by Larry Lagarde

On Thursday, I returned from TrailLink 2007 to a pile of work. Now that I've made headway catching up, I wanted to take a breather and share some details about the trip [Photo below: panaroma of Portland, Oregon (click pic to enlarge)].


The conference was in Portland, Oregon but I flew into SeaTac (the big airport between Seattle & Tacoma). Montague's national distribution warehouse for their full size folding mountain bikes (like the Paratrooper and the new SwissBike line) is just 20 minutes from the airport so I made arrangements to pick up a bike to use on the journey.

To simplify things, my Montague rep had a Paratrooper folding bike delivered to a bike shop just 10 minutes south of the airport (Angle Lake Cyclery). As it turned out, the bike shop was catacorner from my hotel (the Best Western Airport Executel). To get the Paratrooper, I simply walked across the street (Pacific Hwy. South a.k.a. International Blvd).

While picking up the folding bike, I also bought Mr. Tuffy tire inserts and an alloy carry rack (QR Beam Rack MTX). I went next door to NAPA Auto Parts for some bright orange tie downs to use later to carry my luggage on the bike then returned to the hotel.

The newly renovated Best Western Executel (recommended) offered complimentary continental breakfast, Internet access & a computer room for guests. After eating, I checked the Amtrak Cascades schedule, mapped the train station's location, checked out & caught a ride on the hotel shuttle. The driver couldn't go all the way to the Amtrak depot but he helped me negotiate a $10 fare there.

The "depot" was simply an open air platform. I didn't have a ticket so I called Amtrak & made a reservation. Although the schedule noted that the train had bike hooks, the reservations agent explained that the Cascade's special Talgo tilting passenger trains were temporarily offline and that no accommodations were available for standard size bicycles.

Thank goodness I had the folding bike. I packed the Paratrooper into a Montague carry bag and boarded the train without trouble. The helpful conductor even carried my bagged folding bike into the passenger car.

Although the train had been assembled the day before from old passenger cars sitting in Amtrak's L.A. boneyard, they were fine. The 3.5 hour journey was enjoyable (especially the section south from Tacoma alongside the shore of Puget Sound) and the train arrived ontime in Portland.

I disembarked, walked through the impressive, beautifully restored train station's lobby and across the street to a pocket park where I entertained a family by unfolding & assembling the Paratrooper. Carefully, I lashed my suitcase onto the carry rack and biked across town, following the paved bike trail along the Willamette River almost the entire way to my hotel (the University Place) [Photo right: Paratrooper folding bike in front of the Amtrak station in Portland, Oregon].

I checked into the University Place, rode my bike around to a rear entrance, walked the suitcase laden Paratrooper into the elevator (just barely fitting), pressed the button for the 3rd floor, walked to my room, leaned the bike just inside the door and settled in for the next several days.

Coming Next - The TrailLink Conference

Labels: TrailLink-2007

Just wanted everyone to know that I've returned safely from TrailLink 2007.

As you can imagine, I have a lot of catching up to do regarding shipping orders, corresponding, returning voicemails, etc. Additionally, I have product reviews and photos to post from the trip so it's going to take a few days to catch up. I do want to share this though; the conference was amazing.

I learned about existing and coming bicycling projects from across the nation as well as studies and facts about bicycle usage. Clearly, cycling is emerging as a true transportation alternative in the USA. There is a long way to go; however, with the rising economic and environmental costs of burning fossil fuels, communities that encourage active transportation by making it easier to walk, bike & use mass transit (like Chicago, Minneapolis, New York City or Portland, Oregon) will thrive while others stagnate.

Larry

Labels: TrailLink-2007