Los Angeles transportation director Seleta Reynolds.
(Photo via TREC at PSU)

Seleta Reynolds gets results.

As we reported last week, the city whose livable streets program she led for three years, San Francisco, has subsequently delivered the nation’s most consistent string of boosts in bike commuting.

She’s now one year into a vastly larger gig: transportation director for the City of Los Angeles, which turned millions of heads last month when it rolled out a citywide plan to gradually reallocate numerous auto lanes to create dedicated bus lanes and 300 miles of protected bike lanes.

She’s also one of the most reflective transportation leaders in the country, as the interview below makes clear. Ahead of her free Oct. 6 talk at Ecotrust, we caught up with Reynolds to discuss her advice for Portland’s advocates and bureaucrats, the arguments for biking that work best and whether Portland is still cool.

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Reuben Deumling.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

This article was written by Reuben Deumling, a Portland resident, active participant in the local cargo biking scene, and frequent commenter who some of you may know as “9watts.” You might also recall the cool, DIY wooden child seat he shared with us back in 2010.

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I often read here on BikePortland about $5,000 singlespeeds and $6,000 cargo bikes, and I think about a lifetime of used or discarded bikes I’ve fixed up and ridden or resold. I enjoy the lines of a Vanilla or Ahearne or Bullitt as much as the next person, but choosing to live lower on the pecuniary totem pole, that is just not my market.

I’d like to share what the economics of bicycling looks like from my perspective.

Part of the fun of not owning a car is that you avoid all the bills — gas, oil, insurance, parking, and repairs, (not to mention buying the car itself and eventually replacing it) — that come with it. For me, that statistic you read about that suggests the average car-owning household spends around $9,000 per year in car-related expenses, is inconceivable given how our household has chosen to spend money.

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All images by Aixe Djelal.

I’m not sure how I stumbled onto the work of Aixe Djelal (pronounced “eye-SHAY ja-LAL”), but now I find myself checking her latest images several times per week. I think it’s the randomness of them, or maybe it’s how she captures the ephemeral vignettes I often see myself but rarely capture.

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Blake Hicks is a fixture in Waterfront Park,
where he can be seen nearly every day
working on his tricks.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

For the past four years, southeast Portland resident Blake Hicks has focused his entire life on two things: Perfect his bike tricks and share them with the world. Now, after countless hours of hard work, the 28-year-old professional performer is about to embark on the biggest summer of his young career.

I first came across Blake’s amazing riding skills in 2006, when I photographed him practicing his moves in Waterfront Park. Yesterday I was riding through the park and there he was again — working on his awe-inspiring, spinning, rolling, and balancing act. And I’m glad I stopped to talk because he’s about to leave for a three-month performance gig at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida.

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L.E. Baskow ready to roll around Lake Superior.

48-year-old Sellwood resident L.E. Baskow, a former staff photographer for the Portland Tribune, completed a cross-country bike ride in the summer of 2011. He rode 4,000 miles across nine states in three months and even crossed into Ontario a few times. Now he’s created a book about his journey that mixes photographs from the road with life lessons shared by the people he met along the way.

In Pedaling on the Road of Life, Baskow shares an intimate view into everyday, American life and his images are a testament to how much one sees when traveling by bicycle. While he waits to find the right publisher, Baskow is working at OHSU and looking for sponsors of his participation as the official photographer for the Cycle Greater Yellowstone ride coming up in August.

I caught up with L.E. and asked him a few questions about his trip and his book project…

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April Economides.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Yesterday I met April Economides, a self-described “green urbanist” who is growing a solid reputation for making bicycles — and bicycling — a more visible and respected part of doing business. Through her firm, Green Octopus Consulting, April works with business associations, advocacy groups, and government agencies to plan and implement bike-friendly business practices. She stopped in Portland en route to Eugene where she’s speaking and giving a workshop today thanks to an invite by the University of Oregon and the City of Eugene.

April, 37, seems poised to capitalize on the growing awareness that “bikes mean business.” That’s a term that emerged in Portland in May 2011 and has since ridden a wave of acceptance and high-profile attention: Research has proven the buying-power of bike-riding customers; bikes and business panels are common at transportation conferences; the idea of “bikenomics” has taken hold thanks to activist/journalist Elly Blue; and the League of American Bicyclists has made “Bicycling Means Business” the theme of the 2013 National Bike Summit.

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BonB veteran Steph Routh.
(Photo by Michael Andersen))

This guest post is by Michael Andersen of Portland Afoot, PDX’s 10-minute newsmagazine about buses, bikes and low-car life.

Dozens of fans of one of Portland’s most unique and durable bike traditions met Tuesday night at bicycle tavern Velo Cult to tell stories from more than 120 mornings of free breakfast on Portland’s bridges.

“It’s amazing to see that this tradition of giving out coffee and donuts has continued for 10 years,” said Ayleen Crotty, who said she and Amy Stork started serving the first regular breakfasts during Portland’s legendary “Summer of Bike Fun” in 2002.

Somehow – like another Portland tradition launched that year, a naked bike ride – the idea stuck.

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Hey wait! Let’s get a drink!
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

This guest post is by Michael Andersen of Portland Afoot, PDX’s 10-minute newsmagazine about buses, bikes and; low car life.

Summertime might not have quite reached the sky yet, but it’s sprouted in Portlanders’ hearts. I’ve got evidence.

Now and then, Portland Afoot publishes a feature we call “Craigsbest” – a selection of the weirdest and wonderfullest transit-related missed connections of the month, as posted on portland.craigslist.org. It’s a delicious, frequently hilarious little window into Portlanders’ inner lives.

A few months ago, I decided to try tracking bike-related connections, too. Unlike public transit, it turns out, bike-based flirting in Portland is extremely seasonal – and June seems to be harvest time. Last month, more than 50 posts mentioned bikes.

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Dezy “the Pianobike kid” Walls pedals his 300-pound bike across SW Naito while singing and playing one of his tunes.
(Photos © J. Maus)

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On the road from
Dallas to Kansas City.
(Photo courtesy of Dave Weber)

You could ride from Portland, Oregon to Los Angeles, California but you still wouldn’t travel as many miles as Dave Weber rode his bike in September. Even adding a detour along Highway 101 from Sacramento to Bakersfield would give you fewer than the 1,096 miles Weber rode on his way to and from work last month.

Weber was the recipient of the Brian Reynolds Distance Award, given each year to the rider with the most miles logged in the Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s Bike Commute Challenge.

How exactly did he ride 1,096 miles in one month, just on his way to and from work? Here’s a clue…

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