i've come to realize there are more of us here than i'd previously realized. so there are two points to bring up.

1) portland (and any other surrounding areas people feel like making a trip from) BFSSFG ride. any ideas of when, how, themes, etc?

2) tuesday rides...these are just getting started. last week's was the first. it was only me and a friend and a friend of his from seattle. we just went to a bar and talked about what to do for this tuesday (tomorrow)...anyway, it's till in development, but tuesdays at 7 pm in pioneer square we'll begin this ride. y'all should come out.

i'll let my brother know. he's kind of antisocial, but he really likes bikes.

Who's bringing the boom box?

I'll come up if it's a slow week at school... I know there are a few of us in Corvallis that have yet to get together.

damn...gotta work on Tues. I really want to ride in an alleycat though sometime. Maybe we should get one of those together?

i was thinking about that. a valentine's (or anti-valentine's) race seemed like fun, but i'm having a hard time thinking of checkpoints (oooh, valentine's on SW 3rd and ankeny? little coffee shop type place) and don't know what to do about sponsors this close to the date (just some little stuff from city bikes?). but with shift to bikes and all, publicizing it would also be easy.

i dunno, any alleycat anytime with any theme would be cool.

i dunno about the boombox...sounds like a rad idea. or we can have a singalong. sing queen's "bicycle race" on the way to the alberta street pub or the yamhill or something.

Once the weather settles up in your corner, I may be taking a trip your way. I love portland, the only problem is finding a decent plane ticket. I'll be in touch if it all works out.

heh, i love it up here...i would surely trade you a couple days of warm, sunny weather right now, though. just a couple days....*sigh*...

come on up, there's no doubt it'll be fun.

Dude...today felt like springtime. Just got back from a two hour hammerfest in the sunshine

yeah, today wasn't half bad at all. i hope it continues like that. at least for part of tomorrow.

Check out the PUMA website for alleycat races here in Portland. The Zombie Holocaust on Halloween weekend was really fun.

i want to go to portland

ha ha, i hate the intersections like the one in your avatar...i never know quite what to do there, what way cars in those are going to go...

i've looked on there. i wasn't here at that time...there was a fun alleycat in boise, where i was. i got really lost and was one of the last ones in, despite keeping a steady 22-25 mph almost the whole time.

i see there was one for valentine's that got moved to april fool's day. hence me wondering if it's too close to the date to try to get something together for valentine's day.

oh, and youth...this town kicks a lot of ass. if you can head here and visit, there's lots of fun to be had. be sure to bring a bike. though you may be able to rent a fixie from veloshop or a couple others; there's an old thread on here about that...

anyhow. lot's of fun. any chance anyone has to come up here, i'd say it's a good idea to do so.

i'd definitely like to get out to portland again...my girlfriend's parents have been living there for a few years now, so we've gone to visit a handful of times and i've always made a point of bringing my bike. we finished up a cross-country bike tour there a couple years back with the intention of trying to stay, but alas, the employment situation in that city blows. i talked to a couple of messengers about trying to get work, but the company they were working for was trying to halt a union formation, and i didn't want to be a scab...so back to cackalack we went...

huh, i think i know the company. that was a while back, and i don't know what it's like now. i almost want to ask someone i (kind of) know who works there...a problem here is there aren't many entry-level positions as a messenger. after thinking about it, i think i'd enjoy doing it, even with all the ****. oh, well, maybe someday.

anyway, it is a good town...work is agitating. i still don't have a job. my old job said they'd hire me back when i returned from boise, but very inconveniently were shut down for the holidays AND subsequent remodeling...all right as i came back. so they'll finally be getting around to my re-application. three weeks later.

but overall, the employment situation here seems the same as in boise. i can't compare to anywhere else. i have a hunch (from upcoming interviews, etc) that i'll be employed in a few days.

I'll have to get in on one of these rides. I think the only requirement should be the gratuitous beer stop or two. Maybe next Tuesday.

yeah, that's a given. alberta street pub is one of them, i'm not sure of the rest. i'd push for the yamhill, but stopping 3 blocks from the starting point does seem sort of lame.

so i'm trying to move here this summer. is there a good area i should look to live if i'm poor and young and have a roomate? car-free, so actually being in the city would be best

but yeah, portland's nice! i visited, i borrowed a bike, i went to a bike fair, i got a crush on the sprockettes and a girlclown

and "youth", you can come sleep on my floor when i move

ha ha, i know one of the sprockettes..."agent lapis", the really tall one.

as far as cheap...poor, young...okay, might not get anywhere good here...but, you have a roommate, so you may be able to find cheap one bedrooms and studios. i can't think of extra-cheap areas, but the pearl district in northwest is really spendy. someone else might have input.

and part of how i always find jobs here is: don't get too picky.

yeah it's me and another bike kid. our current plan is bunkbeds, and we wont be picky for jobs

you oughta be fine. if you're planning bunkbeds, and can fit in a studio, you'll be fine. hell, some one bedrooms are cheap...downtown is expensive. just feel around a bit, look through some ads. but even farther out--remember that every ten blocks in portland is one mile. so living on, say...SE 27th, is only about 3 miles out from downtown, and you can get anywhere from there...very bikeable city.

Inner Northeast and Southeast are probably the cheapest within reasonable biking distance of downtown. Along the Alberta corridor from MLK east to 33rd Av. is an older neighborhood on the way up. Also look at the Hawthorne/Belmont area from MLK to 82nd Av. in Southeast.

St. Johns in far north Portland has some housing bargains but it's about 7-8 miles from downtown.... some nice wide streets though and killer Teriyaki at Du's.

Read through CRAIGSLIST every now and then to get a feel for where prices are at.

Dogbait

i'm out almost to st. john's. i don't think it's a bad ride to downtown at all.

that said, inner northeast or southeast is where it's at. downtown, if you can afford a good apartment. there are two types of downtown apartments. expensive ones for yuppies and cheap ones where your next door neighbor will be a crack *****. i've lived in the latter...interesting for a bit, but not too great.

oh yeah, tuesday ride tonight...pioneer square at 7pm...not sure what's going on, but i believe there's a trip to the alberta street pub and possibly a sprockette birthday party. we'll see.