Epic's logo

Hoping to get in front of a growing interest in triathlons in the Portland area, the venerable Bike Gallery has opened Epic Tri Shop, a new store located in the upper level of their existing Beaverton location.

Although Epic Tri is in the same building as the Beaverton Bike Gallery, it will have its own bike mechanic service, separate from the main store. The new shop carries a variety of running, swimming, and bicycling gear. This past Wednesday was the store's grand opening party.

Store manager Gordie Cumming says he named the shop Epic because, "It sums up what I think many people feel when they step up to the starting line." It's also an acronym, Cumming explains: "Endurance, Persistence, Intensity, Camaraderie."

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We had two fantastic job opportunities posted this week. Check out the details in the job listings below...

• Bicycle Product Manager — Renovo Design
• Senior Design Engineer — Yakima Products, Inc.

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Yesterday we shared information about two recent hit-and-runs. Not surprisingly, an interesting discussion followed in the comments. For many, hit-and-runs get at the heart of how we get along (or don't) on our roads. Hit-and-runs also bring up the big question: Why do people leave the scene after hitting someone?

One commenter, Natalie, offered a personal story that I felt was important enough that it needed to be highlighted here on the Front Page.

Here's Natalie's comment (emphasis mine):

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A recent flap over Sunday Parkways funding at City Council underscores what seems to be a growing reality for people who run active transportation programs: You better start looking for private funds because city/state/federal budgets are shrinking fast.

Portland would not be getting a bike-sharing system (at least right now) if it weren't for the fact that all of its ongoing operations costs will be privately funded. Sunday Parkways will only get one-third of its total operating budget from the City this year — the rest will come from private sponsorships.

Now the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) is adding to its traditional funding sources for its youth education programs — state and federal grants — by turning to popular discount site Groupon.

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Could the route for the streetcar
become a bicycle highway?
(Image: Metro)

After what the Oregonian called "persistent doubts from suburban taxpayers and a wealthy enclave of homeowners" the Lake Oswego streetcar project is on the rocks.

Concerns about construction and operating costs of the streetcar were the reasons for its demise, but over $2 million has already been spent on planning and impact studies.

Instead of throwing that money out the window, officials have an opportunity to build on the previous momentum for the streetcar and construct a world-class bike connection between Lake Oswego and downtown Portland.

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(Image: BikePortland)

Bikes Belong just announced that Volkswagen will donate "significant funding" to support their ongoing People For Bikes campaign and other programs the organizations funds like like the Safe Routes to School National Partnership.

Here's an excerpt from the press release:

"We are working with VW as part of its Think Blue initiative, which encompasses all of the company’s efforts to promote eco-friendly mobility and encourage environmentally conscious behavior. VW has a history of working to improve its sustainability. Its factory in Chattanooga is the only auto manufacturing plant in the world to be LEED Platinum Certified. The VW factory in Wolfsburg, Germany has 5,500 bikes for employees to use for transportation."

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Good thing someone was riding by!
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R) shared a heroic tale this morning about a man who was riding his bike on the Eastbank Esplanade late last night and heard someone yelling for help and struggling in the Willamette River.

According to the fire department, Dan Sinclair was riding southbound on the Esplanade near the Hawthorne Bridge at about 11:15 pm when he "heard a voice calling for help from the river below." Sinclair stopped, scanned the water, and then noticed someone splashing about 25 yards off shore. Here's more from a fire department statement:

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Kaufman at an Occupy Portland
event in November.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Local media activist, musician and filmmaker Dan Kaufman of Crank My Chain! CycleTV had his "Disco Trike" impounded by the Portland Police tonight. Kaufman was downtown participating in the "J25" Occupy Portland event in support of the Egyptian uprising. It was planned as a peaceful march, but a large police presence was made and there were tense moments and several arrests. According to The Oregonian, it was the "most contentious Occupy Portland protest in more than a month."

Kaufman has played an active role at Occupy Portland, especially with the PDX Bike Swarm (we profiled him about involvement back in November).

Kaufman was issued a citation tonight for violation of Portland City Code 14A.30.020: "Unlawful Operation of Sound Producing Equipment." Kaufman maintains that he was not playing music at the time he was cited (see below for more details).

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Say hello to Milano.
(Rendering by Ankrom Moisan Architects)

Here in Portland we've seen many commercial and residential developments that are built with bicycling in mind. Whether they're directly marketed to people who ride bikes, or come with impressive bike parking, catering to Portlanders' love of bicycling is nothing new.

But the Milano Apartments, set to break ground Friday, were actually inspired by — and named after — a bicycle. Seriously.

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What Portland needs is a road that connects a close-in neighborhood to downtown that's designed in such a way that people who choose to ride a bicycle on it can enjoy the same level of comfort, efficiency, and safety that people who choose to drive or take transit currently experience.

Contrary to the vision of bike utopia many have formed in their head about Portland, the reality is that we lack this type of road. Yes, we have some innovative and exciting bike-specific infrastructure; but none of it provides the Dutch-style, door-to-door connectivity that we all know is absolutely crucial to handling our current traffic demands and to entice the "interested but concerned" to give biking a try.

Creating this type of roadway is the challenge I proposed when I was invited by GOOD to be a part of their GOOD Ideas for Cities event that's coming to Portland on February 16th.

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A man riding down NW Lovejoy
yesterday, alongside what used
to be plastic bollards.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

It looks like PBOT will have to head back to the drawing board in their effort to create separation between bike and auto traffic on the NW Lovejoy ramp leading down from the Broadway Bridge.

About a month ago, PBOT installed 34 plastic bollards (a.k.a. wands) on the ramp in order to prevent people in cars from driving in the bike lane. (The presence of newly installed streetcar tracks is causing some people to straddle them, thus putting their vehicle into the bike lane.)

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Governor Geer, bike lover.
(Photo: Oregon State Library)

Remember Oregon's tenth governor, Theodore T. Geer? He's the great Oregonian who, in May of 1900, rode his bike from the capital in Salem to Champoeg to establish a monument to an historic vote that took place there in 1843. That vote paved the way to Oregon statehood and the monument stands today as the focal point for the Champoeg State Heritage Area.

To honor that ride and Governor Geer's role in the founding of Oregon, the State of Oregon Parks and Recreation Department is organizing a bike ride that will retrace his route. The inaugural "Governor's Ride 2012," will be part of Champoeg's annual "Founder's Day" festivities (which have taken place at the monument since 1901).

Champoeg State Heritage Area Park Ranger Bob Woodruff got in touch with us to share more...

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One of the installations by Johnnie Olivan at The 2012 Bicycle Experience show currently going on at the Gallery at Port City on N. Williams and Thompson.

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The Portland Police Bureau takes hit-and-runs seriously — especially when they involve someone walking or biking. I know their response to incidents doesn't satisfy everyone all of the time; but in my experience, when they have enough evidence to work with, they go after suspects until they find them.

So far this year, I've learned of two arrests that have been made. In both cases, the person driving the car hit someone riding a bike and then fled the scene. In both cases, the PPB opened an investigation and made an arrest.

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I believe it's time for a
new transportation vision.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Tonight, President Obama will give the annual State of the Union address. While there's zero chance he'll mention bicycling, there is a chance he'll mention transportation investments (likely in the context of creating jobs).

If you were writing the speech, what would you have him to say about biking and transportation?

Go ahead, suspend your grip on reality and imagine that transportation is a non-partisan issue and that bicycling isn't a polarizing political football and favorite public scapegoat.

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If you can work it into your commute, Forest Park is a perfect respite from busy roads and its winter charms are sure to please.

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Dark paths require caution.
(Photo © J. Maus)

This edition of Ask BikePortland comes from reader J. Long. Mr. Long emailed us after he was involved in a collision with someone who was jogging while riding his bike on the Springwater Corridor at night.

"Hey Jonathan, Two nights ago I was riding my bike home on the Springwater [Corridor] between OMSI and Oaks Park.

I hit a female jogger and we both went down hard. As a cyclist I am always worried that somebody may have been hurt; but as I was laying on the ground she just got up and jogged away while I was a little dazed and trying to get untangled from my bike.

Are there rules for joggers to have reflectors or lights as there are for cyclist's on multi-use paths?"

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Kris Akins
(Photos courtesy Kris Akins)

A few years ago, I called a GPS bike tracker the "Holy Grail" of bike theft. If someone could just develop a discreet, affordable GPS device that would allow someone to track their bike after it was stolen, I thought, we would have a potent weapon against the scourge of bike thieves.

Now a Portland company says they've done just that.

Veteran entrepreneur Kris Akins has started several successful companies over the past 33 years. After having two bikes stolen from her garage, she looked for a device that would allow her to track the bike on her mobile phone. When she couldn't find one, her entrepreneurial spirit kicked in and BikeTrak was born. Akins bills the patent-pending product as, "the first GPS-powered security device for your bike."

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A new pole for the streetcar (marked
with orange/white stripes) has
narrowed the entry to
the Broadway Bridge path.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

As the story unfolds about how and why Portland Streetcar Inc. installed a utility pole on the Broadway Bridge bike/walk path, it is becoming more clear that they made a bad move.

We'll have more to share on this story in the coming days; but for now, check out what The Oregonian's "Hard Drive" columnist Joseph Rose thinks about it (taken from a news roundup he published today):

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Adams on the streets of DC. (Note: This is
a still from a video, he's about to roll up onto
the sidewalk)

Portland Mayor Sam Adams took a ride on Washington D.C.'s bike-sharing system last week. Adams took a break from the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting to rent a bike from D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare service and his office has released a short video of it.

In the video (below), Adams swipes his credit car in the kiosk and checks out a bike. His analysis? He noted how light the bikes where (compared to ones he tried from Lyon, France several years ago) and said, "I like them, they're cool," and then added, "We're going to have them on Portland streets very soon."

Watch the video below:

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