🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

Mini Bike Winter – Capture the Flag

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

2:00pm, meet at Ladd’s Circle

1. Bicycles optional, but if used, must be 16″ wheels or smaller.
2. Flags placed at opposite rose garden traffic diamonds. To capture flag, bring it inside the center traffic circle.
3. You can only tag opponents, not their bikes, and only when they are on your side. The flag carrier can be tagged anywhere.
4. Dress accordingly.

Spectators can hang out at the center traffic circle to watch the action.

Ghost bike returned, thief ‘truly sorry’

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The bike is back, with a letter from the thief.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Yesterday’s case of the mysterious disappearance of Brett Jarolimek’s ghost bike at N. Interstate and Greeley has come to an unexpected close.
Just a few hours after my story, I got an email and a phone call from local TV news crews who had sent reporters out to investigate. They were surprised to find the ghost bike back in its place. But the interesting thing is that, wedged into the rear wheel of the bike is a note from the thief that reads:

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Update: Ghost bike missing, returned by thief

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*Read this story for the update.*
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Brett's Ghost Bike is gone-2.jpg

Only flowers and mementos remain.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The ghost bike for Brett Jarolimek has gone missing, and the disappearance is most likely the work of pranksters or thieves who want to sell it for scrap.

The memorial, which was chained to a traffic pole on N. Interstate Ave. just north of Greeley, was not only a tragic reminder of Brett’s life and the community’s loss, but it served as a remembrance of Brett for his friends and the many commuters who pass by this location daily.

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New company produces wool jerseys in Portland

(Photo: Wabi Woolens)

Harth Huffman first fell in love with wool bike jerseys in the early 1990s.

Now, the 42 year-old middle school teacher from Southeast Portland has turned that love into a new business. A few weeks ago, he launched Wabi Woolens.

Huffman says the company sprung from his dissatisfaction with existing wool jerseys on the market. “Around the mid-to-late ’90s, all the companies switched to a super-soft, machine washable wool,” he said “I didn’t like it because it was thin, it pilled too easily, and it just didn’t feel substantial enough to me.”

So, in true entrepreneurial spirit, Huffman decided to do it himself.

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Bikes on sidewalks: Could Washington County be held liable in tragedy?

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“Signing any sidewalk as a bicycle path increases the likelihood of tort settlements even years later.”
–FHWA Course on Bicycle and Transportation Planning

The recent tragedy in Beaverton leaves many unanswered questions.

Among them is whether or not Washington County contributed to a dangerous situation by designating a sidewalk as the bike route — a practice that state and federal transportation agencies strongly discourage.
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Lance wants his hometown to “evolve into a place like Portland”

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Lance at the Oregon Convention
Center last Saturday.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The national bike movement might have just found its most important (and famous) ally: Lance Armstrong.

After just bumping into Lance at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show held in Portland last weekend, I noticed a story published in his hometown newspaper today about the new “commuting bike shop” he plans to open.

And get this; the shop will focus on commuter bikes, not on high-end, carbon-fiber race machines he so heroically pedaled to seven Tour de France victories.

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Sizer issues executive order on crash investigations; unveils new code procedures

Traffic Division Captain Larry O’Dea
(Photo © J. Maus)

In an executive order issued on Monday (2/11), Portland Police Chief Rosie Sizer made official what I reported on one month ago — new language has been added to the list of crash investigation criteria that will have a major impact on bike-involved collisions.

At last night’s Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, new Traffic Division Captain Larry O’Dea handed me the order, and in addition to the new crash investigation threshold, he pointed out another new policy that will improve bike-related enforcement practices.

First, here’s the new language that changes when a crash investigation is triggered:

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A ghost bike and a rally for Austin Miller

Bike safety advocates at a memorial gathering
earlier this evening for Austin Miller.
(Photos: Jim Parsons)

About 15-20 bike safety advocates held a brief rally tonight at the site of yesterday’s fatal bike/bus collision on SW Farmington Road just west of Murray Blvd.

Participants held signs and placed tea lights and flowers at a ghost bike that has been erected for 15 year-old Austin Miller.

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