Sweat & Sip: Ride PDX & Kure

What: RidePDX
Where: 3745 SW Bond Ave 

Katie and I haven't done a Sweat and Sip in a while, but with summer coming up and a ladies trip to Nashville, it's about time to get back on the workout wagon. Luckily enough, we had been invited by RidePDX to come try a class (well, everyone's first class is free, but still)!

Look at this funny-shaped puppy!

The cycling studio, owned by Andrea Fenton (a former competitive swimmer), is located on the South Waterfront. The classes are 45 minutes in a dim room and include hills, sprints, and a weighted arm section. Apparently the classes are often to electronic music, but we caught them on an 80's theme day, which we prefer!

One way that RidePDX differs from other classes we've tried is the screens in the front of the room that show the output being made by each bike. Andrea, who also happened to be our instructor, used this to have the rows compete and to incentivize sprints throughout the workout. As an added benefit, you can track your progress online. Your stats for each ride are available in your account and you can track RPM's, resistance, speed, power, distance, and calories burned. Unfortunately Katie and I aren't competitive enough for this to matter to us too much, but if you are, this is the studio for you!

Overall, we had a great experience, Andrea was awesome, and if competition is key for you, this is a great studio to try! Ultimately though, and I know we're a broken record at this point, but we're still Revocyclers through and through.

What: KURE 
Where: 408 SW 12th Ave - there are 5 other locations
Honeys Heart: Feelin' healthy and stuff

After a morning workout it's tempting to indulge in a big brunch, but in the end, it's (usually) more rewarding to pick something healthy! So in this vein, Katie and I headed to KURE to get an acai bowl.

KURE was founded in 2011 and has recently opened a location on SW 12th with sitting room. They serve acai bowls, oatmeal, hot drinks, tonic shots, smoothies, and organic juice. We both opted for the Sunnyside ($8.25) blended with acai berries, bananas, strawberries, vanilla protein, apple juice and topped with banana, strawberries, chopped hazelnuts, goji berries, hemp seed granola, shredded coconut, cinnamon, and agave.

Katie isn't a huge coconut fan and had asked to have her bowl without that, they forgot, but luckily it's really just a dusting of coconut. It was a pretty tasty bowl overall, though I had imagined the acai blended base being a little thicker, plus we started to get really cold coming off of our workout!

I need to try Greenleaf's acai bowls to see how they compare, but this is definitely a healthy start to the day!

Sweat & Sip: Portland Rock Gym & Uno Mas

What: Portland Rock Gym
Where: 21 NE 12th Avenue
Honeys Heart: V0 routes

Surprisingly enough, this summer we got hooked on Revocycle, one of our "Sweat & Sip" stops, and haven't branched out much since then - so we're long overdue for another installment in this series!

Over the holiday, my sister kicked my butt at the gym, bouldering, and snowshoeing and after her visit I was inspired and reminded of how fun the rock gym is. I love when a work out doesn't feel like typical gym time where you're talking yourself into staying on the treadmill or skipping the last set of reps, because, well, who cares? Or maybe that's just me?

Anyway, bouldering is awesome because all you focus on is getting to the top of the wall and then once you're up there, you decide if you're close enough to the mat to just fall because your arms are so tired. Or maybe that's just me again?

The Portland Rock Gym (PRG) has a room for bouldering (where you don't need belay skills) as well as taller walls with auto-belays and belay routes for partners. They also offer climbing classes, private lessons, yoga, and a small gym.

We opted for a day pass ($15 + $5 for shoes) for bouldering, but the auto-belays (tried on a previous visit) are fun and I want to do them again sometime. The bouldering routes are marked with tape and the easiest are the V0. The difficulty level increases as the number goes up and despite our efforts we weren't able to complete all the V0s we attempted, but we did have some success!

This is the only rock gym we've tried so we would welcome other Portland favorites or recommendations! If you're interested in exploring this gym - which began expansions this week - check out their rates and hours!

What: Uno Mas
Where: 2337 NE Glisan Street / 1914 W Burnside Street
Honeys Heart: Surtido taco

Uno Mas got a brief shout out in one of Katie's "5 in 5" posts, and it has since become one of our favorite taco places, right up there with Porque No?

After rock climbing we stopped by the West Burnside location. We started with Totopos y Guacamole ($5) that was enhanced with an assortment of Uno Mas salsas available to add to your tacos.

On Saturdays and Sundays, Uno Mas features breakfast tacos in addition to their existing menu until 3pm (through the winter, 1pm in the summer). We tried the Huevo con Choizo en Salsa Verde ($2) which was good, but I wouldn't choose it over the Surtido ($2), a Katie favorite filled with chorizo, chicken, and beef. I opted for one seafood taco, the Majo de Ajo ($3.75) with rockfish and garlic lime marinade. Though it was good the Surtido was the overall winner.

After our fitness, three tacos seemed like a good idea but we would have been good with two. Plus our arms were tired and holding the tacos was hard. Seriously.

Also, sorry there's no sip to this post. We could have had some margs (they're pretty decent there, but not as good as PQN) but we were trying to be healthy. Sorta.

Sweat & Sip:

• Burncycle & Pink Rose
• Vega Dance Lab, Water Ave Coffee, & Canteen
• YoYoYogi's Boot(y) Camp & Coopers Hall  
• Revocycle & Sisters Coffee Co. 
• Booty Bar at Aspire Total Fitness & Sip