In support of the ongoing BTA Bike Commute Challenge, PDOT held a Bike Commute Breakfast this morning in front of City Hall. Any chance I get to do bike stuff in front of City Hall I jump at the chance. It just feels good for some reason (and the free donuts and coffee didn’t hurt either!).
I met a bunch of great folks and listened to the ever-fabulous Trash Mountain Boys as hordes of bike commuters ate bagels, fruit and donuts and sipped hot coffee and tea. (unfortunately I talked so much I never snapped a photo of the great turnout!).
Another cool thing was test riding the City’s new “City Fleet” bike. It’s a Trek uber-city bike full of all the bells and whistles. It sort of rides like an SUV (in a good way). The best part is the custom “City of Portland” sticker on the downtube. Not the coolest graphic in the world, but at least they’re trying.
Apparently the city has a hodge-podge of bikes for use by city employees downtown but it sounds like most of them need some TLC. Is there a bike shop employee in the house? Maybe you should put in a call and see if you can hook up your shop with the city and get those bikes back in use. The PR alone would be worth the effort.