2008 Archives

A closer look at Custom Bicycles of Portland

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

A very cool new sign.
(Photos: Adam Reiser)

Custom Bicycles of Portland — the new Guru Bicycles concept store we profiled a few weeks ago — had their first official day of business on Saturday.

The store offers a unique, Dell Computer-like approach to bike retail. Only one brand is offered and customers can choose any color, style, and parts build-up they want. The shop also features a cutting edge fitting studio and the bikes are custom-made in Quebec and ready to ride in about four weeks.

Shop owner Adam Reiser told me he got a lot of foot traffic over the weekend (as one might expect on the busy shopping street of NW 23rd).

Transportation activist, streetcar advocate, former City Commissioner candidate and blogger Chris Smith was at an event last night where U.S. Congressman Earl Blumenauer had some choice words about the Columbia River Crossing project.

Here’s an excerpt from Smith’s report:

Blumenauer said the the Columbia River Crossing was a metaphor for the lack of consensus for a transportation vision in our region, comparing it to “the desire for an eight-lane freeway from I-205 to Highway 26 that would turn I-205 into a parking lot and screw up the planning for the new City of Damascus”.

Read the whole post and the comments over on on PortlandTransport.com.

More reports and photos from SSCXWC

The Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships (SSCXWC) event on Sunday was much more interesting than my Front Page recap was able to convey.

I came across an excellent report by Johnathon Allen of Bicycling Magazine’s “This Just In” blog. Here’s one of his many great passages:

Uni-cogged competitors were barraged with silly-string, smoke bombs, and cheap pilsner as they charged around a race course that required them to pedal through a wall of bubbles and dodge the spinning blades of a mini-golf-course-style windmill in addition to the typically grueling run-ups, road sections, and mud-pits. What riders lacked in gear-ratios they more than made up for in creativity. The start line featured a couple hundred riders dressed as Vikings, wookies, cowboys and school girl nuns in red lace teddies. Hot Pink Spiderman dueled it out with Gene Simmons Gothic Guy while a dude dressed as Pippi Longstocking skipped through the obstacles while humming the Sound of Music.

Doug McCollum

A pioneering traffic design and engineering specialist who rode his bike to work every day and helped forge PDOT’s bike-friendly disposition, passed away on October 30th after a long bout with brain cancer.

Portland native Doug McCollum graduated from Portland State University in 1985, was hired by the Water Bureau one year later and then transferred to PDOT in 1986.

His daughter Caitlin works in the Transportation Options division at PDOT. In an email to me shortly after her dad passed away, she recalled,

“When I was in kindergarten and it was “parent career day” or something like that, he brought road signs. When I was older and explaining what he did for a living it was “he puts in speed bumps”, and later “bike lanes”.”

“There’s a new Con-way fleet on the road.”
— copy from a new ad by freight logistics company Con-way

Con-way is a $4.7 billion freight transportation and logisitics company based in Northwest Portland. I’ve long admired their large, secured, and covered “bike cage” parking area and I’ve previously covered their above-and-beyond participation in the BTA’s Bike Commute Challenge.

The other day, while perusing a copy of Portland Monthly Magazine, I came a nice ad from Con-way (see it below). I especially like the copy. Under a photo of four happy people wearing Con-way jerseys, it reads:

Concept drawing of new improvements to “jug-handle” at NE Weidler and 102nd.

A ‘cross racer dressed up like a swamp monster riding through a huge wall of bubbly foam: It must be SSCXWC.
Slideshow below — Gallery here
(Photos � J. Maus)

Governor Ted Kulongoski held a hearing in front of lawmakers this morning in Salem to announce his Jobs and Transportation Act of 2009.

In an effort to raise money to pay for transportation infrastructure improvements and create jobs, Kulongoski proposed a 2-cent increase to the gas tax and a host of motor vehicle-related fees. The BTA’s Karl Rohde, who attended the hearing, says the governor is also considering a bicycle excise tax.

In his statement this morning, Kulongoski invoked Oregon’s $2.5 billion transportation bill that passed the Legislature in the “tough times” of 2003. Kulongoski reminded his colleagues that back then, even while the state slashed $2 billion out of the budget, schools closed early, and Oregon’s unemployment rate skyrocketed, they still managed to pass the, “largest investment in roads and bridges in Oregon since the building of our share of the Interstate Highway System.”

Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder and
his partner Lydia Rich have established
a scholarship to promote bike/ped research.
(Photo � J. Maus)

BTA co-founder and Metro Councilor Rex Burkholder and his partner Lydia Rich (a public school teacher in North Portland) have made a commitment to Portland State University’s growing reputation as a hub for livable cities research.

In 2007, the couple established the The Rex Burkholder and Lydia Rich Scholarship. The $5,000 prize is awarded to a graduate student who “intends to be active in developing a future where bicyclists and pedestrians play a major role in the livability of urban areas.”

Here are some news stories and links from around the web that have caught our eye in the last week:

Auto Industry in the News

News Flash: Drivers and smokers are the new real Americans. The Oregonian asks state Republican lawmakers how they plan to handle a new political climate that is friendly to tax increases. Here’s one response: “On Wednesday, House Minority Leader Bruce Hanna said Republicans will continue to look out for taxpayers, especially drivers and smokers.”

Veer on the marquee
for the very first time.
(Photos � J. Maus)

The producer and filmmakers behind Veer, a feature documentary about the Portland bike scene (I shared my thoughts about it back in September), held a special premier screening for cast and crew at Hollywood Theater on Thursday night.

Many of the personalities that star in the film were on hand, including Bicycle Transportation Alliance executive director Scott Bricker, former Sprockette Lauren Pedersen, advocate and non-profit organizer Steven Kung, and Gabe Graff, formerly of the Community Cycling Center and now on the Safe Routes to Schools staff at PDOT.

A scene from last year’s SSCXWC.
(Photo: PJB Photo/Flickr)

If you’re trying to decide what to do on Sunday, you might want to roll over to Portland International Raceway to partake in a special edition of the Cross Crusade.

In addition to the typical Crusade craziness, this weekend is also the second annual SSCXWC — the Singlespeed Cyclocross World Championships. We wrote about the event earlier this week, but we missed a few details.

According to an email update on the event from Cross Crusade ringleader Brad Ross, the SSCXWC will be the last race of the day and the addition of the event means that the, “hilarity and stupidity factor will be ramped even that much higher than a normal Crusade Race (if there even is such a thing).”

A closer look at Custom Bicycles of Portland

Blumenauer brings up the CRC at City Club event

More reports and photos from SSCXWC

Doug McCollum, bike-friendly traffic engineer at PDOT, passes away

Ad Watch: Con-way is “changing gears”

City dedicates “urban boulevard” project in Gateway District

SSCXWC and Cross Crusade photos and mini-report

Kulongoski proposes gas tax increase, outlines ’09 transportation bill

Scholarship helps PSU become hub of bike/ped research

The Monday Roundup

Cast and crew get first look at Veer

Free beer, Olympic talent, and a high “stupidity factor”

Latest Headlines

Your guide to finding the ‘Wildwood’ crows by bike

My journey to that ‘Hard Rock glow’

Off-Road Cycling Master Plan: A decade later, what has changed?

A rad Plaid Century

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland