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 Bike Friday is proud to support Friday Friendly Tour Companies that offer a unique experience for little wheels. New World Tourist owner Laurie Dougherty reports on a 'Sustainable Energy In Motion' trip with Common Circle (formerly SEIM) a Portland-based bicycle touring company that offers adventures with a sustainability bent - one trip incorporating a fitting visit to the Bike Friday factory. |
FOR YEARS I wanted to bike on the Oregon Coast. My daughter Robin lives in Salem, Oregon and we often spend time at the coast when I visit her. As soon as I found Sustainable Energy in Motion on the web I knew the SEIM Oregon Coast bike tour was the way to go. As well as fulfilling a long-standing bicycle dream, SEIM resonated with my commitment to sustainability as a way of life and a framework for society. SEIM is a mobile learning community that connects cyclists with green businesses, organic farms, ecosystem restoration projects and other sustainable development endeavors. And now Green Gear’s Bike Friday factory is a stop on the SEIM tour of the Willamette Valley - a perfect collaboration. Once I decided to do the tour in the summer of 2006, I had to think about how. Getting a bike to Oregon from my home near Boston, MA could be a real hassle; this I knew. I had shipped my bike to Oregon the previous year for a different cycling event. I have borrowed or rented cars to haul my bike out of town. Sometimes I take Robin’s bike out of her shed for short rides. But it’s out of condition from lack of use and not a good fit. I began investigating folding bikes and kept coming back to Bike Friday. I liked the wealth of information and variety of cycling experiences on the Green Gear website, the emphasis on sound engineering, and the company commitment to sustainability. I ordered a New World Tourist and arranged to pick it up at the factory while visiting Robin the week before the tour. The bike was ready, everything exactly as ordered, down to the spare tubes and custom gears. I’m a definite hill slug and earlier that year the bike shop I go to put lower gearing on my other bike. We don’t have mountains in eastern Massachusetts; but we do have hills and more hills. Right away I could tell it was less of a struggle to climb. When I ordered my New World Tourist, I asked Brent the salesman if these very low gears could be matched. He said no problem. I took my made-for-me Bike Friday for a tryout on the bike path behind Green Gear, then folded it up and put it in the trunk of Robin’s car. I spent my 61st birthday at the SEIM orientation, getting to know the other cyclists and taking first aid and bike safety lessons. After a shuttle bus trip from Portland to the Nehalem area, we biked to Hank’s farm where we weeded - and picked - and ate - organic strawberries. That evening around the campfire Hank described his path to organic farming and sustainable living and business practices. Over the next few days, we pulled more weeds at the Nehalem Land Trust and more weeds at the urban garden in Tillamook where CARE grows vegetables for its food bank. We gained a deepened appreciation for the hard work and dedication it takes to build a fair and sustainable society. Our group of nearly 30 cyclists bonded while we hacked out weeds and invasive vegetation. We bonded over the camp-stoves, learning from the more creative vegan cooks among us all about “Other Things You Can Do With Quinoa” and “Beyond Quinoa: The Vegan Experience.” And we bonded while we biked, through forests and farmland, along rivers and creeks and inlets, and up and down the headlands on the Three Capes Scenic Route - Cape Mears, Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda. We spent two nights and one full day at Cape Lookout State Park where our campsite overlooked the beach. The sun set into the Pacific across the way; and cast shimmering rays at dawn through the trees that towered over the campground. Above the evening campfire a full moon traversed the Milky Way while we shared our hopes and ideas for our economy, our country and our planet earth. |
 Instead of the optional, sustainably operated, sea-kayaking expedition, I went on a laundromat-seeking expedition into Netarts, a tiny funky town near Cape Lookout with a tiny funky gift shop, the Cool Stuff store. We found the laundromat, we found cool stuff, and we found the Whiskey Creek Cafe where some of us (temporarily) escaped the SEIM vegan regime by sampling the wonderful local oysters. After one last day cycling down the coast to Neskowin, past sand dunes and sea stacks and stunning cliff-top views, we biked inland for two days, along the Nestucca River, through the Coast Range, past the vineyards on the eastern foothills, and back to Portland. My Bike Friday did it all. Sometimes slowly (I’m still a hill slug) but always surely. I was the oldest person in this group, but I never had to sag, never had to walk the bike. This is truly the Little Bike that Could. Laurie Dougherty ldougherty@igc.org |
