🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
The Friends of Alberta Park are loyal supporters of bike polo. They understand that polo players are an asset to the park and the neighborhood and they have been trying to work out an agreement with Portland Parks and Recreation that would allow polo to flourish without the threat of being banned.
Recently, those talks have included not only allowing polo to continue at the park but to make the southeast tennis courts an official venue for the sport.
Torino shmorino. Who needs those other Olympics when we’ve got our very own Mini Bike Winter Olympics? Unfortunately I didn’t partake in the ceremonies but it looked pretty awesome from the photos I’ve come across. By far the craziest thing I’ve seen are clothing-impaired Zoobombers charging into the freezing Willamette River.
Dingo the Clown was on hand and he has photos and a report here and here. There are also some good photos on the Zoobomb Flickr photoset. And if you’ve ever wondered what a Mini Bike Winter Dance Party looks like, check out these shots.
UPDATE: For more great photos check out Tiago’s photoset.
I used to write the back page column for a bike magazine called “Roadie International.” I did about 3 or 4 of them before the magazine folded last year and the last one I wrote never got published. It’s about my preparation for the Jack Frost Time Trial, which happens this Sunday at Vancouver Lake Park, just a few minutes north of Portland.
So, here it is. Hope you like it:
“Aero at any cost”
While tinkering in my basement the night before the Jack Frost Time Trial I had an epiphany. It would be my first race in about 5 years so it’s amazing any clear thoughts emerged from the swirling nervousness in my head. But as often happens with anyone who has done a time trial, the dominant pre-event anxiety deals with a single yet complex concept: getting aero.
Aerodynamics – defined as “the interaction between airflow and the movement of solid bodies” – is the engine that drives much of the road cycling market. It’s what perpetuates the cyclist’s obscene fascination for anything that offers even the slightest airflow increasing advantage, including carbon, deep-dish, aero-wheelsets and dimpled, teardrop helmets that flaunt more technology than the Space Shuttle. Like the “digital divide” that spans between broadband wi-fi junkies and disadvantaged dial-uppers, the “gear divide” in cycling is just as pervasive. For those of us on the wrong side we can either sulk in our state of forced retro-ness or we can choose to innovate…which brings me back to my epiphany.