the pacific northwest, known as one of the mostprogressive places to live. the people here have areputation for craftsmanship and working with their hands. a connection, if you like, to the past. it's also the birthplace of technologies that are literallychanging the way we live. it's the kind of areathat you could take a car for a road trip, that's setting out
to change people's expectations. "we want you to come visit our state "of excitement often. "come again and again. "but for heaven's sake,don't move here to live. "or if you do have to move here to live, "don't tell any of yourneighbors where you're going." that's what the then governor said about oregon back in 1971.
and apparently, it's asentiment that prevails today. which is why it makes theperfect place for a road trip. my name is justin bell and all my life i have been aprofessional race car driver. my racing has taken me all over the world to some amazing places. but all those miles didn'tmatch up to much sight seeing. so as i take over thedriver's seat on epic drives, i aim to put that right.
to kick things off, i'm going on a trip acrossthe pacific northwest. from portland, to seattle,to the san juan islands. to be honest, i've always found people from up here a bit secretive about their part of the country. as though they know something we don't. they've cultivated a quirkyreputation for themselves as hip, but down to earth.
resourceful and creative,without being pretentious. my choice of car is also a bit unique. genesis is an evolution from hyundai and they have loftyaspirations for this g90. for me, that's the funpart about this trip. this is a place of contrast and i'm driving somethingequally unconventional. the streets here in portlandremind me of being in england, it's set out to a grid layout,
but it has this randomness to it. the blocks are very small and one minute, you'redown a tree lined street, the next, you're in body repair shop or some sort of cool coffee spot. and the same could be said for the people. it's this mix of hipsters,which i did expect, and also cool people, very subtle, going about their business,
not bringing attention to themselves. it's definitely an understated vibe of serenity and confidence. people seem to get ontheir own world, you know. this is a place where you'reallowed to express yourself. i wanted to bypass theconventional tourist spots and meet people that embodiedall the things i've heard about this neck of the woods. so i asked around my racing buddies
and was told about a guy who apparently makes top notchracing bicycles out of wood. this sounded perfect, as it'sobviously a loopy concept and fitted in with my preconceivedstereotype of portlanders as talented over-caffeinatedhipsters passing time, making cool stuff with their bare hands. so off to renovo bikes we head. what really caught myattention with these guys is, they're not justcarpenters or woodworkers.
they're engineers that simply decided that wood was the best material to make their highly uniqueand desirable bicycles. when you're meeting a manwho makes bikes out of wood, you anticipate him to be alittle out of the ordinary. ken, the owner and founder ofthe shop didn't disappoint. wiry and energetic, withone of the coolest dogs as his trusty sidekick. - elwood, where is a cnc?
that is right! there!- that is genius. - good job! he knows where it is. - so listen, i come from a world where it's all aboutthe latest technologies, the latest materials, space age stuff. and so when i checked you out on the web, i was like, "wood? how on earth are theymaking bicycles out of wood?" so make me a convert,show me how you do it.
- it's all space age stuff.- okay. - practically. so my background is rightthere, composite aircraft. so that plane is de havillandmosquito built in england. - yeah, sure.- all wood. and so that was part of my inspiration. - so what did people say when you first came up with the idea? you must've had someone you confided in
who probably went, "you're bombing mate, thisis not going to work". - everybody said that, butthey said the same thing when i did this. - okay.- so i don't listen to that stuff. wood is better in some respects. it absorbs vibration orit dampens vibration. key factor: longer fatigue life.
and as a long distantcyclist, i like that idea. a smoother ride. if you can ride 300 miles, i would like it to be a nice ride. - you know if my son walked out with this and said "dad, this is half of a bicycle". i would probably say, go back inside. (laughing) but it is beautiful. gosh!
almost reassuringly, first, ken showed me the engineeringroom filled with cad screens and impossibly young designersand engineers at work. as he pointed out, usingthe latest technology allows him to get the most out of the natural qualities of the wood. - so, justin, raw materials here. - wow! just planks of wood. there you are.
- nothing to it, it's easy. you see all the numbers on this stuff. we've got to weigh, test for stiffness, and test for moisture, every single stick. because within any givenspecies, with any given tree, it can vary from board to board. this throwback to the organic materials, it's very like the car world. obviously cars, we're usingthe latest composites,
they're always usingspecial alloys and things. yet, the interior, they've neverbeen able to match anything as well as original natural leather. to think, they come with allthese synthetic materials and yet, they still revertin the high end cars to real leather. this g90, i've got outside is all leather the whole way across, 'cause nothing will do the job as well.
man will always make use of technology to advance his creations. and why be different? even when you're about to use one of nature's most ancient materials. the composite wooden layers made from meticulously selected boards are positioned on the cnc machine to be cut into shape withmechanical perfection.
- so once we run themachine, they come in here, they get bonded together, and finished like we're doing here. - so there's a lot of skillto the sanding process and the finishing process. - that is the most skilledpart of this whole deal. the design part up there is software, this is hands on old world craftsmanship. really.
so, the best people here have degrees in art, like this guy. - oh, really? - yep. actually, he's got a degreein architecture beyond that. but those are the peoplewho really do this well. by part, when there's a lot of those. - i just moved into a newhouse, do you do kitchens? alright, let's go and see what's next.
cared for properly,wood would outlast most of it's man-made competitors. and so sealing and finishing each frame is an essential step in the process. each frame is then subjectedto a load and stress test and weighed too. every gram, a source of pride to the team. assembling the renovo bikes seems the most satisfactory part.
watching them marry thelatest in lightweight alloy and composite real bike parts to these magnificent woodenframes completes the process. there's a sense of confidencethat this is perfectly normal. and you feel yourself become a believer. who wouldn't make a race bike out of wood? tell me, you're a long term resident now of being up here in portland. what is it about portland?
- living here is a benefitfor making this bike, because portland isdefinitely a creative place where young people go to retire. - yeah. - but young people come here because of the creativity of this town. among other things, the beer,the coffee, and all that. there's plenty of transportation,it's a bike-able city. - what's the downside?- don't tell anybody
about all this. you're not going to spreadthis around, are you? - no, it's a secret. don'tworry, we're not on cam. oh, wow. i'm liberated. wow, that is fantastic. look how light it is. i think you may have justcost me a lot of money, 'cause i like new hobbies.
- good, good, good. - and that's good for you, bad for me. that's spectacular. look at it. well, as you can see,i'm huffing, puffing, so i'm going to take my car,i'm going to head up the coast, but thanks so much. - justin, thank you so much,it has been a pleasure. - next time i'll come back in shape and take away a bike.
- then we'll go for a ride. - then we'll go for a ridewith the dog. thank you. see you.- bye-bye. - portland definitely has an edge. it's fun and feisty. and i know ken says that youngpeople come here to retire, but i think maybe some of them stay to create things that couldn't and wouldn't be made inother parts of the country.
i left portland, headingnorth along the coastal roads. fittingly, it seems youshed the urban confines in the blink of an eye. and before you know it, it's just you, your car, and the open road. or at least it feels that way. what a super nice chap, ken was. and a clever one too. in racing, we're alwaysstriving to win and be the best.
i think he's got that too, but he's also very contentwith what he has as a business. i guess that's the holy grail, right? but something else i'm takingaway from the experience of being up close andpersonal with that level of craftsmanship and technology is that we really should expectmore from the products that we live with and drive. why shouldn't we demandthe latest in technology,
coupled with a use oforganic, natural materials, beautifully finished? and take this g90, for example,out here on the open road, i'm seeing the otherside of it's personality. it's actually surprisingly fun to drive. i know that this g90has everything going on behind the scenes. very clever people made it do that. they've integrated allthis super cool technology,
but they balanced it out witha use of these natural woods and leather and this fine stitching. even the buttons here onthe side are color coded to the leather, so they don't stand out, they rather compliment each other. and in the end, isn'tthat what it's all about? as the end user, wedon't really care quite how clever our car is. we just want the technology to be there.
we want to enjoy the driving experience and of course do it in an environment that compliments our lifestyle. miles pass easily in my genesis, giving me time to reflecton the road ahead. i'm making my way up the coast to seattle. a city i did come to as a kid,but have no recollection of. say for images of lots of water, and me and my sister naggingmy mum for ice cream.
i hear the people up hereare a bit more focused and ambitious, but that seemsa bit of a sweeping sentiment. i'm interested to see how another pacific northwest city created from a busy commercialport goes about life. how they married the legacy of their past with the impossibledemands of the present. for a city that has a rainy reputation, i think we lucked out.
i don't think i've ever seen a city that's so obviously in motion. naturally, you've gotcars and pedestrians, but you also got peoplerunning and cycling. you've got mass transit,you've got trains, and then when you kind oflook again, out to sea, you've got ferries, container ships, you've got pleasure cruises,you've got sailboats. and then what's even cooler,
all the sea planes coming in to land. evidently, a lot of growthgoing on in seattle. i'm sure led primarilyby the tech industry. and of course, amazonhas a huge presence here. and i think we're really experiencing a new definition of the word luxury because thanks to the user technology, they're giving us as the end user, the gift of time.
you know when you gosomewhere and you feel that you're missing outby actually driving to it, you should be on foot and explore? well, that's what seattle does for me. i think there's a lot moreto discover given the chance. all attention seems tobe drawn to the water which is the true lifebloodof this great city. so quite naturally, iwanted to get my feet wet and a sailboat seemedthe best way to do that.
but sailing, i've never quiteunderstood the attraction. and for sure, the pace is waytoo slow for this speedy brit. how wrong i was. alright, don't try this at home. yeah, great! (laughter) okay. - just give it a pull. just pull. just keep pulling.
there you go. - what am i doing? oh, the front one. oh, sweet. you can start laughing now. we're going around in a circle. - hopefully, not. - it wasn't me? - it wasn't you.
- go on a cruise, they said. pull the harbor in seattle, they said. maybe have a cocktail, they said. they didn't mention abloody cardio workout. (annoyed grunt) do you find that sailors haveone leg shorter than another? - alright, man, so basically, you're just going to picka point on land to aim for. so pick a tree or whatever.
- okay. - and we're more or less going this way and then yeah, i'll let you take the wheel up here.- can i hold on? - yeah, go for it, it's all you. - that's cool. oh, you get a littlebit of feedback there. - yeah, definitely. a well designed boat, it wants to come up
into the wind just a little bit. - so you always justnudge it into the wind. god, that's responsive! - yeah, it's pretty quick.- wow! oh, okay, we're a bit close, so what am i doing now? alright, that's good. sorry, guys. - a light touch.
- oh, a light touch. - yeah, so straightenback out a little bit. - oh, straighten back, i happened to oversteer there. - yeah, there you go. - the principles of sailing probably haven't changed really at all, right? just technology. - yeah, exactly.
the wind is still the same,the water is still the same. there's a lot of innovations in sailing that loop back aroundbecause people realized, "oh, maybe they did knowwhat they were doing "a thousand years ago." but the materials are thebig things that have changed. - [justin] i bet. the ropes, the pulleys, the little things there.- yeah.
and also, high-tech materialslike carbon fiber and stuff, it lets you put weight where you want it, not where you don't. so there's definitelyperformance aspects to that. sailing, you can learn it. you can learn the basics in a day, but it's endlessly nuanced. i mean, it's a lifetime of learning. - when the boat engages with the wind,
when you get it justright here with the sail, you can feel this energycoming through the hull, through your feet, through your hands. there's a natural feel to it. you know when you're doing it right. it's really like driving, it really is. i definitely have a direct correlation between my enjoyment and speed. he's like, "ahh!"
look at us huffing an angle. that is cool. jeez. kind of seemssilly, really, doesn't it? man's been sailing for thousands of years and i've only just discovered it. i've always thoughtsailing was a bit lame. i thought people were outthere posturing around, just waiting for the wind to pick up. but now i get it. that connection between nature
and feeling the tension in the wheel. it's familiar becauseit's about performance. i love it. anyway, let's get off the water. we'll find ourselves a mountain. active volcanoes are a part of life up here in the pacific northwest, and physically so. since the early settlers saw
the lofty peaks of the cascade range, man has been driven to climb them. so i'm driving to artist point at 10,781 feet to test the limits of the g90 and hopefully, get a lookof majestic mount baker. in terms of acceleration, well, eight-speed transmissionmeans you've pretty much got the gear you need.
and that's really the sameway i feel about the handling. you see, i have a particular weakness and that is a sensitivityto pitch and yaw. i'm the guy at disney worldto get sick on the tea cups. i'm really pleased with the way that once you make your decision, you position the car asyou go into the corner. actually, the chassis responds well. it takes a set, allows youto feed on the throttle
all the way out to the corner. so in that context, she's very proficient. it's great fun goingthrough these switchbacks. every time you get behindthe wheel of a new car, it's the start if a new relationship and you're evaluatingeverything in that relationship. and i've got to confess, i am way more impressedwith the genesis g90 than i thought i would be.
it had been a beautiful day for a drive, but as the day wore onand the sun got lower, the clouds started togather around the mountain. as i made my way to the top, it was almost as though iwasn't supposed to be there. rain, rolling fog closed in around me. to be honest, getting tothe top was an anticlimax. nothing to see, but a whiteout. not today.
so we've just left anacortes, heading to the san juan islands. i understand they're verybeautiful, very wild, and a special breed ofpeople live out here. so, sounds the perfect recipe for this stage of the road trip. watching the islands appear before me fitted with my overall experiencesin the pacific northwest. it really is a private part of the world.
if you're privy to itsbeauty and resources, then you can lead a trulyrich and complete life. how can you not want to go on a road trip when everyday is somethingbeautiful like this? i have a little bit ofa childhood relationship with ferries because we used to live right on the coast in england and every year that's how we'd go across to the le mans 24 hours whenmy dad was driving there.
so there's something really exciting. i like the vibration and the feeling that you're going abroad. it may only be september, but it is cold up here. tell you what, we are going really fast, but now, i know all about that. i know that that bloke on the sailboat is happier than we are
'cause he's living life atexactly the pace he wants to. islands foster a unique lifestyle. whether they're in thetropics or snowbound. and so far on this trip, i've found the people up here on the coast equally interesting. but i wanted to findout how their qualities translated to island life. i had heard of an architect
who having grown up on the island, now created homes that cateredto these modern values, while embracing and respectingthe spirit of the land. sounded like the perfect tour guide for me and so deep down into a narrow lane, i went to find jeff prentice. well, hello, jeff. - hi.- how are you? - nice to meet you.
thanks for having me over. - very welcome. - you look like a man at peace then. a man at peace with hisenvironment, that's for sure. - well, this is a place to be at peace, in the environment. people come here to mostly relax. other people come here to work and just have a quiet place to live.
and people like to havetheir own privacy, you know? so for me, every house ido and the way i live here, is i kind of like to see nature. i don't really want tosee things that remind me too much of urban existence, or other houses, or anything else. - can i drag you away from here and get you to show me some of your other stuff- sure.
- 'cause i'd love to ifwe could impose upon you. - yeah, i'd love to showyou something that's new. that's a pretty car. - yeah, this it, this is g90. - this is a very nice car. - yeah, it's very elegant. - this is the old farm here. this white house waswhere my mother grew up. - how wonderful for youto have that connection,
that bond every time you move, you come back in it. no wonder it feels like home. - and it hasn't changed. that's the odd thing, the house is the sameas it always has been. i mean, all these roads were dirt roads when i was living herefull-time in the '70s. - you're literally and figuratively
an architect of evolution, progress. yet you're somewhat of anambassador for the old way too. - i really love the way itwas, i miss the way it was, and yet i'm one of the people who's contributing to change it by helping people build new houses. so of course, what i think is that i'm helping people buildreally good houses. - yeah, the right ones.
the ones...- that fit into the landscape. so this is the idea that thisroom is pretty much outdoors. - it really is. - even if this is all opened up and you've got theliving, dining, kitchen, and you're just really part of out here. - you never know whether you're in or out. - it opens up right to the beach. so, and then we're lookingat different islands.
that's orcas over there, that's spieden. - so do you think yourstyle of architecture has created these houses or has the island created you that's created the architecture. i mean, one without the other. obviously, you're inspired by the island. - as a designer, you are a blend of all your past experiences.
to me, having grown up here on the island, my sensibility ties to these things that connect to the natural forest, connect to the natural plants. it's just the island life. - [justin] obviously,jeff has thought a lot about maintaining a balancebetween design and technology on his beloved island. so i was excited to jump back in the car
to go and visit what he callshis greatest island creation. - i think the initialphilosophy is the same in that, how does thisblend in to the landscape, and there are different landscapes, so there's different solutions. so they're going to look very different, but still the genesis of them is this. how do you work the sight the best you can for what you want to do with the house?
- oh, wow. just right out here on theroof of the bottom cube. jeff, that is absolutely outstanding. i've never been this closeto anything like this. i've seen them in magazines. - i'm very proud of this house. - you're in love with this house. - i am in love with this house. and i know it's from the concept forward
when we started thinking about it and how it's going to fit in this thing. i just got really into this house, how it's working on these rocks, and how it's a representationof this rocky, knolly stuff. these are rectilinear, but they're still that kind of contrasting, juxtaposed, bunked intoeach other sort of thing, just like the rocks are.
just works. - it really does. wow, beautiful. i think what this trip has done for me is raised my level of standards. i'm realizing i shouldexpect more from life. - from the design aspects of life. - from design and also fromthe way you make choices. - well, it's the thoughtfulness too.
we put a lot of thought into all of this, every little design aspect. and that's just like wheni got in the car with you, it is just reallythoughtfully put together. - well, look what parkedright outside your house. being exposed to such levelsof high design and materials, both old and new, definitely alters yourpersonal threshold of taste and awareness of quality,
which makes jumping back in the g90 actually a distinct pleasurewhich i wasn't expecting. the genesis has acomposed, confident style that completely matches my experiences of my trip up throughthe pacific northwest. candidly speaking, since istarted out on the road trip, i've been seeking out theweak spot in the genesis. i presumed it would be an easy drive around the city streets of portland
and out on the open highway. but stepping out of it to meet ken and his hit team of bike builders, i realized, i didn't feel likean impostor to their world, nor did it look out of place against the vibrant cityand seascape of seattle where the genesis certainly gained the attention of passing locals. but my "ah" moment camedriving up to artist point
in the poor light and on those wet roads. it's like the car shifted emotional gears and gave its all to make me enjoy what was a really demandingstrip of road to the summit. they say traveling aloneis good for the soul, but it's the people you meet along the way and the experiences you share that are the texture to these adventures. and for me, i also treasurethose moments in between
when it's just the road,the car, and my thoughts that put life itself into context.