Bought the bike, had some drink.
Day 10
Summer breakfast in Portland. Watching the Tour De France on the TV and watching the expert bread makers in the Saint Honore bakers. I’m not sure what was more impressive. The two men riding through the mountains, pushing themselves to the limit of human endurance or the two chef’s making perfect bread in all different shapes one after another. I have now witnessed bread makers with OCD. Everything perfect and all in line. Rolled out dough folded back and forth the same way over and over. Even loading the oven perfectly in line and putting the bread loader back above the oven straight. As a fellow afflicted I felt their pain...... as a paying customer, I enjoyed the fruits of their labour. I met Sarah’s uncle Steve again who was holding court in the breakfast shop. He is a bit of an Oracle in these parts and well known and well liked. After breakfast we bought some fruit and chocolate from a store called Trader Joe’s to have later after dinner. Sarah dropped me off at the local adventure store to buy a tent, stove and other camping items and pointed me in the direction of the multiple bike shops to visit. I looked around the bike shops but for what I wanted, they were a bit on the expensive side. Bradley Wiggins I am not. Luckily I went to a shop called River City Bikes and came away with exactly the same bike I have in the UK but in a different colour. To be even more strange I ended up with the same helmet as well. It’s better the devil you know Kylie Minogue once said. So with everything purchased I returned to Sarah’s house and when I got there her house mate Beth had returned and invited me out for a beer and a bite. We went to bar not far from the house called Ex Novo where they brew their own beer in big metal stills in view of the customers. I tried a beer called “the most interesting Mexican beer”. Personally I found it slightly curious and worth a try but I think “Most” was pushing it a tad. Now the potato skins were thoroughly absorbing, totally fascinating and completely captivating.
Next Beth took me to another bar restaurant called Hopworks. I thought she said Hogwarts and was expecting a Harry Potter theme bar. In keeping with the Portland bike scene, which is massive, it was a bar with bicycle frames hanging from the ceiling and walls. They love their bikes here. When cars go to die, they go to Montana, when bikes die they go to Portland. We had a couple more beers and two plates of chicken wings. Sarah then joined us along with two other friends of theirs. It was a good chance to unwind, eat and drink. After two days in the city, I’m loving Portland.