Neighbors are delightful.

The morning we left Seattle Alex was bringing our bikes outside, prepping them for departure when Rob and David’s neighbor Donna walked up. Their conversation went something like this:

Donna: My mechanic is going to be here at noon if you guys need anything done.
Alex: Mechanic? Like bike mechanic?
Donna: Yeah, he’s a mobile bike mechanic – he’ll help you out for free.

What?!? We’d been trying to get into seeing a mechanic for two days but they always wanted us to leave our bike at the shop. And of course we can’t do that if it’s our only means of transportation. Clearly Donna was some sort of visionary telepathic mindreader.

There was very little decision making that needed to get done: departure was postponed by one hour. At noon, Donna came back with Ross – the sole proprietor of Delicious Wheels. And yes – he was wearing a kilt. So not only were we going to get our bikes fixed but we are also going to get to the bottom of the Seattle kilt fiasco we’d been seeing all over the place.

Ross turned out to be the most competent, knowledgeable, friendly bike mechanic we’ve met yet. He rebuffed what ol’ Phillipe had told me in Whitehorse. That clunking I’d been hearing for the last 2500 miles could most certainly be fixed; I definitely didn’t need a new headset. He worked on my shifting and spent a lot of time on Alex’s bicycle too. When I left – my bike literally felt like it was brand new.

We got to talking in Donna’s basement shop about our trip and route. Donna scrambled upstairs and came back with a route guide to Portland which she gave us. Awesome. And then she gave us a book about riding the Pacific Coast! Clutch. Those two objects have gotten us out of some sticky situations.

And once again – we’ve found that timing is everything. We never would have met Donna if we hadn’t of locked ourselves out of Rob and David’s house the day before. Because locking ourselves out meant that we had to walk around to the neighbors and ask if they had a ladder tall enough to get into the upstairs window. Most people just thought we were breaking in or didn’t have one. Eventually we got in, but Donna’s neighbor had said something to Donna about us which eventually prompted her to pop over and inquire about our mechanical needs. Zinger! Thank you Ross and Donna. And I must say – you were both right – Portland definitely rocks!

FYI #1: Apparently Utilikilts is based in Seattle. Apparently that’s a good enough reason to wear them. The Northwest appears to be pretty lax when it comes to fashion (not that we aren’t).

FYI #2: The route we took to Portland was called the STP – a yearly regional ride. Once we found it, spray painted signs guided us all the way to Portland. So if you’re ever riding from Seattle to Portland – hit up the Cascade Bicycling Club for directions.

Note #1: Ross – update that website man!

Comments (1) | August 24th, 2009