August 13, 2018
A touch of class
Not much news to report here, but I feel compelled to pass on this morning’s sighting outside of Caffe Umbria. The Cafe is a hotspot for Portland’s Italian community: Portland’s Italian Consul holds court here, along with the waiter from our favorite Tuscan restaurant, soccer fans, bikers, and the like - there are bike magazines on the rack, jerseys on the wall - that kind of place. It’s one of the spots from our old neighborhood that I miss the most, and I still stop by fairly often.
Today is an odd and ends day: coffee with my friend Bruce, a trip to Kaiser to pick up my new eyeglasses, a stop at the dry cleaners to drop off my Pendleton to ready it for the coming tour, a trip to DMV to renew my driver’s license which will expire while we’re on tour. In the midst of that I found time to stop in at Cafe Umbria, enjoy another cup of coffee and an almond croissant, and stew again over which route we should take through the Dolomites - in particular, should we tackle iconic, awesome Stelvio Pass? We’re not getting any younger, so it’s now or never. We’ll see.
On leaving, my eye was caught by the brilliant glare off of this thing. Pretty gaudy, almost gauche, I thought. I decided to add a touch of class to the scene for a minute by bringing my nearly new New World Tourist up close to it. I would have leaned it against the car itself, but didn’t want to risk any gold paint rubbing off onto my own nice Black Diamond finish - or getting shot by some mafioso dashing out of the cafe with a tommy gun.
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6 years ago
Yes, that would be a hoot if we could cross paths somewhere. Weāve made up our minds about Stelvio, btw. Weāve picked that option, and will at least be biking beneath it and staying overnight at the base. If weather cooperates, Iām pretty sure weāll give it a go.
You may have picked up that we (I) plan things out pretty thoroughly. We have booked our lodging through the Dolomites and Lake District, so barring surprises that part of our itinerary is pretty well set. If you like, Iāll send it your way (my email: scoandpdx@gmail.com) and we might see if weāre likely to intersect anywhere.
And if not now, sometime for sure. Weāre looking at a short tour up around Vancouver and Victoria next summer. And welcome to CycleBlaze!
6 years ago
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6 years ago
Maun and I are currently in Santa Monica in the land of fancy cars. Yesterday we saw a Mclaraen parked right on the street marked as a bike route in Venice Beach. And the day before while waiting to cross the street to get to the Getty Villa we saw an Alfa Romeo with the model name "Stelvio." Is that a sign?
While riding on the Neckar it was important to me to stop in TĆ¼bingen because one of my favorite professors had taught there. There was, of course, a Fest with no rooms to be had so we ended up in a splurge hotel a few minutes away from the center. We were in an annex and had to go to the main building for breakfast. We parked our bikes right next to a beautiful silver gray Porsche, pretty close to exactly the same color as our titanium bikes. As we ate I speculated as to who it belonged to but couldn't guess. But we left at the same time so we were getting on our bikes as he was unlocking the car. I said to him that our Porsches were the same color but he reminded me that his would go much faster.
6 years ago
Maun and I are currently in Santa Monica in the land of fancy cars. Yesterday we saw a Mclaraen parked right on the street marked as a bike route in Venice Beach. And the day before while waiting to cross the street to get to the Getty Villa we saw an Alfa Romeo with the model name "Stelvio." Is that a sign?
While riding on the Neckar it was important to me to stop in TĆ¼bingen because one of my favorite professors had taught there. There was, of course, a Fest with no rooms to be had so we ended up in a splurge hotel a few minutes away from the center. We were in an annex and had to go to the main building for breakfast. We parked our bikes right next to a beautiful silver gray Porsche, pretty close to exactly the same color as our titanium bikes. As we ate I speculated as to who it belonged to but couldn't guess. But we left at the same time so we were getting on our bikes as he was unlocking the car. I said to him that our Porsches were the same color but he reminded me that his would go much faster.
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6 years ago
Yeah, the bike wins my vote.
6 years ago