houseguests and bike rides

So, Kirsten's friends from New York left today. We had a blast with them while they were here. I got handknitted skull-and-crossbones wristbands, honey on the comb, a clown nightlight, and dinner. It was awesome. (Not that I only have houseguests to get free crap.) They were very nice and funny, and we had a great time. Nathan cooked for them, and we showed them as much of the good stuff in Portland as we had time for. It involved a trip to Powell's City of Books, Voodoo Doughnuts, Moonstruck Chocolates, the Pearl District in general, the waterfront park, the Thai restaurant next to the Velo Shop, and Pioneer Square. Yeah, it was all on the west side, but they stayed at a hostel on the east side, so I figured that they would see some of that while they were here without my help. There's just not infinite time on a vacation to see everything.

Last week, Nathan informed me that he had signed me up for a bike ride that was going on. "Oh, fun," I thought. Then he said "It's at 6:45 on Sunday," to which I replied "AM?" That was an affirmative, but since he had signed me up and paid, I couldn't back out. So he got me up at 5:30 on one of the two days per week that I get to sleep in, dragged me whining and moaning down to the Rose Quarter (he even drove me so I wouldn't complain too much), and then the sun came up and we started riding. It was a lot of fun. I didn't have a very hard time keeping up, and Nathan kept his level of bike ride craziness to a minimum. I rode about seven bridges. At one point, we started going down this decline, and my pedals stopped catching, so I geared up. When I got to my highest gear and they still didn't have any resistance, I thought "I'm going fast!!" Then I looked up and thought "AAAH, I'm getting on the INTERSTATE!!!" Really. They shut down two interstate highways on a Sunday morning (and they do this yearly) to let the cyclists take over. It was awesome...once I stopped being afraid I was going to fall down and die a bloody, pavement-filled death. The other Interstate bridge we rode was the top deck of the double-decker bridge. It was so high that on the down ramp I got cold. On a 90 degree day. Another highlight was this little girl about 4 years old on the back of a tandem bicycle with her father. She was standing up on the pedals, which had been modified for her height so that if she stood up, she could see over him. It was very cute. So Nathan started that whole "Why won't YOU ride a tandem with me...she's riding a tandem with her father" thing he always does; to which I replied that at four years old, the kid was too stupid to know that men can't be trusted behind the wheel of a bicycle or any motorized vehicle, and that when she got older, she'd lose her trust too. All it takes is for men to pull the horribly unsafe and unwise maneuvers that they are so famous for a few times. Then, we stop trusting them.

This reminds me that at the bus stop I wait at in the afternoons, there's a forlorn fixed gear bicycle attached to a pole. The back wheel got stolen about a week ago, and I assume the owner hasn't been able to afford a new one yet. I wonder how long it will take for him to fix it. I'm pretty sure it belongs to someone who works in the area, because he used to ride it up to the bus stop and park it there when I was waiting for the bus. I guess these things happen. But it's a pretty bike and it makes me feel bad to see it sitting there, knocked over, with its chain hanging on the ground.

Oh yeah, and tomorrow's my 28th birthday. I don't want to make another post tomorrow so there you guys go.