Month: June 2005

If you’ve been anywhere near downtown you know it’s a mad scene and lots of normal bike routes are a bit disrupted by the Fun Zone.  Just thought I’d give a little tip…the carnival folks have coned off a service lane on Naito Parkway that is actually a great, car-free, bike lane that will get you from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Steel Bridge…just watch out for the ATVs.

Guess who will be leading this year’s Grand Floral Parade on an old Schwinn Collegiate 3 speed? Yep, you guessed it, me!

This year’s parade will include Kids Pedal…a bunch of kids on bikes showing Portland how to pedal. I’ll be one of two highly-skilled, banner carriers at the front of the procession. I’d like to say this honor was bestowed upon me by my bikey peers…but in all honesty, I just happened to be a fast emailer and I was the first to respond to the invite.

I’m looking forward to representin’ and hopefully they’ll let me bring Eleni along.

See you out on the streets!

Josh Hallett just sent me info about a cool bike project based in Toronto called, “Pedals and Paint“. It’s group of folks going around the city painting abandoned bikes.

Here’s how they describe it

In 2004, we gathered 20 people in Trinity Bellwoods Park and taught them how to decorate an abandoned bike and a bike rack. We handed out maps of the downtown area that indicated where all of the locked up abandoned bikes were located. We split into three groups and visually liberated these neglected vehicles that same night.

This is our way of bringing life and colour to the streets with no other motivation than trying to make your stroll down the street that much more enjoyable. Instead of rusting junk, they become a special, imaginative, and integrated part of the streetscape.

See some great photos here, here and here.