Tag: bike move

Feb 13 2013 February 13, 2013 February 13, 2013 NoComment by bikeleptic

Bike Move Redux – The Video!

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There was a group of people with recumbents, and the mother of one that was unable to join us this last weekend due to some health reasons. I didn’t realize until after the move that she had been taking video the entire duration of the move and following us via automobile. There had been a couple times I had noticed a slow moving car behind us and had yelled to wave for them to pass and someone had called back that there were following.

I was rewarded with this adorable video of my move!

What a great treat!

Thanks!

Video by Dana Triplett


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Feb 11 2013 February 11, 2013 August 4, 2016 NoComment by bikeleptic

Wagons East Bike Move

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I moved this weekend!

This is the third bike move I’ve hosted, though the photo you see above looks creepily like my very first bike move.

Truth be told, I really like that apartment building. I have now lived there twice and it was a subject of joke as people were preparing to load. I probably shouldn’t move back to the same place again anytime soon. . . I am sure the bike movers are ready for a new experience. They’re all becoming experts at this building.

I would like to say that everything went smoothly – because it did, really. . . the first couple people started showing up at 10:50am. I was still getting things ready upstairs so I was happy to have a couple people there to help me haul stuff downstairs, set up the breakfast table downstairs, etc.

Coffee, fruit, orange juice and two dozen vegan Voodoo donuts made up a breakfast table to lure my sleepy Saturday morning bike movers. It was successful! Almost two dozen people rolled up and after about half an hour of milling around snacking and catching up with some old friends and meeting some new, we all got started packing.

Hauling down two flights of stairs and loading up the trailers and cargo bikes took just over a half hour. We weren’t in an rush, but we were steady and worked together to haul the larger pieces. If you haven’t done a bike move before, just note, first you try to get your trailer stocked up, but you also just get boxes out to the loading area so everyone can sort through them. Thankfully just enough people showed up to help out.

I am so grateful for each and every person that came out this Saturday. You may notice a lack of snark in this entry. I haven’t mastered the true art of snarkitude.

Again, I would love to say the ride went smoothly.

4.3 miles. Only about 130 feet of elevation ascent (most of which were to get through the first mile of the route). All quiet roads off the major through fares. All-in-all, it went fabulously well. I tipped over once at a stop when my trailer tire bumped a friend’s trailer tire.

A slow Tiiiiimmmmbbeeerrr! Plop.

All clipped in, of course so I couldn’t really do anything.

I like to be awkward like that in front of two dozen people. Some of which are good friends, some of which are strangers I have never met.

So far, the only casualties besides my sense of pride and yet another skinned knee were a broken bottle of hot sauce and a beer bottle from a little too enthusiastic de-capping post-ride. (Unrelated incidents.)

I would like to say that the bike move went smoothly.

It did. Everyone was fabulous and the ride went amazing. The last guest left the party at 2:45, meaning that since we started at 11am, started loading at 11:30, headed out at just about 12:15. . . I didn’t pay attention to when we got to my new home, but I am going to guess it took about an hour at the slow and steady pace we were taking. . . unloaded very awesomely into the garage and house – then ate some amazing tortilla soup, cornbread, soda, beer.

A friend of mine that couldn’t make the move (but her partner did) even showed up for the party and brought a gluten-free vegan freezer pie. It was amazing. Grapefruit and pudding-like! I never get stuff like that!

Why didn’t I think it went smoothly? The bike move did. The week coming up to it was a complete disaster. I went full on panic attack regarding packing. It just serves that I need better coping skills. Need to stop micromanaging and ask for help when I need it. Other than that, it went peachy.

So how much does it cost to move by bike?

The bottom line?

I help friends all the time and have mentioned it on here a couple times. Just did one a few weeks ago actually for my pie bearing friends. I don’t know how it works for all people, and you can do it pretty inexpensively. I got my boxes for free. Boxes are the easy part. You can look on Craigslist or ask around to local shops, liquor stores, friends, etc. If you are in a really tight schedule, you can buy them from storage unit places. Things work as boxes, too. Laundry baskets, hampers, stuff sacks, extra backpacks, coolers, etc.

So really, all your money is going into paying for the services that your friends are providing. This can work out very cheaply or expensively. You can buy fruit and slice it yourself. Or just a sack of mandarins. Or you can buy a fruit platter. Huge price difference. Or have no fruit at all. Most people like coffee in the morning. Then you need coffee cups generally. I use paper cups because it was easier to recycle them. Some people have a lot of normal cups and just keep them unpacked for the purpose of coffeeing their movers in the morning.

You don’t have to have a huge spread at both the start and end location. It’s nice to have a little something to gift the movers at the end for their hard work. I personally spent over $150 for this move. I went a little overboard, what with donuts and a fruit platter – two huge pots of tortilla soup (of which we will be eating for lunch the next few days for left over), case of beer, case of orange juice, homemade gf-v cornbread muffins, and then condiments (Earth Balance butter, Tofutti sour cream, Daiya cheese), I even snagged a lb of bulk Stonewall Jerquee, which is vegan gluten-free jerkey to go with the pioneer Oregon Trail theme of my ride.

The justification is that if you went by moving truck, generally there is just you and a couple other people. Moving trucks say that they are just $20 a day, but then there are the secret add-ons. Insurance fees and things like that, so by the end of it, if you have a truck for two days, you are probably spending about $200 with refilling the tank and all. Then there is the factor that since there are only a few people you are exhausted, have back and knee pain. It’s a pain in the ass.

This took me only a few hours and I am now I am in my new place with all my stuff.

All I had to do was go back the next day and clean.

Easy peasy.

All I had to do was feed a bunch of friends and had a ton of fun hanging out before spending the evening organizing my sock drawers.


Most of the photos taken by Hart Noecker. Appropriate credit given when you go directly to the Flickr set and read all the descriptions.


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Jan 31 2013 January 31, 2013 January 31, 2013 1Comment by bikeleptic

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

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In Chinese astrology the cycle not only revolves by a twelve animal totems that you see on those paper menus in the restaurants, but also on five elements (metal, water, wood, fire and earth) – this year, after spending many hours in solitude, casting the yarrow stalks and meditating to mantras, I have calculated that this 2013 is the Year of the Water Snake. That’s pretty cool for babies born this year or in 1953 because they share something in common. According to a website or Guru that I beseeched:

“Water Snakes are: Influential, motivated, insightful, and highly intellectual are words that best characterize Water Snakes. These Snakes work well with others and enjoy being recognized and rewarded. They’ll reveal feelings to those closest to them, but no one else.”  (page link)

So, what does that mean for the rest of us, or if you believe in this hoiky-doiky stuff? Well, light some scented candles and nag champa incense and sit on that papasan chair so you can listen to this: Snakes are extremely effective at getting things done. They are analytical. They prefer having a manageable workload rather than having a schedule that’s over-booked. . . there’s a bunch of other crap, but there’s a point to all this jargon. Back in mid-December, I made my new year’s resolution. What was that resolution? To simply be more organized. I didn’t know jack about this Snake year stuff. Manageable workload is exactly what I was thinking about. What about this water stuff?

So water is wet. Yup. Think fluid, transition, always moving – forceful. Water can cut stone and shape mountains, but it can also be gentle. It’s like emotional and receptive, deep or some shit. Or it’s like always rainy because I live in the Pacific Northwest. Take from it what you want.

What am I getting at? That it’s now February and I have taken a month to talk about New Year Resolutions. It’s almost apropos. Most people have already given up their’s by now. I actually started mine back in December just to give myself a “practice” or “dry run” of it, so to speak.

What was mine?

To be more organized.

And so I am writing the New Years entry in February.

Yup.

What happened to ring in 2013? Let’s briefly catch you up.

  • As you may have noticed in photos, I dyed my hair back to normal color in November and then cut it all off, so have been sporting this swanky little pixie do.
  • In shocking news, Lance Armstong admits to doping to one of the most powerful women in the world. I don’t think anyone saw that one coming. But now we get videos of LA singing Radiohead’s Creep and of him lying to Oprah, which are even better than the epic interview, in my opinion.
  • I am now wearing glasses. After having migraines that were getting worse and worse, I decided to take a different route for healing. I went and got my eyes examined. I used to have glasses that I just wore for computer use when I worked tech support. I haven’t really worn them anymore because I knew the prescription was old and I only really wore them when my eyes felt strained. I knew I had a slight astigmatism. Found out I was both far and near sighted. Nice, right? Got me some tinted lenses for computer and fluorescent light use and another pair. (Tinted lenses is a whole separate entry if you’re interested in info.)
  • I had some seizure activity though, so there has been some medication changes. They added a new med because I am maxed out on my other epilepsy meds. So, I am currently titrating up for eight weeks. I am optimistic about it because I have taken this med before for an unrelated issue and didn’t have weird side effects with it. Of course I wasn’t taking this particular cocktail of meds, but still. I’m pretty stoked. Waking up a little groggy in the morning, but figure once I get used to it, I will be cool.
  • This summer a bunch of us tall bikers were filmed by the Travel Channel for a show and the Portland episode finally aired on January 23rd. It’s called Edge of America. You can see the tall bike joust segment here where I am featured for all of 2 seconds falling flat on my face in a day-glo orange shirt. All I got was pizza and beer for doing it, none of which I could eat, but it was fun anyways. You joust for the glory. . . and then you sell out to the Travel Channel. . . and don’t even get any swag.
First Bike Move 5/11 - About 20 people showed up to help me move just under 5 miles on a gorgeous May Day!

First Bike Move 5/11 – About 20 people showed up to help me move just under 5 miles on a gorgeous May Day!

Now on to the good stuff. You can tell it’s good because I’ve started an entirely new paragraph about it. Recently a friend of mine and local cycling, pedestrian and environmentalist (and all around good person) Steph and her (also equally fabulous partner) Ed, had a bike move. They have been a part of the Portland bike community for a long time and “Shifties,”  as well. What’s so monumental about it? It was Portland’s biggest move ever. 67+ people! 10+ miles! Holy shit! It made the local news! And then it went national on CNN! Steph and Ed have done so much for the community at large that they totally deserved every last person that showed up to carry, haul and help out that day.

It kind of makes me feel a little humbled when I bring up the fact that on February 9th, I will be hosting my 3rd personal bike move. That’s right. I am moving. It feels like I just about six months ago. . . wait, yeah. . . so. . . it was seven. While my move will be a longer commute from work, stores, friends, pretty much every kind of accessibility thing I can think of, it is going to put me really close to The Lumberyard Indoor Bike Park! This place is pretty fantastic! I have hung out with the owner and he is a stellar guy. They host all sorts of events and living nearby I might actually be able to take part in some of them.

So I’ve been packing.

And going to doctor appointments.

  • I just had my two month check-up with my podiatrist and my post-foot surgery scar is looking pretty good to him. He diagnosed me as healed! There’s still some tenderness but that’s normal.
  • My Raynaud’s disease is still a “thing.” I still have chilblains on my toes, but they are slowly healing. I am taking blood pressure medication which is supposed to act as a vascular dilator. Kind of like internal embrocation cream, right?!

Also, I just joined up with a cycling team this year! “Flahute Racing Presented by Trailhead Coffee Roasters.” You should “like” us on Facebook!

So there’s that. We’re also hosting a series of road races this month.


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