Here are BikePortland’s traffic stats from the month of June. Two topics dominated the public’s interest this month (and both brought in considerable traffic from outside our usual readership): The World Naked Bike Ride and last Thursday’s Michael Jackson memorial karaoke dance party on wheels.
Visits - 200,902
Average visit length - 02:55
Pages viewed - 493,795
Front page [...]

Free beer, schwag, bikes, music. Dang. This sounds like a great event. Here’s the scoop direct from Wend (notice bold text for bike-specific awesomeness):
Join Wend magazine and Lizard Lounge for a benefit ping pong tournament and party to celebrate the release of Wend’s spring issue. Ten bucks gets you into the ping pong [...]

Here are BikePortland’s traffic stats from the month of May:
Visits - 162,464
Average visit length - 00:03:19
Pages viewed - 370,073
Stories posted - 88 (front page only)
Top Five Stories (*In terms of pageviews analyzed by Google Analytics):
1. Rush hour crash on Hawthorne Bridge raises questions about bike traffic
2. Fatal bike/car crash on NE Prescott at 57th
3. Hawthorne [...]

This just in from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance:

Children and Families Walk + Bike to Baseball to Celebrate a Month of Sustainable Success!
Monday, June 1, 2009 – The Bicycle Transportation Alliance announces the close of a very successful Walk + Bike to School Challenge Month which will be celebrated at PGE Park on June 12th with [...]

We’ll have a lot more coverage of this exciting upcoming event in the weeks to come. For now, here’s the official press release from conference host, the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA):
The 2nd Safe Routes to School National Conference will be held in Portland on August 19th-21st, bringing stakeholders from across North America together to [...]

Over 120 volunteers are needed to make the Cirque du Cycling Criterium a success. Meet in front of the Laughing Planet Cafe (between Failing and Beech St on Mississippi Ave.) at the designated time for your volunteer position.
All volunteers get a free t-shirt, food and drink and a fun-filled day of bike activities.
REGISTER ONLINE to [...]

From volunteer coordinator Lily Karabaic:
This year the Pedalpalooza Kickoff Party/World Naked Bike Ride is predicted to be bigger than ever, and I need nearly 100 volunteers to make this event successful.
I’m still short about 20 positions, and the volunteer labor is vital to making the party run smoothly, safely, and allowing us to keep doing [...]

The Urban Assault Ride, the self-described “biggest bike scavenger hunt series in the world” is coming to Portland for a second year, this Sunday, May 31. Teams of two will compete by racing around town, hitting checkpoints scattered across Portland, and completing various and sundry obstacle courses of ingenious design.
The goal of the ride is [...]

Who knew tech nerds and bike geeks had so much in common?
D.L. Byron, founder of BikeHugger, a Seattle-based bike blog, likes to combine his passion for bikes and blogs into what he calls “Mobile Socials”, which unite biking, tech talk, lots of free bike schwag (including a new Breezer bike!) and of course, [...]

The Portland Wheelmen’s annual Pioneer Century ride is coming up soon, Saturday, June 6th, to kick off the summer road riding season. This is one of the most popular road rides of the year — last year’s Pioneer Century drew over 1,200 participants.
The Pioneer Century is a very flexible ride. The usual route is a [...]

This just in, from the Office of U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer:
Tomorrow, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Co-Chair of the Congressional Bike Caucus, will join with fellow Caucus members for the Congressional Cycling Fair. In honor of National Bike to Work Week and to show their support of bike issues and bike to work opportunities on [...]

Several readers have emailed me about this great project from Instructables. A group of students from MIT have created a system that uses a turning bike wheel to charge USB devices. It’s not quite a consumer-ready product yet, but it’s definitely got some promise.
Check it out:
How to Charge Any USB Device [...]

Vegetable spoke cards inspire bike2market riders(Photo by Dan Liu)
One of the best things about living in Portland is meeting other fun people and their bikes, and going on group rides lends a bit of camaraderie to a sometimes-lonely activity. Last year, on one of his weekly rides to the Portland Farmers’ Market at PSU, Sean [...]

Here are BikePortland’s traffic stats from the month of April:
Visits - 162, 146
Average visit length - 00:03:22
Pages viewed - 386,703
Stories posted - 109
Top Five Stories (*In terms of pageviews analyzed by Google Analytics):
1. Massive turnout at “De Ronde”
2. One hour, 22 citations at Clinton Street stop sign
3. Fatal crash in Northeast Portland
4. Details on the [...]

A reader just passed along a note that the bike and pedestrian walkway below the Steel Bridge will be closed this week. Here’s the official notice from PortlandOnline.com:
Lower deck of Steel Bridge to close for maintenance May 5-7 and May 10
HDR Engineering Inc. will be inspecting and maintaining the concrete portions of the Steel [...]

Jonathan Nicholas in Heppner, Oregon during Cycle Oregon 2007.(Photo © J. Maus)

The following is a transcript of the speech given by Jonathan Nicholas at the City Club of Portland on May 1st, 2009.
Nicholas was a columnist at The Oregonian for 26 years and is now the Vice President of Branding and Corporate Communications at The [...]

The Tualitin Hills Parks and Recreation District has announced the completion of a new, 2-mile segment of their Westside Trail.
Here’s more from their website:
The new trail marks an important link in THPRD’s efforts to establish a continuous north-south trail backbone through its district. Combined with other existing segments and additional trail projects to [...]

I’ll have something on the Front Page next week, but for now, below is the press release from the Bureau of Transportation with all the info about the upcoming Bicycle and Streetcar Open Houses.
BICYCLE AND STREETCAR OPEN HOUSES
Portlanders examine long-range plans to shape transportation and livability
(PORTLAND, OR) - Imagine getting [...]

Bike Loan Program staff: Dave Villalobos, Briana Orr, and Price Armstrong.(Photos courtesy U O)

Briana Orr, the University of Oregon student who founded the school’s bike loan program, will be honored with an Oregon Civic Engagement Award on Thursday, April 23, at The Cleaners at The Ace Hotel in Portland.
We profiled Orr’s program back in [...]

Check out this cool event that will happen as part of the big NY400 campaign surrounding the 400th anniversary of the friendship between the Netherlands and New York City.
PRESS RELEASE APRIL 2ND 2009: NY400 BIKING IN NEW YORK CITY
400 wheels representing 400 years of friendship between New York City and the Netherlands.
400 wheels, [...]

Multnomah County is working on a project to re-design Scholls Ferry Road. This Thursday (4/9), they’re holding the second of two public meetings where you can check out and weigh in on proposed design configurations.
The official press release is below:

Open house for Scholls Ferry Road streetscape design plan
The second of two public meetings for the [...]

While at the CRC opposition rally on Sunday, I met Vancouverite John Kangas.
He was passing out flyers with “Bike Me!” across the top. He is trying to organize Vancouver bike lovers and has set up a meeting for “all who cycle in Vancouver”.
Here are the details if you’d like to attend:

When: April 22nd, 2009 [...]

Here are BikePortland’s traffic stats for the month of March:
Visits - 163,462
Average visit length - 00:03:27
Pages viewed - 376,486
Stories posted - 134
Top Five Stories (*In terms of pageviews analyzed by Google [...]

Routh married her bike at the 2006 Multnomah County Bike Fair(Photo © J. Maus)

The Willamette Pedestrian Coalition has chosen Stephanie Routh as their new Director. The WPC is a Portland-based non-profit that is, “dedicated to promoting walking and making the conditions for walking safe and attractive.”
Here’s the official statement:
Stephanie is highly regarded [...]

Below is the full text of the BTA’s press release in opposition to the CRC project:
BICYCLE TRANSPORTATION ALLIANCE FORMALIZES OPPOSITION TO COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING
Monday, March 22, 2009 – The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) announced today our opposition to the massive freeway expansion, known as the Columbia River Crossing, that is being planned between Portland [...]

Below is the full, prepared text of Karl Rohde’s testimony in front of the House Transportation Committee yesterday on behalf of the Idaho Stop law. Rohde is in charge of the BTA’s government affairs and he is their lobbyist in Salem.
(For a full report from that hearing, read our story from yesterday.)
Chair Beyer and [...]

Here’s the latest from the grassroots group who are mounting a campaign against the 12-lane CRC bridge plans:
Bill Bradbury To Speak At CRC Opposition And Alternatives Rally
Citizen’s Coalition Schedules Rally for Noon, Sunday, April 5th Waterfront Park, Releases Satirical Video
A grassroots coalition of Portlanders and Vancouverites opposed to the current scope and direction of the [...]

For the first time in 61 years, people can once again follow the old Columbia River Highway right through the basalt heart of Oneonta Bluff.
That quote comes from a story in today’s Portland Tribune about an exciting bit of progress on the project to re-establish the Historic Columbia River Highway as a bike and pedestrian [...]

Here’s a great way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. From Bike Gallery:
St Patrick’s Day “Green Ride” sponsored by Madsen Cycles
Tuesday, March 17
Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by bike and get a chance to green up your life by entering to win a Madsen Utility bike? The ride meets at the Downtown Bike Gallery at 5:00pm, [...]

Hollis Hawthorne performing in Southeast Portland last summer.(Photo © J. Maus)

Portlanders continue to rally around the tragedy the tragic fate of bike dancer Hollis Hawthorne.
Hawthorne, a founding member of The Bay Area Derailleurs bike dance troupe, suffered a serious brain injury over a week ago while operating a motorcycle in India. Hawthorne [...]