Foster Soiree / Bridge Pedal

Yesterday we went to the eternally rapidly gentrifying Foster Road for the Foster Soiree. Always interesting to see what's coming in and pushing out the sketchy businesses that dotted the area when we lived there. We got to hang out with Friend of Tape Mountain Alison D, whose Xtreme Twee business empire continues to get weirder and greater, get very nice kulfi-flavored ice cream (dairy for JL, non- for me), check out a new record store (not my thing) and the new-ish book store Word Virus (very much my thing).

Today I did Bridge Pedal, in which one bikes across most of Portland's bridges and tries not to crash into bicycles in front of one. Today JL and the boy also did the kids' ride - he needs a bigger bike very much - and I was able to catch up with them after I finished the main ride. I was so proud of how well he was keeping to his lane and not running over smaller children. It felt good. 

People had speakers on their bikes, which is... a choice. Here are my awards for best and worst songs overheard:

BEST: When I got to the finish line, someone was playing Shonen Knife's "Cycling is Fun" (the original and better version) Obvious choice, right, but a delightful song and the timing couldn't have been better. I shouted "hey!" along with them and startled another rider.

 

Left-field choice: Someone was playing Buffalo Springfield's "Broken Arrow" on the Marquam Bridge, a mysterious twisty banger from my dad's record collection, and somehow not among the top search suggestions on YouChoob:

WORST: Mötley Crüe's "Girls, Girls, Girls," the audio equivalent of shitting in the pool. 

Bike update / Sluggo Is Lit

After dealing with a lot of weirdness with my olde and well-loved #1 bicycle (a Soma Double Cross of unknown age that I've been riding for over a decade), I wanted something that would just go in all conditions without the endless issues associated with a high-mileage bike. So I bought a mega-clearance belt-drive dealio from the Tr*k clearance store. Man is it smooth, and I was glad to find that it isn't substantially slower than the other one. I've ridden it all over the place in the last couple days and it has responded admirably. A joy.

Speaking of mega-clearance items: Last night I went to watch my incoming-8th-grade nephew play bass in a driveway with his jazz combo as part of Milwaukie Porchfest. He was great and I'm super proud of him, of course, and Porchfest is the best thing. But what I really want to talk about is my Sluggo Is Lit rebooted-Nancy shirt. I wore this absurd piece of clothing to the show and people flipped. Everyone wanted to talk to me about it. Then I talked to my nephew after the show and he said that he couldn't stop looking at it while he was playing. So if you like being the center of attention at junior high schoolers' jazz driveway concerts and you fit into the limited sizes that are still available, then go throw TopatoCo a few bucks. 

Suburban Saturday

This morning we went to an all-you-can-eat pancake fundraiser at a certain local whole-grain institution. Out of the corner of my eye I glanced a mustachioed individual wearing a "Reagan Bush '84" hat. Instantly my early-aughts lizard brain started making calculations: is this an ironic hat? Said gentleman looked like he was in diapers at most when my boy Fritz lost the '84 election in a landslide. Anyway, we set up with our flapjacks outside, and dude and his family entourage coincidentally set up next to us. The matriarch figure starts telling jokes along the lines of "What do you call a man sitting in a basketball hoop? Duncan!!!!" and absolutely just losing it with laughter. Like, dozens of jokes of this caliber, each one causing more laughter than the last. It was like a performance art piece and I wasn't sure what to make of it. The wheat-free vegan pancakes were excellent though.

We stopped by a yard sale on the way home. One of the proprietors (wearing an NRA shirt) was going on at length about the evils of a certain ballot measure that I voted for and contributed to. By the time we finished looking at their stuff he was still going on about how it was going to be overturned by the Supreme Court. I kept my mouth shut and we bought our stepstool and guilty-pleasure 80s CD.

I rode my bike to another yard sale in an attempt to work off some of the carbs. They had an Inst*nt P*t upgrade model and ours is on the fritz (note the clever double fritzing). Realizing that this appliance would not fit in my bag, I told the seller that I'd be back in a more appropriate vehicle. I rode up the hill and realized that it would be funny if I came back with my cargo bike. So I did. The seller was amused and I burned off another quarter pancake or so. I bought an appliance and petted their pug.