Cover of Bicycle Facilities Strategy to Reach Platinum Status in Southwest Portland.

A major effort to bring the quality of biking in Southwest Portland up to the standards of the rest of the city has finally landed on PDOT’s desk.
SWTrails — a subcommittee of the Southwest Neighborhoods, Inc. — has submitted a 65-page plan [...]

Lake Oswego police have made progress in the burglary that hit Lakeside Bicycles last week.
According to the Oregonian, police have recovered two of the six high-end bikes (valued at over $16,000) and they’re questioning two suspects in the case:
The Bartons (the suspects) are thought to be homeless, maybe staying with friends, and have been spotted [...]

OBRA’s fearless leader Kenji Sugahara.(Photo: Kenji Sugahara)

The River City Bicycles Cross Crusade’s sixth race of the season brought the show to Barton Park over the weekend.
Judging from photos, reports, and my memory from last year, the race site was a muddy, gravel pit full of tricky descents, big puddles, and slippery run-ups that [...]

(Photo by Steve Rhodes/Flickr)

I don’t care how you get to a ballot box today, just do it.
If you haven’t voted, make sure you swing by one of the ballot drop-off sites, get in line, or do whatever it takes to make it happen. And, while you’re at it, drag your friends, co-workers and neighbors [...]

The Bike Exchange

A new bike shop called The Bike Exchange has opened its doors on SE 50th and Division.
Owner Tom Daly dropped a line the other day with the news. He says they opened just a few weeks ago and they’re already busy doing tune-ups and “all sorts of repairs and [...]

The Monday Web Roundup is a new weekly feature that will serve as a catch-all for all the cool and interesting news, sites, and ideas we come across from Portland and around the country. Email your web tips to elly@bikeportland.org, or use the tag “bikeportland” in del.icio.us.

In local bike news, there’s a nice Sunday [...]

The Ace Hotel is throwing a big election night party that will raise a glass to a new era in American politics and will raise money for a few local non-profits; including the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA).

The party is at The Cleaners (next door to the Ace on SW 10th and Stark) and there will [...]

Rep. Jim Oberstar (D-MN)(Photo � J. Maus)

Politico published a story today about who might get cabinet-level appointments in a Barack Obama presidency (if he’s elected on Tuesday night of course).
Politico reporter Ben Smith and ABC’s Jonathan Karl (who used “well-positioned Democrats” as sources) have put two familiar names in the running for Obama’s Transportation Secretary [...]

Shark-on-a-bike Elly Blue.(Photo � J. Maus

It’s been a while since I left an open thread up over the weekend. Hopefully you haven’t forgotten the drill.
Do you have bikey Halloween plans tonight? The hot tip is North Freak’s Freak Friday Halloween Party Ride (oh man that’s going to be good).
Will you take on the [...]

The Portland Aerial Tram — $57 million…(Photo: Dat Nguyen)

As we move into the 2009 legislative session, and with an update to our Bicycle Master Plan finally on the horizon, I’ll be covering the future of bikeway funding a lot in the weeks and months to come.
One of the over-arching themes that should seal the case [...]

David Brooks

Widely-read New York Times op-ed columnist and regular NewsHour pundit David Brooks penned a column today that urged our government and leaders to put infrastructure projects on the fast-track.
Calling it a “National Mobility Project”, Brooks thinks that the wisest way for government to hasten an economic recovery is through shifting the paradigm on [...]

Wide open road and wide open sky on Cycle Oregon 2008.(Photo: Matt Haughey)

By all accounts, the recently concluded Cycle Oregon was one of the best ever.
From what I’ve heard, it had perfect weather, epic routes, majestic vistas (the Wallowa Mountains), welcoming towns, and great live music — all the ingredients that make Cycle Oregon one [...]

The rain is coming.(Photos � J. Maus)

Kids aren’t the only ones who need to stay dry and visible while riding. Portland is set for wet weather for the next week or so (at least) and, combined with darkness falling over rush hour, rain can make things a bit more tricky out there.
Here [...]

Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles.(Photos � J. Maus)

A new promotional campaign launched by North American Handmade Bicycle Show (NAHBS) founder Don Walker recognizes the “Original Six” group of frame builders that have exhibited every year since the show began in 2005.
Among the Original Six is Southeast Portland-based builder Sacha White of Vanilla Bicycles.
The NAHBS show [...]

If you’re looking for a job, two great opportunities have been listed on the BikePortland Job Listings this past week.
Here’s the information:

Management Trainee — Bike Gallery
RiverFest Coordinator — RiverFest

For a complete list of available jobs, click here. If you’d like more information about the BikePortland Job Listings, contact me, or visit the Job [...]

Bike traffic in Portland.(Photo � J. Maus)

The City of Portland is sitting on loads of interesting and important data about bike ridership. Full reports on summer bike counts at locations throughout the city and survey results from the City Auditor’s Office are all due out in the coming weeks.
However, a few numbers [...]

Actor Matthew Modine will narrate Veer, a documentary about bike culture in Portland.(Photo � Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com)

The creators of Veer, a feature-length documentary film that chronicles the people and culture behind bikes in Portland, announced today that they’ve picked Golden Globe-nominated actor Matthew Modine to be the film’s narrator.
Modine is known for his role in Stanley [...]

The intersection of Glen Echo and 99E/McLoughlin.Google Map

A 17-year-old boy passed away yesterday morning due to injuries he sustained in a collision with a car on Highway 99E/McLoughlin Blvd. in Gladstone (10 miles south of downtown Portland) just before midnight on Tuesday.
The Oregon State Police say the boy, Nicolas Levi Moreno, was attempting to cross [...]

Here are two tales of bike thefts that didn’t go quite as planned.
The first, sent in by a reader named Armando, comes from an all-too familiar spot — the loggia of the Portland Building. Here’s a photo of the suspect:

A pensive, pre-pilfering look.

I’ve covered theft in this location two times before (here and here). [...]

Marion Rice and daughter Gleneden

This article was written by our Family Biking columnist Marion Rice. For previous articles in this series, and for links to other articles and photos on family biking, check out the Family Biking Page.

A warm and dry kid is a happy kid.(Photos � J. Maus)

We may be enjoying an Indian [...]

Imagine the Willamette Greenway Trail extending the Esplanade to St. Johns.(Photo: Scott Mizee/npGreenway)

It’s that time of year again when Metro seeks your comments on how they should spend millions of dollars in federal funds through their regional flexible funding program (also known as MTIP, the Metropolitian Transportation Improvement Program).
A key part of that process [...]

The Bureau of Planning has canceled a community workshop that would have began a discussion about a preferred strategy to tackle a re-design of the 7 Corners intersection (where SE Division, Ladd, 20th, and 21st streets converge).

One of the design concepts.(Graphic: Bureau of Planning)

I shared the design concepts and some thoughts on this projects a [...]

The Flying Pigeon (starts at $350) was an institution during China’s biking heyday. Now they’re available in Portland.(Photos: Joe Doebele)

Portland-based bike importer and re-seller Joe Doebele has received his first shipment of the classic Flying Pigeon city bikes from China along with a new cargo bike he’s calling the “Carrier Pigeon”.
Doebele (I wrote about [...]

Get to know the Madsen SUB.

The Hollywood Bike Gallery store will host a preview party to welcome the newest addition to Portland’s growing cargo and utility-bike family — the Madsen Cycles Urban Utility Bicycle.
My first mention of the Madsen back in September sparked quite a bit of interest. Unlike the Dutch-style cargo [...]

That was then (04/22/08)…

What a difference a few months makes.
Back in April, high gas prices were on everyone’s mind — especially those in the bike business. The rising cost of gas was having an impact on people’s transportation habits like no advocacy effort of policy change ever could.

This is now (10/29/08).(Photos � J. Maus)

People [...]

“It’s fun putting together advertising directed at more of the general public. I just try to put myself in their place and think of a message that might crack through.River City Bicycles owner Dave Guettler

If you watch local network television, you might be surprised to see a commercial for River City Bicycles. [...]

Police and medical personnel attend to the victim of a bike/truck collision at SE Grand and Stark this morning.(Photos � J. Maus)

This morning at just before 9:00 am, a man driving a Ford F150 XL pickup and a woman riding a 1980s Peugeot ten-speed style bicycle collided in the intersection of SE Stark and SE [...]

“We know this route network will not materialize overnight. But then again, neither did the Interstate Highway System.”– Adventure Cycling’s Ginny Sullivan

Calling it a “very big milestone”, backers of the U.S. Bicycle Route System (USBRS) are celebrating a key decision that sets a course for creating the largest official bicycle route network in the [...]

Help scare up some votes this Friday (threats with a bloody chainsaw not advised).(Photo � J. Maus)

Looking for another excuse to pedal around the city wearing your Halloween costume?
Want to help remind folks to vote and help distribute (non-partisan) voter guides?
Why not Trick or Vote by bike!?
Trick or Vote is a massive, [...]

The Oregonian has the story (emphasis mine):
A 21-year-old bicyclist was hospitalized early this morning after colliding with a pickup truck passing through an intersection, authorities said.
The 7:05 a.m. crash affected rush-hour traffic for three hours. Authorities did not release the identities of the cyclist or driver.
The cyclist suffered injuries to his head and legs and [...]