Event Name: BikePortland Get-together
Event Start Date: 25 May 2011
Start Time: 5:30 PM - 8:30(ish)
Location: The Spare Room 4830 Northeast 42nd Avenue Portland, OR 97218
Web Site: http://bikeportland.org/gettogether
Event Description: These events are a chance for you to meet up offline to make connections, discuss issues, learn from each other, foment plans, and tap into the local community. They're also a chance for us to meet you and find out about issues in parts of Portland that we don't often get a chance to visit. If you live, ride, work or play in the area, please come join us.

Get-togethers are made possible in part by SKS Germany. We will have SKS product door prizes for some attendees. Please bring money for drinks and food if interested.

Last month we held a Get Together at a coffee shop on SE 92nd and Foster. The turnout wasn't huge (similar to last time we did an event in that area), but the conversation was excellent. We not only met some new friends, we learned a little more about what it's like to ride in East Portland. (more...)

Event Name: BikePortland Get Together
Event Date: Wednesday April 27, 2011
Event Time: 5:30-7:30pm
Event Location: Bridgeport Brewpub - 1313 NW Marshall
Event Description: The next in our 2011 series of Get Togethers made possible by SKS.

We'll be talking about local issues with the folks who live, work and ride in the area including; streetcar issues, parking, carfree streets and the city's plans for the future of the Pearl. Please join us when you can. SKS is providing free bike accessories to some participants. (Swag!)
Bridgeport Brewpub has generously provided us their Old Knucklehead room. Please bring cash for their full bar menu.

Transit: Portland Streetcar and bus 77.
Thanks to:

Event Name: BikePortland Get-Together
Event Date: Wed. March 30th 5:30-7:30pm
Event Location: Lents Commons - 9201 SE Foster Rd, Portland 97266

Event Description: The next in our 2011 series of Get-togethers made possible by SKS.
We'll be talking about local issues with the folks who live, work and ride in the area. Please join us. SKS is providing accessories to some participants. (bike swag!)
Lents Commons serves food, coffee, tea and beer and it's just a cool spot to stop on your way home. Stick around for Open Mic Night starting at 7:30pm. Bike rack available at the New Copper Penny across the street.
Transit: Max Green line and bus 10, 14 and 71.

Let's talk about bikes!

Just a quick reminder that if you live, ride, or work in and around the Overlook neighborhood in North Portland, we'd love to see you at the Get Together tonight.

Starting at 5:30, we'll gather with readers at the Lucky Lab Taproom on the corner of N. Killingsworth and Concord. We'll have the whole back room to ourselves, so come and grab some food and drink and spend a bit of time with your fellow BikePortlanders. (more...)

Getting down to business.
- Full gallery -
(Photos © J. Maus)

Our 2011 Get Together season got off to a fantastic start last night. About 40 people who live and/or work in Southwest Portland gathered at Macadam's Bar and Grill to hear from advocates and experts, share their experiences, and to meet other fine folks they'd never stop and talk to on the hectic bikeways nearby.
(more...)

A bit of guerrilla marketing
by our friend Kiel Johnson!

I hope some of you will stop by Macadam's Bar and Grill (5833 SW Macadam Ave) tonight for the first Get Together of the year. We'll learn about bike issues, meet others who care about bicycling, give out some great prizes (thanks to our Get Together sponsor, SKS), and hopefully, begin to build a more connected community.
(more...)

Rolling to Barbur Blvd.
(Photo © J. Maus)

We're excited to announced our first Get Together of 2011.

Next Wednesday (January 26th) from 5:30 to 7ish we'll meet up with readers and other bike-interested folks at Macadam's Bar and Grill (5833 SW Macadam Avenue). If you live, ride, or work in or around Southwest Portland, you're welcome to join us!
(more...)

Sneak peek at our 2011 Get Together banner.
(Thanks SKS!)

Have some great news to share...

Remember our Get Together events? We launched them back in February 2009 with our first event in St. Johns. After that, we kept them going through August. We visited neighborhoods throughout the metro area — from Tigard to Milwaukie, Powellhurst to Alberta. At each event we met face-to-face with people who live, work, and ride in those areas. We heard about their issues, we shared ideas, and we helped people make connections to further their activism, their businesses, or just their social life.

I've always loved the Get Togethers; but unfortunately, given the limited capacity we have here at BikePortland (both financial and human), I decided to put the events on hiatus.

Now, we've just inked a deal with bike accessory company SKS to bring them back! (more...)

Shift puts the fun in bike fun.
(Photos © J. Maus)

I'm really looking forward to our Get Together tonight. We'll be at Plan B (1305 SE 8th) from 5:30 to about 8:00 (in the back patio if the weather stays dry) talking about Shift and getting the lowdown on Pedalpalooza 2010 (which starts June 10th!).

Shift is the Portland bike non-profit you rarely see in the headlines, but you've almost certainly heard of their work. They're the minds and muscle behind things like the aforementioned Pedalpalooza (a 17-day celebration of bikes unlike anything in the world), our legendary Naked Bike Ride, Bike Moves, Breakfast on the Bridges, and much more. (more...)

Event Name: BikePortland Get Together
Event Start Date: Thursday, May 27, 2010
Start Time: 6:00 PM
Location: Plan B 1305 SE 8th Ave.
Event Description: Another in a series of informal get-togethers. Today's subject: Shift: how does it work? Who is Shift and why is it so important? How can you participate in the future of bike fun central? What's up with Pedalpalooza? Where does one store a patch kit during World Naked Bike Ride? Where do we go from here?
Semi-facilitated by BikePortland.
6-8pm. Bands afterward. Come when you can. It's a bar so food/drink are available.

Washington County Commissioner
Dick Schouten addresses the
crowd in Tigard last night.
(Photos © J. Maus)

If the energy and turnout at our Get Together in Tigard last night is any indication, the West Side is poised for big leaps in biking in the coming years -- but it won't come easy.

About 60 people filled the back room at the Fanno Creek Brew Pub on Main Street in downtown Tigard. The turnout was diverse -- from Tigard Mayor Craig Dirksen to local bike shop owners, and even a few Portland residents who work in the area. (more...)

Trails and how they (don't) cross big
roads is likely to be one of many
topics we'll discuss.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Our Get Together in Tigard this Wednesday (1/27) is shaping up quite nicely. We've got a slew of interesting folks joining us and there will be no shortage of important issues, projects, and big ideas to learn about and discuss.

As per usual with these events, the idea is for citizens, bureaucrats (and I mean that in the best way possible) and politicians to mix and mingle and learn from each other. On that note, here are a few of the confirmed attendees so far.
(more...)

Mike Cobb holds the floor.
-Slideshow below/Gallery-
(Photos © J. Maus)

We had another great Get Together event last night on NE Alberta. We packed the patio of Radio Room and had their generous bike parking facility overflowing.

As per usual, we spent the first part of the night meeting new friends, re-connecting with old ones, and sampling some fine Oregon microbrews before happy hour came to a close. Once everyone had settled in, I introduced several interesting folks in the crowd and asked them to share what they're up to in the world of bikes.
(more...)

The crowd listens to PBOT's Ellen
Vanderslice for an update on the
bike master plan.
(Photos © J. Maus)

We had another great Get Together in inner Southeast last night. A very solid turnout of readers, local bike business owners, event promoters, advocates and planners showed up to learn, network, and drink some very good beer.

Each one of our Get Togethers (this is the fifth) has taken on a different feel. Last night we didn't talk much about road conditions and bikeway highs and lows. Instead, with the amazing amount of active bike people in Southeast, the night turned into a great opportunity for business-to-business networking and for people to put faces to the names and projects they read about everyday here on BikePortland. (more...)

Over 50 readers showed up for our
Get Together in Multnomah Village.
Can we top that in inner SE?
(Photo © J. Maus)

We've been holding our BikePortland Get Togethers since February now, as a chance to get to know the issues in far-flung parts of the city and connect our readers offline.

Every month we get requests to hold one in inner Southeast. We're still recovering from Pedalpalooza and the non-stop month of June, and we thought we'd put on July's event close to home -- literally right around the corner from our office.

Please join us in two weeks, on Thursday, July 23rd from 5:00pm to 7:00pm, at the Green Dragon Bistro and Brewpub (928 SE 9th Ave). (more...)

The Sellwood Bridge affects the
bikeability of Milwaukie.
(Photo © J. Maus)

We'll be bringing our next BikePortland Get Together event to Milwaukie, Oregon, our neighbor to the immediate south.

Anyone who lives, works, commutes, rides through, or otherwise spends time in Milwaukie (or its general vicinity) is invited to join us.

Milwaukie seems to be quietly experiencing a bicycling renaissance.

Back in 2007 the city held a series of Transportation System Plan meetings, out of which came a more coherent vision for biking in Milwaukie, as well as a bike map has been created and bike parking has been installed downtown. Another result was the grassroots formation of MilwaukieBIKES!, a group centered around an email listserv and billed as "a convenient communication hub for the bicycling community of Milwaukie, Oregon." (more...)

I think it's safe to say this
is the most bikes ever parked
in front of the Rumpus Room.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Last week we held our third monthly Get Together event. In previous months we've held them in North (St. Johns) and Southwest Portland (Multnomah Village) and this time we rolled to the Rumpus Room in Outer East.

The Rumpus Room is an old roadhouse bar on SE Division at about 105th (a few blocks east of I-205). Just getting there was an adventure for Elly and I. We rode out via the Clinton Street bike boulevard and it was interesting how the nature of the streets changed the further east we pedaled. Close in, I couldn't help but smile as bikes were clearly the dominant mode. Several times, we were part of two-way, side-by-side bike traffic on quiet, tree-lined streets. (more...)

This is the basic idea behind
our Get Together events.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Do you live, work, commute through, or have an interest in outer Southeast Portland?

Join us tonight for this month’s BikePortland Get Together in Powellhurst (details below) to meet up with other folks and talk about bike issues specific to the area. (more...)

A group merge during a Bicycle Advisory
Committee tour of east Portland last July.
(Photo © J. Maus)

You're invited to our next BikePortland Neighborhood Get Together in the Powellhurst neighborhood of outer Southeast Portland -- that's right, we're going east of I-205.

Anyone who lives, works, commutes, or otherwise spends time in outer Southeast Portland is invited to join us.

This is an informal social event to meet each other, talk shop, compare notes, and generally have a fun evening. Come discuss bike routes, connections, and pavement maintenance, the new MAX light rail line under construction in the neighborhood, and more. (more...)