Day 121, to PORTLAND: The end of the ride

August 21, 2022

Naturally, our first stop in Portland was an ice cream shop. Here we are outside Fifty Licks in our cycling gear, and I'm excitedly holding up an ice cream cone and beaming, and beside me, Dani is licking a spoon clean. A fitting end to this bike tour if there ever was one. Chris eats ice cream across America.

After dinner tonight, we walked around downtown Portland a bit. I stopped in front of the theater and snapped this selfie, which shows me in my bright yellow "Bike Anywhere Week" t-shirt, holding out my hand and pointing to a sign behind me that vertically spells out "PORTLAND."

WE REACHED PORTLAND! And with it, we've come to the end of the bike ride. There's less than one mile left for me on this four-month journey — to reach the train station on Tuesday. On Monday, I have a rest day here in Portland. But don't worry, this is not quite the end of the blog yet. I'm guessing I'll have another blog entry from my train ride on Wednesday or Thursday and probably one last entry from home sometime next week.

Sunday stats

Start: Anderson Park, Vernonia, Ore.

End: Northwest Portland Hostel, Portland, Ore. Elevation: 98.

The Daily Progress: 52.9 miles. This brings the grand total to 4,534 miles! I had originally guessed this tour would come in around 4,400, but that was before I decided to take the Eastern Express between St. Louis and Fort Collins.

(I'll tabulate more totals once I'm home and have access to a keyboard — I may have been able to blog on my phone, but I'm not about to tabulate stat totals on it!)

Uphill / downhill: 2729 / 3234

Ice cream flavors: Brownie vs. Blondie and Chocolate A.F. for me; French toast and bananas foster for Dani. This was at Fifty Licks, which I give an A-plus.

Beer and wine: Ecliptic's porter for me; a Pinot Gris from a winery that starts with an A for Dani.

The budget goes out the window for our stay in Portland. But I will note that we had dinner at Jake's Famous Crawfish, and it was very filling.

Sunday's story

Today's ride was very pleasant. A couple of climbs to overcome, but nothing intimidating. We spent a good portion of today's ride on paved bike trails, which is ideal. We met a local cyclist, Alan Sutton, along the way, and when he heard how we planned to get into town, he advised us away from the highway and led us for the last 13 miles along the back roads (mostly Skyline Boulevard). He also stopped to help someone change a flat tire on their car. Very nice guy.

Dani, Alan and I smile for a selfie at a cemetery that offers an excellent view of the city of Portland in the distance.

But the really beautiful thing about today was that it just felt normal for me. Actually, "normal" is maybe too weak of a word, not positive enough. Today's ride was nearly ideal in its smoothness, at least in my experience. From start to finish, I felt that I had found my groove and was practicing the craft of riding this ride one last time. I packed up my stuff this morning pretty efficiently. I pedalled smoothly and strongly. I practiced keeping my back straight and lifting my body weight off my hands, something I've been consciously pushing myself to do ever since developing carpal tunnel syndrome as I approached St. Louis about one-quarter of the way through this tour, and it felt natural, relatively effortless — and I could feel the results in the strength of each pedal stroke.

In contrast, Blue struggled to shift gears smoothly, dropped the chain once and made a few clicking noises from his bottom bracket. I know my bike and how bikes work well enough to know how to fix these problems, but with so few miles left, I had decided to just roll with it and give Blue some attention when we get home. This bike has served me well and weathered the wear and tear very well.

But the ride itself and its completion feel satisfying and yet not exactly victorious. We finished today's ride with ice cream, as we might have finished any other day.

But we also finished the entire tour. We are glad to be done pedaling, but I also feel like I could keep going if we needed to. This is all reaching its logical conclusion while it is still fun, but not so much fun that I'm crestfallen to see it end. It must end someday. And today is a perfect day for it to end.

This was my view the morning for a while when I was following Dani. Here you can see her from behind, leading the way as we roll along the paved trail through some very, very green woods, where all the tree branches are covered in moss. Sunlight shines through the thick trees. We roll onward.

Today's ride: 53 miles (85 km)
Total: 4,534 miles (7,297 km)

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George HallCongratulations to you both on completing the adventure of a lifetime! I followed you coast-to-coast and relived my own Transam adventure when you stayed in places and posted pics I was familiar with. From experience, I can tell you that it will be a little depressing at first as you miss the daily challenges, but later you will have time to revisit your journal and remember what a fantastic time this was. Best wishes in all your future adventures on and off the bike.
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