June 2006 Archives

Announcing the Made in Portland Bicycle Show

[Photo by Dat.]

I’m excited to announce the Made in Portland Bicycle Show and Art Exhibition coming to City Hall on Thursday July 6th from 5-8PM.

Join us in a celebration of our artisan bicycle industry as we showcase Portland’s independent, custom builders and artists. As I reported last month, this event is part of Commissioner Sam Adams’ monthly First Thursday celebration and will take place in the beautiful atrium of our historic City Hall building at 1221 SW Fourth Street downtown.

Here is the list of builders confirmed to attend:

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Last week Portland Transport reported that the idea of recycling the old Sauvie Island Bridge and turning it into a bike and pedestrian overpass in Northwest Portland was dead.

However judging from this statement from a post on Commissioner Sam Adams’ blog, the idea might still have some life:

[Zoobombers on Burnside.]

Highway 26 leading into downtown Portland is a traditional route sometimes used by Zoobombers. They call it “the Hellway” and it is simultaneously feared and revered by many.

While it’s usually legal to ride bikes on Highway 26, because of a sewer construction project, currently the Hellway route is off-limts. In early June one Zoobomber had a serious crash. That mishap and the illegal Hellway riding got some bad PR when the story got picked up and reported on by KGW-TV.

[Make way for spandex]
Photo St. Honore

Summer is finally here and that means the Tour is upon us. Two of the most well-known viewing parties are thrown by St. Honore Bakery and King Cycle Group.

St. Honore is a popular french bakery in Northwest that plans to show the coverage live. Like last year they’ll kick things off by teaming up with the women’s racing team they sponsor, Sorrella Forte. The team will be on hand to sign autographs and collect used bikes for the Community Cycling Center on opening weekend (July 1-2).

Back in May, someone named Erica posted a topic in the Forums about a cyclist named James who harassed her on her morning commute. Her post has sparked tons of discussion, both in the Forums and in the comments of my post about women and creepy cyclists a few weeks ago.

I’ve been following the thread in the Forum and recently a Portland police officer with the username “PoPo” chimed in. James seemed familiar to him so he did some investigating.

[Pedalpalooza runs from 6/8 – 6/24 and is organized by Shift to Bikes. View the full schedule here and get the latest ride reports here.]

I can’t imagine Pedalpalooza ending with more of a bang! Starting with Breakfast on the Bridges, then a museum tour, a BikeStation site tour, the Pirate Pedal, and a ride to protest fast-food drive-through inequity (I’m not kidding, see below).

Whew. Hold on to your helmets, it’s going to be a wild day.

Here are all the gory details:

[Waiting for the train.]
Photo by taisau

Last night I led my first Pedalpalooza ride! I’ve been so inspired by all the creative and fun rides I’ve been on that this year I finally decided to lead my own.

My ride, I called it the “Communified Ride” wasn’t especially creative or amazing or anything. Besides just an excuse to ride with friends, my hope was that everyone on the ride would meet someone new and then pose for some fun portraits at the end (see portrait gallery below). Here’s how it went.

Hagg Lake, a popular mountain biking area about 50 miles west of Portland, recently got a new section of trail thanks to a local mountain bike club. Fifteen members of the Portland United Mountain Pedalers (PUMP) volunteered a Saturday to put in a total of 75 hours of trail time. That’s what I call sweat equity!

PUMP member Ric Balfour gave me the rundown on what they accomplished:

[Wyatt and Lauren at
the Tourism Summit.]

Wyatt Baldwin and Lauren Bondi continue to improve on their online bicycle route planning tool, the byCycle Trip Planner.

The most interesting new development is the addition of a “safer” route preference option. According to Wyatt:

“The main thing it (the “safer” option) does different from “normal” is more heavily prefer the Metro Bike There Map network (the colored streets) and especially trails.”

[Pedalpalooza runs from 6/8 – 6/24 and is organized by Shift to Bikes. View the full schedule here and get the latest ride reports here.]

Two especially awesome rides today. First the Bike Kiss-in! Check out last year’s report…it’s just what it sounds like! And you should definitely check out the Transportation Geeks Ride. Back after its success last year, it’s being led again by the smart and fun Elicia Cardenas and TriMet’s bike guy Kiran Limaye. They’ll teach you all the wonky transportation stuff you never wanted to know ;-)!

Here’s the full line-up for today:

[Have card, will cycle.]

While up in Vancouver (WA) recently, I got a tour of the Northwest’s first pre-paid bike lockers. City of Vancouver transportation planner and BikeStation board member Todd Boulanger worked for over a year on the project and was excited to show them off.

The lockers work on a debit card system and cost just five cents an hour. For an average commuter that would be about $20 for six months of parking.

Todd, an unabashed Euro-phile who joined the Portland delegation on their recent trip to Amsterdam, first saw the lockers in Palo Alto two years ago, and is very happy to see them finally arrive in Vancouver. He also hopes to keep adding more of them across the region:

[Introducing Sweetpea Bicycles]

Portland’s burgeoning crop of custom framebuilders just got a litte sweeter. Natalie Ramsland and her partner (in life and business) Austin have launched Sweetpea Bicycles.

Natalie recently quit her job as a bike messenger and is now working full-tilt to design and build bikes especially for women. She has set up shop in a studio in the RJ Templeton Building located adjacent to the Burnside Bridge.

Announcing the Made in Portland Bicycle Show

Sauvie Island Bridge idea not dead yet

Police, Zoobombers come to terms on Hellway

Tour de France viewing spots announced

Update on a bike harasser named James

Pedalpalooza Daily – 6/23

My first Pedalpalooza ride!

Mountain bikers work hard at Hagg

byCycle Trip Planner gets even better

Pedalpalooza Daily – 6/22

Vancouver first with debit card bike lockers

Sweetpea Bicycles focuses on the ladies

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