The Oregon Bicycle Racing Association says controversial board member Inga Thompson has resigned. The move comes less than a week since the organization voted to keep Thompson on their board following calls for her removal from some OBRA members. Thompson has attracted concern because of her advocacy around transgender athletes.

OBRA Executive Director Chuck Kenlan announced the resignation in an email to members on Thursday. “I pledge to you, our passionate membership, that OBRA will continue to strive towards fulfilling our mission of inclusiveness in the sport of bicycle racing and adhere to our statement of diversity, equity, and inclusion,” Kenlan wrote, “We are imperfect, and recognize that there is so much more to learn.”

According to the Willamette Week, Thompson’s resignation came after the OBRA Board found her in violation of their confidentiality agreement. “In a Dec. 11 email to Thompson obtained by [Willamette Week], Kenlan wrote that due to statements made to BikePortland and on Twitter, the board determined that Thompson “violated the confidentiality of the executive session’.” (Some of those tweets can be found in the screen grab at right.)

The OBRA Board was going to vote to remove her and before doing so gave her the option to resign.[Read more…]

Let the storm rage on. The cold never bothered me anyway.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

I know the weather and biking conditions are rough right now. But take a look at our calendar and you’ll see that the rides haven’t stopped. That’s because this is the time of year where making social connections and biking with a group is even more important! Get out there and commiserate, trade war stories, get advice, and support one another. We also need you out there to remind other road users that, while bicycle riders might be harder to see in winter, we never go away.

Scroll down for our ride and event picks…

[Read more…]

Screen grab of Save Women’s Sports article showing OBRA Board Member Inga Thompson at a rally in Washington D.C.

The Oregon Bicycle Racing Association (OBRA) has decided that one of their board members accused of “pervasive transphobia” can remain on their board of directors.

At-large OBRA board member and three-time Olympic cyclist Inga Thompson has come under scrutiny from some OBRA members who feel her conduct discriminates against transgender athletes. Thompson works closely with a group named Save Women’s Sports and was featured in an article published on their site in October titled, Male athletes are taking over women’s cycling.

In October Thompson represented Save Women’s Sports at a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C.. The rally aimed to “preserve women’s rights” and prevent the Supreme Court from including “gender identity” in the legal definition of “sex”. If that happened, the group worried that, “Any male could self-identify as a female and compete against women at every level of athletics, which would effectively destroy women’s sports.” [Read more…]

Make your used bike do more by considering a donation.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Our latest Ask BikePortland comes right in time for the season of giving.

Reader Shelley G emailed last week to ask:

We have a vintage trike that needs to be cleaned up with a new tire and a paint job. We would love to donate it. Our desire is for it to be fixed up and then given to a kiddo in need. Do you know the best place for us to donate it to?

It just so happens Portland has several organizations that specialize in this exact thing. I asked a few of them to share how they handle used bike donations.
[Read more…]

Welcome to the week.

This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Cyclone Bicycle Supply: Don’t miss their warehouse closing liquidation sale going on December 13-14.

Here are the most noteworthy items we came across in the past seven days…

“June the Broom” is watching: Concerned bike lane users in D.C. have resorted to sticking brooms in flex posts to make them more visible.

New cargo bike era: NYC has gone big with a pilot program that will allow operators of 100 electric freight delivery trikes to park in loading zones citywide.

Scooter polluter: The fact that climate change group Extinction Rebellion has begun sabotaging e-scooters due to their environmental footprint gives me second thoughts about how much I should get behind them.

Car culture run amok: CNN Travel’s hagiographic story about dudes who sped illegally across country “Cannonball Run” style is everything that’s wrong with American transportation culture.

“Trans women are women”: Outspoken transgender athlete, target of Donald Trump ire, and track World Champion Rachel McKinnon published an opinion in the NY Times saying that “We are not taking over” and that being able to compete is a human right.

Smaller streets FTW: Yelp-influenced science finds that Manhattan’s smaller, intimate “streets” have better food that gets higher reviews than larger “avenues”.

More reason to ride Williams Ave: One of the busiest sections of N Williams Avenue (in terms of cycling traffic) will soon be home to a food cart pod.

Coach Balto doing work: Portlander Sam Balto, who we featured a few months ago for his Red Cup Project work, was featured by KATU TV for his work in making streets around Cesar Chavez school safer.

The naughty list: Portland made a list of cities who have “climate mayors” who support freeway widening.

KC’s free transit miracle: “If we want to prioritize public transportation, [the funding] is something that we can find,” said a Kansas City city council member who voted to completely subsidize public transit and make it free for all users.

Climate politics: New Pew polling shows that even among registered Republicans there is growing public support for taking strong actions against climate change. (Link shared by former Portland Mayor (and climate change expert) Sam Adams.)

Screw your free parking: City of Denver staff are the heroes of the week for standing up and telling people that a safer bike lane is more important than 91 on-street parking spaces.

Tweet of the Week: We often hear that “The vast majority of people drive, so we should cater to them.” This chart shared by our friend Richard Masoner shows why it’s important to consider not what people do in a broken system; but what they’d prefer to do in a functioning one:
https://twitter.com/cyclelicious/status/1202701134088945666

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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A scene from their 10th anniversary performance at Colonel Summers Park in 2014.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

When I first saw the Sprockettes in 2004 I had no idea they were the top of a cycling culture iceberg that was so inspiring to me that I’d spend the next 15 years of my life devoted to documenting it.[Read more…]

Me, being a person who cares about things (a.k.a. an activist), at a memorial for a crash victim back in April.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Catie Gould is a BikePortland contributor and co-chair of Bike Loud PDX.
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Activist is a loaded word.

For years, when someone would call me an activist, I just shrugged it off. “I just go to a lot of public meetings,” I’d say. The word seemed too big for me. I was just interested in a few local projects and occasionally asked a hard question. Even after I went from attending rallies to organizing and speaking at them, the word still felt uncomfortable. Advocate, yes. That feels better. I could agree that most of my comments advocate for something. But activists? They are subject-matter experts, lead movements, build coalitions. I just wanted to go to a few meetings to channel my frustrations and hopes into a place where it might matter. Isn’t that what we’re all doing? [Read more…]

Looking for a new place to spread you cycling wings? We’ve got six great job opportunities for you to consider.

Learn more about each one via the links below…

– Bike Mechanic/ Sales assistance – Cycle Portland

– National Inside Sales and Customer Service (Part Time) – HGNR distributor of Dumonde Tech

– Senior DevOps Engineer – Ride with GPS

– Digital Marketing and Content Copywriter – Ride with GPS

– Experienced Frontend Web Developer – Ride with GPS

– Development Director – Adventure Cycling Association

[Read more…]

Director Strickler.

It’s official.

Kristopher “Kris” Strickler was confirmed by the Oregon Senate last month to become the leader of the Oregon Department of Transportation. Strickler was picked and vetted for the position by the Oregon Transportation Commission, (the Governor-appointed body that oversees ODOT) who offered him the director position back in September.

Beyond activist circles, Strickler — a fan of freeway expansions who once managed the failed Columbia River Crossing project for Washington’s DOT — was anything but a controversial pick. His confirmation was a formality. Even so, given the importance of his position, I thought it worthwhile to share his confirmation hearing — in particular an exchange with a legislator around how ODOT will address climate change.

On November 19th, Strickler sat down in front of the five-member Senate Interim Committee On Rules and Executive Appointments. [Read more…]