Today’s Willamette Week features a poignant cover story by Angela Valdez. Angela, who writes for the WW, was struck by a motorist on NE 15th and Prescott several weeks ago and suffered a broken back and other serious injuries.
Their is also some good bike safety food for thought in their Letters to [...]

If you live in Portland and you’ve got an eye for bikes, you probably already know of Matt Cartwright’s work. Matt makes sculptures and builds furniture out of bike parts. Some of his well-known pieces include the “bike people” atop River City Bicycles, the memorial for Matthew Scheckel at SE 37th and Taylor, [...]

I had my fair share of bike fun on Sunday.
It started with a fantastic ride out to Kelley Point Park (tip of the Columbia and Willamette Rivers). Kelley Point is a great destination because there is either bike lane or bike path the entire way. Not to mention it’s got great beaches, huge, [...]

First we told you about the new “sharrows” coming soon to select Portland streets…now I’ve just got word from the city that “700 or so” additional pavement markings will be installed on bicycle boulevards starting next week. Bicycle boulevards are designated, low-traffic bike routes without bike lanes, such as SE Ankeny, SE Salmon, NE [...]

Tonight’s Critical Mass ride was a blast. I took Eleni in the trailer and we had a great time. Warm breeze, a great route (over the Ross Island Bridge!), some well-chosen music (thank you boom-box bike guy) and a fun group of people all contributed to the good vibe.
I hate to [...]

In case anyone missed it, the Zoobomb crew is featured in the current issue of the Willamette Week. Choice quotes include:
“We’re not political. We don’t want to subvert your dominant paradigm…we just want to have a good time.”
“We’re kind of keeping bike culture on the popular radar,” adds “Solid Gold,” a three-year member. “And [...]

Just a reminder that a bunch of people will be riding around downtown tonight between 6 and 7:00. If you want to join in on all the fun, just show up on a bike and ride. There will be a large group forming around the North Park Blocks (off Burnside) at around [...]

As I reported a few weeks ago, sharrows are coming soon to Portland streets. If you’d like to know more about them, head over to Sam Adams’ blog where someone from his staff just posted a good explanation and several links to more information.
I’m excited about sharrows and I believe they will [...]

Took my ladies out to Last Thursday on Alberta tonight. It was Danica’s big public debut…she slept the whole time. I love Alberta. Lots of funky, happy, beautiful people, lots of great art, and of course, lots of bikes and bikers. Ran into Carye of Red Bat Press fame. I [...]

Shift’s monthly Bike Bulletin is an essential Portland bike event and ride listing. Instead of just having it sit in my inbox each month, I’ve decided to start posting it here on BikePortland.org. I’ve been trying to figure out a way to post more rides and events, so I’ll try this and [...]

Just noticed this over at News4Neighbors:

“The City of Portland was awarded a federal grant to develop a comprehensive signing system for Portland’s bikeways. For the past year we have been designing a signing system that will use two types of signs: destination signs and route confirmation signs and markings. We identified more than [...]

If you’ve ever struggled up Cornell/Thompson or Germantown to Skyline, you might enjoy these. Local cyclist Shawn Kolitch has created a list of elevation profiles of many popular, local climbs including my personal favorites, Logie Trail and Newberry.

Local transportation advocate Linda Ginenthal (left), is featured in a just-released AP newswire story that details how Portland is a shining example of how bike-friendly cities keep people healthy. The story is a follow-up to a recent story about how Oregon is the only state to not show a rise in obesity rates.
Excerpt:

“What makes [...]

Thanks to everyone for the kind emails and comments on the birth of my daughter.  Several folks have asked for photos and more details…so here goes:
Danica Agnes Maus (we call her Dani)9lbs. 5oz. and 21" long
It was by far the most intense experience of my life.  The only thing I can even compare it to [...]

The City of Portland Office of Transportation has just announced a series of Bike Safety Leadership Workshops coming directly to your neighborhood. The Workshops will include:

a presentation about bicycle safety (including bike crash map information)
a bicycle ride to locations emblematic of issues related to bicycle safety in the district
a re-group for a [...]

Just reported on Wired.com is a new program in Lyon, France that may be of interest here in Portland (photo on left). This well-designed and high tech rent-a-bike system seems to be a major improvement on the old “Yellow Bike” program. It simply requires a credit card to “check out” a bike. [...]

Been a ton of bike-related articles in the news lately so I thought I’d just put them all in one post.
The August 19th issue of the Portland Business Journal did an in-depth piece called, A passion for pedaling: Commuters switch gears, turn to bikes for transportation. The article focused on everything from Molly Cameron, [...]

Local cyclist and BikePortland.org reader Dat Nguyen snapped this great photo with George Hincapie at the recent MS150 Bike Tour. George is one of the best cyclists in the world and Lance’s loyal teammate on all 7 of his Tour de France victories. And Dat?…well, he’s a really nice guy, a regular volunteer [...]

As you may remember from a comment to a previous post, Trek Bicycles is planning on a new bike model for 2006 called the “Portland”. This last weekend, Trek held its annual dealer-only show and photos of this new bike are just now starting to show up on web forums.
I was hoping [...]

I recently posted about the City of Portland’s work on an exciting mapping project that combines our bike routes with an interactive, web-based map. I have also heard from many of you about your close calls with motorists.
The next step will be to integrate the close-call data with an interactive map. [...]

…posting will be scarce for a few days. Thanks.
–Jonathan

A few days ago I received an email from a trucker named Jim. He has been making local deliveries in his 34,000 pound truck around N and NE Portland for 13 years. He brought up some constructive points about the bike safety issue and I think his comments are worth sharing.
“I sense a feeling [...]

Local racers claimed a whopping 13 medals at this year’s U.S. Track National Championships in Los Angeles. Here’s the rundown:
Silver
U23 Pursuit; Walker Starr
Bronze
Sprints; Heather Vanvalkenburg
Pursuit; Walker Starr
U23 Kilo ; Dean Tracy
Team Sprint; Jen Featheringill

4th
Team Sprint; Dean Tracy, Steven Beardsley, Carl Boucher
Team Pursuit; Walker Starr & Recycle Cycles
500; Miranda Duff
U23 Kilo; Steven Beardsley

5th
Scratch Race; [...]

[update: I have been notified of several incorrect facts in my account and have made appropriate changes.---Jonathan]
A few months ago, the bike lane in front of the Benson Hotel on SW Broadway was the scene of an ugly incident involving a delivery truck, a cyclist, and several cops, summoned by the Benson valet via [...]

[PLEASE NOTE: This post is from 2005. If you'd like to comment on the 2007 Bridge Pedal, please do so here. Thanks.]
Sam Adams, recently voted “Best Local Blogger” and “Best Member of the City Council” by the Willy Week, is asking for your feedback about how to make next year’s Bridge Pedal [...]

With no sign of the new Maus baby yet, I decided to wake up early Sunday and do my first ever Bridge Pedal! I joined nearly 20,000 other people for a bridge biking bonanza the likes of which have never been seen.
There were bikes and people everywhere. Bands on the bridges made for [...]

Bikes, beers, bands and burgers. You couldn’t go wrong at last night’s Twilight Criterium at the South Park Blocks in downtown Portland. The racing was all-out and the scene was massive. Thousands of bike-lovers from all over the city converged on the event. They were treated to a great event that [...]

I’ve just learned of an exciting development in Portland’s quest for an interactive bike route map. It looks as though Metro is trying to partner up with Google and their new Google Earth program. No official partnership yet, but Metro is actively experimenting with the technology (check the screenshot on the left).
The idea [...]

In the last several days there has been a flurry of discussion in the bike community about safety on our streets. I have been inspired by the outpouring of energy and dialogue around this issue. There is much more to be said and done, and I have no doubt that because of [...]

This week’s Willamette Week features an interesting letter from a cyclist named Frank DiMarco. His letter was written in response the Aug. 3rd column that named “Self-Absorbed Motorists” as the “Rogue of the Week.”
In his letter, “Share the Lane, Share the Blame” DiMarco says that cyclists would be safer if we only [...]