Here’s my list of news and events I remember most from 2005:
- We broke the 10,000 barrier in average number of bike trips across the four main Willamette River bridges.
- Too many cyclists lost their lives or suffered serious injuries on Portland streets.
- At one point at the Multnomah County Bike Fair someone counted 500 bikes parked in Colonel Summers Park.
- The Zoobomb crew got their 15 minutes of fame when the PBS show Globe Trekker came to town.
- Pedalpalooza (Shift’s “17 days of pure bike fun”) established itself as the undisputed king of multi-day bike festivals.
- ODOT made the worst decision ever when they chose to add no bike facilities to the renovated St. Johns Bridge.
- Mayor Potter joined us for Critical Mass on his recumbent.
- Transportation Commissioner Sam Adams showed his cycling allegience by showing up to everything from Kids Pedal to the memorial ride for Gareth Parker and by going crazy for Platinum.
- Bridge Pedal was nearly too much of a good thing. When 20,000 people showed up the route got clogged and it turned into the Bridge Walk for most people…but it was still a fantastic event.
- Portland Police Bureau traffic division commander Bill Sinnott opened his doors to cycling.
- 20 artists and hundreds of bike lovers filled Urban Grind Coffee to partake in the first-annual BikeCraft. If you missed it this time, you’ll get another chance this summer.
- Alpenrose Dairy hosted 646 cyclocross racers in the largest single-day cyclocross race in U.S. history.
And that’s just off the top of my head. What do you remember most?