October 2008 Archives

Metro will present findings from European trip (get a sneak peek here)

Portlanders in Copenhagen. That’s PDOT’s head traffic
engineer Rob Burchfield on the left (in blue).
(Photo: Mikael Colville-Andersen)

A delegation of Portlanders from Metro’s Blue Ribbon Committee for Trails recently completed a week-long exploration of bike policies, culture and infrastructure in Amsterdam and Copenhagen.

Findings and recommendations from the trip will be presented at the final meeting of the Committee (which was launched back in May) on November 10th at Metro headquarters (600 NE Grand Ave.).

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

New Hindsight glasses from Nike.
(Photos: Nike via Gizmodo)

A reader (thanks Austin!) just gave me a heads up on an interesting new product idea from Nike.

Gadget blog Gizmodo reports that the new Hindsight glasses “are designed to do one simple thing: stop cyclists from getting hurt on the roads.”

How do they do this?

“It’s winter and cold and dark, but that doesn’t mean you need to sit around and get blob-like.”
— from the Pain in the Park website

Jeff Henderson (the man behind the Oregon Trout City of Portland Triathlon) and his partner Jonathan Eng (a personal trainer) are launching “Pain in the Park“, a new series of free cross-training workouts that will take place at parks throughout Portland.

On his website, Henderson writes that he launched the workout series because, “It’s winter and cold and dark, but that doesn’t mean you need to sit around and get blob-like.” He also writes that the workouts will focus on fun.

The ghost bike for Tracey Sparling (at the corner of W. Burnside and 14th in downtown Portland) with fresh flowers placed by family members on the one-year anniversary of her death.
(Photos � J. Maus)

A memorial sculpture and stencil (since removed) for Brett Jarolimek at the intersection of N. Interstate and Greeley.

[via Streetsblog]

Nobel Prize winning economist and NY Times columnist Paul Krugman has given some powerful punditry to the recently launched “Build for America” campaign. In an Op Ed piece published last week, he wrote:

“..right now, increased government spending is just what the doctor ordered, and concerns about the budget deficit should be put on hold.”

Pay by the mile car insurance? Only if you live in Texas

“When you stop your car, we stop your premium”

That’s the tagline of MileMeter, a company that provides auto insurance “buy” the mile (get it?). In a video on the company’s website, founder and CEO Chris Gay says they started the company because they were frustrated with what was available. Here’s an excerpt from the video:

Custom Bicycles of Portland will
open their doors November 1st.
(Photo � J. Maus)

There’s a new bike shop in town, and it’s unlike any other shop in the United States.

Custom Bicycles of Portland will open in November on (fittingly) the boutique-lined NW 23rd Ave. The shop — which will also include a fitting studio — will be Quebec-based Guru Bikes first-ever “concept store” in the U.S. (meaning it will only sell Guru Bikes).

The new shop is the dream of Adam Reiser, a competitive triathlete, law school graduate, and the U.S. sales rep for Quebec-based Guru Bikes. During a recent demo tour through Portland, Reiser said he and his wife “fell in love” with the city and decided to move here in July. Reiser previously lived in Austin, Texas, where he and two partners built up a highly successful triathlon-focused shop (which he left to work for Guru).

Elly Blue

[This article was written by contributor Elly Blue. You can read more from Ms. Blue here.]

“Do not ride at night,” urges the Huffy Bicycle Company website. “Have someone pick you up if you’re out after dark or walk your bike home.”

This attitude is fortunately not the norm in Portland, where ever-increasing numbers of cyclists ride year-round and bike light education and/or giveaway programs abound.