless encampment bicycle chop shops on the east side.

I paid a hundred bucks for the Peugeot and if I take a loss it won't sting so much.

Do I sell the Rivvy as a whole bike, or as a frameset? I'll check the webs and see what a few of my bikey friends think. It will probably go on the market by no later than mid-February.

2024 Coffeeneuring Challenge #9: Autumn Leaves

The falling leaves drift by the window
The autumn leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sun-burned hands I used to hold

Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall

— Joseph Kosma 

**********

I slept poorly last night, and decided not to try and meet up this morning with the Coffee Outside PDX gang at the south end of the Esplanade. Instead, I slept in.

It was a good choice. I awoke at 9 feeling better rested, enjoyed coffee with Sweetie, and slowly warmed up to the day. Around eleven, the sun broke through the clouds. Sweetie told me it wouldn’t rain until around three, and that perhaps I might like to grab a short ride around the neighborhood. “Plus,” she said, “we have no chocolate in the house.”

My partner is so wise.

I dressed, grabbed the Peugeot and headed up Dekum. I stopped for coffee and a baked item at Woodlawn Coffee, and got them to go. Then, I nodded around the neighborhood and enjoyed the colorful leaves, in the trees and on the ground and a few on their way down. I stopped at a mom-n-pop store to grab some chocolate for Sweetie, and then made my meandering way to the pocket park on 10th. The weather was dry, and clouds were moving in, but I figured I had some time to enjoy my own private Coffee Outside before riding home.

On the way home, while I admired the many colors of fall, I began humming the song, “Autumn Leaves” and it became an earworm.

I probably managed a little more than two miles, and a quietly lovely mood that will make the day nicer.

Happy riding.

2024 Coffeeneuring Challenge #8: Open and Shut

I’ve been struggling with my emotions, my body, the shortening days and the weather.

I’m on a new medication this week, and it will take time to kick in. I hope it will help lessen some of the darkness on my hardest days.

 Have also come to some new understandings abut my health journey. 

And chief among them is that I am exhausted. Wiped. Out of spoons in mind, body and spirit. The losses of the last five years have opened me up to a lot of stuff and I have very little energy these days.

No wonder I haven't felt like riding my bike. It’s all piled on and I am only just beginning to sort it all out.

But still, the sun broke through the clouds this afternoon, and I knew that if I didn’t try to take advantage of that, I’d feel worse later on. So I forced myself out of bed, got dressed, and went for a Coffeeneuring ride.

It was tough going for the first mile or so. My legs felt like jelly, my knees creaked and it felt like a slog. But I knew there was a coffee place not far away where I could do the Coffeeneuring thing, so I kept pedaling.

When I got to Kiss Coffee, it was around 2:15. They had closed at 2.

Disappointed, but feeling a little better about riding, I pedaled on.

The breeze had picked up, leaves were being blown from branches and the sky was a constant swirl of clouds with patches of blue sky in between.

I rode up to Killingsworth, where I knew of at least a couple of coffee stops.

One had been converted into a restaurant and bar that wouldn’t open until at least 4.  

I rode across the street and down half a block to Extracto, which had closed at 2.

Annoyed, I decided to make a loop back to Ainsworth and MLK where I knew there’d be a Starbucks. It wasn’t ideal but it was there, and by now I was determined to have a cup of hot chocolate.

Along the way, I felt the wind pick up, and kept an eye on the sky to the southwest. If it started raining before I got to Starbucks I might get a bit wet, as I had only grabbed a rain shell but nothing else.

I made it, and the sun had come out again.

After sipping my hot chocolate and enjoying a slice of lemon pound cake, I watched the sky, read the Willamette Week and felt myself calm a little.

Living with my body has been hard. It doesn’t do all the things I used to be able to ask it to do, and bumping up hard against those moments has been painful.

But today I could ride my bike, and get home while it was still dry and partly sunny outside. With the unintended loop, I probably rode around four miles.

With all the worry and fear around the election, I may hunker down and stay in this weekend. It’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow and Sunday so I’ll probably just take hot showers and little naps and watch some old noir on cable to take my mind off my fear. And if I absolutely need to step outside, I can always try to rake some leaves off the sidewalk so no one slips on them.

Will do any more Coffeeneuring rides? I don’t know. It will depend on my health and my mood each day, perhaps each hour, and the weather. And I am slowly learning to live with that. It’s a process.

Happy riding.