L'Eroica Dreams

This was the start of last weekend’s training session. I met Rick Wilson, owner of Cafe Velo, at his bricks-and-mortar version of the cafe at 05:00 on Saturday morning. The coffee trike has been making a splash in the Portland bicycle and coffee scene for a few years now. A Dutch bakfiet, it has been carefully and tastefully customized into a rolling coffee making machine. This was a Portland Farmer’s Market day and I was the lucky pilot who took her from her downtown parking spot uphill-all-the-way to the South Park Blocks. I spent the next couple of hours helping set up the cafe while Rick and I talked bicycles, fly fishing, chukkar hunting and fine European double-barrel shotguns.

The all-boy conversation ended with my wife’s arrival. We moved on to the finer things in life, including the excellent coffee that comes from this cart and the fine crepes that are made next door. This training ride was followed by a Sunday ride on the tandem with Sue, up and over the west hills via Saltzman, my touchstone for the local version of the strade bianchi.