Free food, tune-ups, music,
speakers, and smiles await you.
File photo: 5/17/06
speakers, and smiles await you.
File photo: 5/17/06
If you’ve been wanting to dust off your rig and ride to work, Bike to Work Day (May 16th) is the perfect day to start.
No matter what part of the city you live in, PDOT wants to make it even easier for you to make it happen. They’ve unveiled a map of six guided rides (below) leaving from all parts of the city and leading to breakfast and festivities at Pioneer Courthouse Square.
Whether you need motivation, friends to ride with, or just help finding your way, here are the locations and times of PDOT’s Bike to Work Day rides (*see update below for more rides led by BikePortland readers!):
- Arbor Lodge Park (N Dekum & Delaware), 7:00
- Grant Park (NE Grant & 33rd), 7:00
- Wallace Park (NW Raleigh & 25th), 7:15
- Laurelhurst Park (SE Oak & 37th), 7:00
- Duniway Park (SW 6th & Sheridan), 7:20
- Ladd Circle (SE Harrison & Ladd), 7:15
Let’s take over the city with bike commuters! Hope to see you there!
UPDATE: More rides are being led by commenters:
- Mt. Scott Community Center (corner of SE 72nd & Harold), 7:00
(more details here) - Lents Town Center, (SE Foster and 92nd), 7:00 (more details here)
- Springwater Corridor Trailhead (SE 45th & Johnson Creek), 7:15am (more details here)
This is exactly what I want to see! More starts from more neighborhoods.
But note that most of these rides begin in neighborhoods that are fairly well-off economically.
Now we need to work on getting a ride going from, say, Lents, or outer Cully near the airport — lots of folks in these mid-county neighborhoods ride because they HAVE to.
We have a golden opportunity to make bicycling look positive for people who live in these places, as a counter-voice to the TV ads that are trying to convince them to go into hock to buy cars (and as a companion to the bike safety programs that are making their way into these neighborhood schools).
Lower-income bicycle riders are the hidden population of the bicycle scene and we have to figure out ways to reach out to them much, much more.
two comments:
1) beth, you couldn’t be more right. a ride led/joined by, say, Mr. Potter from Lents or Culley would be quite eye-opening, particularly if they started from downtown at the end of a swing shift. perhaps more funding for night owl bus service and bike lane safety considerations?
2) on a completely different note, i’m trying to get our ED to bike commute. anything from SW taylor’s ferry area?
This westside commuter feels left out.
feeling left out? I’m sure the city allows other people to start their own rides.
Here’s an idea. If you’d like to announce a location and meeting time for a ride from your neighborhood, list it here in the comments and I’ll update the post to help spread the word.
Beth–great minds think like you!
I’d be willing to lead a ride starting from either the intersection of Johnson Creek Blvd/Bell Ave/Springwater Corridor, OR the Springwater trailhead by Tideman-Johnson Park. However, I would be happier to have a co-host in case I have to pull out last minute.
This meeting would touch on unincorporated Clackamas County/Southgate, as well as Milwaukie.
Great idea again. Of course for those of us whose commute is actually away from the core (to Gresham) the closest I’m gonna get to the music and bagels is the pictures here on May 17. Ah well.
peddle on.
I commute from Cedar Mill to northwest Hillsboro. There aren’t any goodies or parties anywhere near here. I’ve never even seen a breakfast on the bridges. Portland has a good bike commuter community; Washington County has nothing.
I was thinking about trying to encourage my coworkers that live near me to join my ride.
Neil – I’d say go for it, and help bring the bike love to Washington County!
I’ve just started to get my own weekly bike commute ride off the ground. If you need advice or pointers on how to get yours started, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
(liquidrunning at kittymail dot com)
Kirsty
And don’t forget the Bike-pools section in the Portland Bike Forums!
I set that up to help people organize and connect bikepools all over the city.
I’ll join the Laurelhurst start.
But what I really want to do is get my company to do something to recognize its bike commuters on that day. It’s not that those of us who ride every day need the pat on the back, but I’m hoping I can get some of my co-workers with one foot on a bike pedal and one on the gas pedal to come on over to the side of light. I have a few ideas, and I’ll let everyone know if I have any success, so they can try it at their workplaces. Or, does your company currently do anything for bike-to-work day already? How did it start?
How many of you have heard from people at your work that they would love to start riding in but just haven’t taken the plunge? Whether it be that they are not sure of the route, which roads have low traffic, or just plain fear, they need help to get started. This is where we can help. We often talk about how we can get more poeple to ride thier bike. If each one of us helped just one person get started, we would DOUBLE the amount of bike commuters in Portland. So on this day I will be biking to a few people’s homes in my neighborhood and lead a ride to and from work. After showing them the way, we will break down the number one barrier for bike commuting for most people!
Hey, Outer Southeast Folk:
Anyone want to join me that day in bike commuting from Mt. Scott Community Center (corner of SE 72nd Ave. & Harold) to Pioneer Courthouse Square on Wed. May 16th?
Then get there by 7:00 a.m. so we can take a leisurely spin downtown and get free goodies before we get to our daily grind!
I’ll be the one in the yellow Bridge Pedal helmet, standing across Harold St. from the Shell Oil station. We can look at the gas prices ($3.35 – ouch) then thumb our noses at them before we burn calories not gasoline!
Meghan
Those rides all leave when I’m asleep!
Hi folks,
I’m the Lents Neighborhood Association Transportation chair, and I’d be willing to lead a ride on 5/16 to DT Portland. I’ve commuted regularly up until last fall when I had an “incident” with a van. I’d like to get riding (and back in shape again), so if anyone wants to take me up on it, I’d be happy to travel with them to downtown.
I work in the US Bancorp tower (big pink) and have to be at work by 8:30, but bike to work day could be a good excuse to be late.
I’ll meet you at Lents Town Center at 7:00am sharp and leave by 7:05. I plan to take the newly created SE Center Street bike corridor.
Please keep in mind I’m a legal eagle when it comes to riding (COMPLETE stop at all stop signs, make signals, yield to peds) so no bike ruffians need apply.
Thanks. An announcement also appears on the Lents blog (www.ilovelents.com).
It is just my luck that these events always seem to get scheduled on my bike “rest” days – if it were “Bike (or Walk) to Work Day,” then I would be in like Flynn. Ah well. Given that 4 out every 5 days is Bike to Work day for me, I guess it’s no big deal to miss the “official” one 🙂
Thanks Jess and Meghan! I’ve added your rides to an update at the bottom of the post.
Anyone else have a confirmed time and place?
Heather – I could meet / co-lead a ride from JCB and the Springwater. Does 7:15 work as a start time?
(those in the area know the spot – the big concrete pad on the west side of Johnson Creek Blvd where the Springwater Trail crosses – the best part is there are public restrooms right there)
Matt and I are confirmed for 7:15am, at the trailhead at Johnson Creek Blvd. and SE 45th Place, near Tideman-Johnson Park. It has bathrooms, it has fountains, it has a bunches of happy cyclists riding to work!
If that’s still confusing, consult this map:
http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/finder/index.cfm?action=ViewFile&PolPdfsID=425&/Springwater%20Corridor%20Map.pdf
If you have any questions about details, feel free to email me at handrews00 {at} alumni d0t lclark d0t edu.
Or rather, it has “a bunch” or just “bunches” of happy cyclists riding to work.
(Geesh! The minor mistakes of some posters on here! Pffft!)
Rats! I leave that morning to go work a bike race in Arkansas! Even though I don’t work anywhere near downtown (Airport)I always try to divert to downtown to experience the bike commuter love. Have fun and I hope it’s sunny.
Well, I normally don’t leave my house until 10:00 since I don’t work til 10:45, but maybe I’ll get up early for free bagels. Yum!
Is anyone interested in meeting up in the parking lot of the Fred Meyer at 39th and Hawthorne and riding SE Hawthorne in to downtown? Start time somewhere between 8 and 8:30?
Any NE Killingsworth/Alberta/Skidmore area bikers want to leave around 7:30?
Maybe meet at Skidmore and MLK and hopefully merge with the NoPo commuters on Vancouver.
I’m leaving my house on Skidmore around 7:15. Broadway Bridging it to Pioneer Square…