🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
Today is the last day of the BTA’s 13th annual Bike Commute Challenge.
The event, which is a friendly competition between businesses to see whose employees can complete the most bike trips in the month of September, broke records across the board this year. In fact, the popularity of the event caught the BTA a bit off-guard, causing their server to crash throughout the month as participants logged in to tally up their miles.
This morning I snapped a few photos of a common sight around Portland these days; bike traffic.
Many of us have viewed (with envy) images of bike traffic in European cities like Amsterdam. While we’re not quite in that league yet, our busy bikeways are truly a sight to behold.
For everyone that hasn’t witnessed it first hand, check out the brief slideshow below for a view of morning rush-hour in Portland’s bike lanes…
Here’s a doozy of a story from the Associated Press (emphasis mine):
“MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) – A man is being held in the Skagit County Jail in Mount Vernon, Wash., in lieu of $150,000 bail after being arrested for the 14th time for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol.
Superior Court documents say 46-year-old Aaron Bridge of Mount Vernon was arrested in Sedro-Woolley when a sheriff’s deputy smelled alcohol during a traffic stop. The documents say Bridge was also driving with a suspended license.
The documents say Tuesday’s arrest was Bridge’s 14th for suspicion of DUI in 16 years. They say Bridge has been convicted at least four times in the past 10 years.
Bridge was charged with a felony DUI on Thursday. The felony DUI law went into effect in July 2007 and allows prosecutors to charge anyone with four prior DUI offenses within the past 10 years with a felony.”
A 25-year-old man riding a bicycle was struck from behind while riding sounthbound on SE 39th Ave. just north of Powell Blvd. (map) in Southeast Portland at around 2:45 am this morning.
The hit-and-run incident left Cox with non life-threatening injuries but witnesses told KATU-TV that he was “pretty banged up”.
UPDATE:
Here’s the latest from the Portland Police Bureau:
The City of Portland Office of Transportation will host the 2008 Portland Transportation Safey Summit next week (Monday, 10/8). The event is a great way to meet local and state transportation planners, policy makers, etc… and get information on many important resources and programs.
PDOT just released the agenda and program. Check it out:
Boulder, Colorado has joined Portland and Davis, California as the only cities to have achieved the League of American Bicyclists highest rating for bike-friendliness.
The League announced Boulder’s “Platinum” Bicycle Friendly Community award last week.
Here’s a quote from League director Andy Clarke:
“Boulder well deserves the platinum designation because they are actually delivering the quality of life benefits to which so many other communities aspire. The number of single occupant vehicles is falling; bike use, walking and transit is increasing. People can get almost everywhere in town by bike – and it’s a normal thing to do.
Well, since my event calendar is broken (thanks to my recent software upgrade), I haven’t really been keeping track of what’s going on this weekend.
I’m going camping with my girls Sunday and Monday (been planning it all summer but haven’t been able to do it until now), so, barring any breaking news, I’ll see you back here on Tuesday.
Enjoy your weekend and don’t forget to share your adventures in the comments below.
At around 5:00pm yesterday evening, there was a right-hook crash involving a bike and a truck at the intersection of Broadway and Williams in Northeast Portland (Map).
According to the Police Bureau’s assistant PIO Greg Pashley, a woman riding a bicycle was struck by a “short panel truck” and was transported to Emanuel Hospital. Pashley said the woman ended up underneath the truck after she was hit, but luckily, there was no serious trauma involved.
I love the rough-and-tumble outer shell of the otherwise cuddly sport of cyclocross. With it’s usually grueling weather, tough courses, and party-like atmosphere, the sport’s promoters revel in its rowdiness.
The first ‘cross race of the season was named Pain on the Peak and this weekend, racers will head south on Saturday to the Rickreall Rampage and then out to Gresham for the Battle at Barlow on Sunday.
The Rickreall is sponsored by Veloshop and it’s being held on a working farm in the Willamette Valley, just west of Salem. In addition to a perfect warm-up for the opening of the Cross Crusade in Portland next weekend, organizers promise “a bonfire and shenanigans, so be prepared to grin excessively”.
Veteran bike racer and physical therapist Russell Cree has opened Upper Echelon Fitness (917 SW Oak St.) in downtown Portland. The business will offer coaching for cycling and triathlon, state-of-the-art bike fitting, and exercise physiology services to all skill levels.
Cree, 32, previously ran a similar business in Seattle and is also the former vice president of the Hagens Berman Cycling Team.
Via BoingBoing.net, here’s a cool new product from San Francisco that was unveiled at Interbike this week — the Bike to Work Pants by Cordarounds.
They’re just a regular pair of khakis, but with hidden, reflective powers.
From their website:
