My impression of Portland after six years: "The city feels bigger."
Looking at the Portland cityscape at night from the airplane window seat I was lucky? enough to get, the circle of light felt wider than when I visited before.
However, after looking into it a bit, while the population itself has increased compared to six years ago—perhaps due to the impacts of COVID and inflation—it seems to have been decreasing in the last few years.
After all, a cup of hot coffee costs 700 yen.
I had prepared myself, but it was beyond expectations.
"Summer is the best!" turned out to be true
During the three months I stayed in this city six years ago, it was winter.
It rained every single day.
Back then, everyone around me would say in unison, "Summer is the best, Makoto!"
Six years later, I found out that it’s true.
During the day you can feel the summer, yet mornings and evenings are chilly enough to need a layer.
Because it’s dry, it’s cool in the shade, and it makes you want to drink hot coffee outdoors.
What a wonderful season.
In such a fantastic city, there are people I want to see, and furthermore, people I want to meet for MADE are gathering here.
I am truly grateful to have been able to come to this city at this time.
56 hours until setup begins, 68 hours until it ends
After refreshing myself thoroughly on Sunday and getting a case of muscle soreness instead of jet lag, the task assigned to me was assembling two of the three exhibition bikes and refreshing one.
Two days and a bit until the show starts—
a piece of cake.
Even though it’s an unfamiliar Chris King workshop, it’s a place I borrowed six years ago, and the wheels are already assembled.
No problem.
Yes, it should have been no problem, if only the parts had arrived...
Perhaps due to the influence of a typhoon—not that they had to come at a time like this—our nine boxes of luggage won't budge from Los Angeles.
What is going on?
Every day since they stopped moving, I’ve been calling them, and every day they repeat, "It will arrive tomorrow."
Are you a broken answering machine?
Oh, wait, I’m sorry.
Please, I’m begging you, get them here as fast as you can.
Perhaps that wish was granted; the parts arrived.
Four and a half hours left
The luggage arrived four and a half hours before the setup deadline.
The music from the finale of the Drifters was playing in my head.
Even so, I carefully assemble our "doppo" series bikes one by one to send them off to their big debut.
14 hours until opening
We didn't make the setup today, but we cleared the problem by bringing them in on the day.
With the bikes somehow assembled, I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s main event.
I want to show off the bikes we made as soon as possible.
The "doppo," which debuted at the 2016 NHABS in Sacramento, has undergone its second model change this time, and I think it has become easier to use as a tool and easier to become a riding partner.
The lineup has also increased, giving people the joy of choosing.
I was able to go to Sacramento for the 2016 debut, and I am present at the scene of this major renewal.
I must do my best.
What kind of bicycle is doppo?
Across its entire series, doppo is not a racing bike.
Even though they are handmade, by offering them in stock sizes rather than as custom builds, we are broadening the gates for more people, crafting them so that everyone can enjoy the fun of riding bicycles and feel the time spent pedaling silently alone.
How will this sentiment be conveyed in a foreign land?
I believe that bicycles are universal, but this country has a different history and a different culture.
Oh, I’m nervous.
MADE, opening tomorrow.
What kind of journey will the doppo series have, and what will I think? I’m just so excited I might not be able to sleep.
The details are for you to enjoy once it starts.
I’m blowing my own horn here, but I think they’re pretty cool, so stay tuned!!