The rest of the Portland weekend was good. On Sunday, we went to a donut shop called Voodoo donut that had some pretty spectacular donuts and some interesting designs. Then after a downtown stroll to explore some, we headed back across the river to the show again. There were a lot fewer people attending on Sunday and the atmosphere was more chilled. It was easier to catch a glimpse at bike details and talk to more people. I perused that show for a little while but then decided it was time to find a good purveyor of beers that I could bring home with me.

At the Widmer tour, Dan and I sat at a table with a retired couple who mentioned a few places worth checking out. One was a beer store called Belmont Station. I decided to find it so I started walking towards the street it was on. I didn’t, however, remember how far it was. I was essentially on 7th or so street and the shop was right off of 45th. I walked a long ways. When I finally arrived at the location, there were signs saying it had moved. At least the new location was only a few blocks away. I walked to the new location and was relived to find a smallish but very well stoked beer store and pub. I looked around a bit and then sat down for a couple of beers and some corn chowder. Good soup and some good beer. (The beers were a Laughing Dog IPA and a Dechutes ESB). I then picked up a few bottles of beer that aren’t available in Nashville and headed out. I was pretty warn from my previous 1-2 hour walk so I decided to take a bus back to the convention center. When I got to a street that had a bus with Sunday service, I started waiting in the bus stop, but after about 5-10 minutes with no bus, I decided I didn’t want to wait any longer. Additionally, I remembered that I had walked much further west than South. So I wasn’t to far from the light rail. I headed North and found the train within about 10 minutes. That took me all the way to the hotel. I was glad to not have to tote those beers another few miles on foot.

Once I got back and met back up with Dan at the hotel, the show was pretty-much over, so we headed into town to check out a couple more breweries. We first went to the Rogue public house. It was a cool place, though more expensive (for beer and food) than most other places. It was definitely a touristy place, but with the visit. I had a cask conditioned “YSB” there as well as a Brutal Bitter. From there we headed to the Bridgeport brewery. That place was very nice. And the beer was some of the most reasonably priced. $3.25 for a 20oz pint of brew. And that was their regular price. I happen to order a barleywine that was only half a pint (due to the high alc content) but still only $3. Nice. We had a snack there as well before heading out again. As we wandered, we stumbled upon this hole in the wall pizza joint that sold huge pizza slices and microbrew beers. I had a local IPA I had never heard of but that was very good. While there we also played a couple of rounds each of Lord of the Rings pinball. Our last stop of the night was a pub call Captain Anky’s where I had a pint of Moose Drool and watched some carton network while listening to some music Dan swore was by the Chevelles “before they were signed”. It wasn’t.

Good times. Each day we exceeded our beer quotas, I was able to come home with some quality bottles of beer. I took some pictures of some cool bikes. Met some cool people. Got some stickers, some glassware, a couple of t-shirts, and plenty of literature (about both beer and bikes).

As far as the NAHBS, it was cool to go and see, but I doubt I will do so again unless it is close enough to drive. There was a lot there to see, but I could have easily been satisfied with spending only 2-3 hours there. I like a lot of the stuff I saw, but much of it was impractical and much of it was very overpriced compared to what is available otherwise. I am not saying it isn’t good to support the craft builders, but much of what I saw could be considered bike Jewelry, nice to have for bike enthusiasts, but not necessary at all in order to enjoy cycling. There were, however, some real innovations on display there. And some of them were certainly worth paying a premium for. It was worth going, for sure, and many people certainly couldn’t get enough. As for me, I like to see the stuff, but then I just want to get out and ride a bike, and I don’t want to have to worry or think about it too much…. Here are some additional snippet thoughts:

• Jones had some of the most expensive bikes, but they were also probably the most innovative and brilliantly designed – I was really impressed.
• In case you didn’t notice above in a picture, a customer profile from Dan Werle, of the Yazoo racing crew and Nashville cyclocross fame, was on display at the Vanilla booth.
• Ira Ryan had some cool bikes on display. He also said he does not planning on racing Iowa this year. I guess he is just giving someone else a chance. His clothing sponsor Rapha was also there with some incredibly nice riding apparel (with some incredibly hefty pricetags).
• Wolfhound bikes were a pleasure to look at.
• The Naked booth had one bike that was extremely attractive. A lot of polished chrome and some cool details including an eccentric rear dropout. After speaking to him about it and how it works, some phil wood hubs with axle bolts are the only hubs that work conveniently with it. That’s not that bad because Phil’s hubs are so nice, but I still prefer more flexibility in wheel selection.
• The Villin dude (Alexis?) was a really cool guy to talk to and had some cool bikes. He had these hand-textured and polished lugs that had a nice classic look, but I bet they would start to oxidize very quickly in a humid environment. I wonder how it would look with a clear coat….
• Ahearne had some cool bikes with his signature split chainstays. He also had titanium sporks for sale.
• There were quite a few builders I hadn’t heard of that made some really nice bikes. Nice, Goodtimes, Huffnagle (sp?), Courage, Engin (out of Philly – Wissahickon Cyclery), Bilenky, Black Cat.
• The ANT bikes were cool and the builder had a cool handlebar moustache. Ask Hennessey about Ant and he will tell you all you want to know.
• I received a copy of the quarterly mag MountainFlyer. It is a rocky mountain based bike magazine. Very nice.
• I like the bikes and vibe of the Proletariat bikes. Nice well-made traditional frames at reasonable prices.
• Cococino was there with a sweet curved top tube mtn bike sporting a signature tapered Waltworks fork. Very nice.
• A builder called Frances had a nice cargo bike with a custom cable actuated power steering setup. Very cool.

There was more, but that’s enough, I would say. Dan called it a star trek convention for bike riders and builders. I would agree with the assessment as this brings out more purists and bike geeks than more mainstream shows/events. There was a large representation, however, of the hipster trendy fixie crowd. Makes sense, I suppose, since they tend to appreciate the simplicity of the designs and bikes on display. It seems like almost every builder had a spiffed up track bike. It is a nice way to display a custom bike because there aren’t many parts to distract, but it will be interesting to see what the most built/displayed bikes are when the fixie trend starts to wane some. Maybe mountain bikes again? First it will probably be a stronger offering of touring rigs. There was certainly a strong showing of touring bikes this time.

So it was a good trip. Visiting Portland made more of an impact on me than the show. I hope it’s not long until I am able to visit again.