Month: January 2009

Press Release: Veloforma/ZYM Announces 2009 NRC Roster

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Here’s the full press release about the 2009 plans and 2010 ambitions for the Portland-based Veloforma/ZYM women’s professional cycling team:

VELOFORMA/ZYM ANNOUNCES 2009 NRC ROSTER:
Sets sites on UCI license for 2010

After an impressive racing season in the Pacific Northwest with sixty-three wins in 2008, the Veloforma/ZYM Women’s Professional Cycling Team has its sights set on the 2009 National Racing Calendar (NRC). As early as next year, Veloforma/ZYM hopes to become a UCI registered team. With a successful racing season and returning talent, the team is on track for an impressive 2009.

With Oregon emerging as a cycling mecca, the region is the ideal environment to produce a high-caliber program such as Veloforma/ZYM. Even so, the team is looking to branch out from the Pacific Northwest. “We plan to be at bigger races this year in preparations for our future,” said team owner Mark Duff. “This has been our goal from the beginning. In 2010 our goal is to add a European sponsor in order to help us set our sites on becoming a UCI team and having Europe on our racing schedule.”

Veloforma maintains its title sponsorship and is joined by ZYM Hydration Products as a presenting sponsor. The team’s success has attracted new sponsors for ‘09 and joining Veloforma bikes are Upper Echelon Fitness, Corsa Concepts, Dedacciai, Rol wheels, Defeet, Champion System, Rudy Project helmets and eyewear, Showers Pass rain jackets, Ironclad Performance Wear gloves, and Hudz. Additionally, Russell Cree of Upper Echelon Fitness will provide coaching, bikes and other support services for the women. Cree and Martha Walsh will serve as director sportifs for select races.

During its inaugural year Veloforma/ZYM collected some notable finishes including Tour of Willamette Stage Race overall leader for the senior women, the Eugene Cycle Celebration and the FIAC National Six Day Championships. Other highlights included a podium finish at the Elite National Road Championship race, two stage wins at Elkhorn Cycling Classic and a fourth place finish at Cascade Classic in Bend, Oregon. The Veloforma/ZYM women swept the top three podium spots in Oregon Bicycle Racing Association’s Oregon Cup, the premier road race series for Oregon’s elite riders.

For the 2010 racing season, the team roster includes five returning riders based out of Oregon: Rebecka Hartkop, Susan Peithman, Tina Brubaker, Alice Pennington and Miranda Moon. Part of Duff’s plan is to expand the club out from the Pacific Northwest and four new riders have been added: Robin Secrist from Kirkland, WA, Sabrina Savage from Mesa, AZ, Melissa McWhithers from Scottsdale, AZ and Christina Smith from Denton, TX. Duff is still in talks with other top notch talents to round out the roster. With the new talent, Duff lists Secrist, Pennington, Smith, McWithers, and Hartkop as GC contenders.

The elite squad’s ’09 focus includes the Tour of the Sun in Arizona, Redlands Bicycle Classic, the Oregon Pro Cycling Classic (formerly the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic), Philadelphia’s Liberty Classic, the Manhattan Beach Gran Prix, the Cascade Cycling Classic, and the Priority Health Cycling Classic and Ann Arbor Cycling Classic in Michigan.
# # #

If you would like to schedule an interview with Mark Duff, please contact him at HYPERLINK “mailto:mark@veloforma.com” mark@veloforma.com or 503-789-6735

Police Bureau spokesman Schmautz retires

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This morning, Portland Police Bureau Public Information Officer Brian Schmautz officially announced his retirement. Schmautz has been at the center of some issues between how the Police Bureau has handled several bike-related incidents.

I’ll have more thoughts on this on the front page soon, but in the meantime, here’s the announcement he sent to regional media outlets:

“Morning everybody, last Wednesday I notified the Police Bureau that I would be retiring on January 30th. We are posting my job today and Chief Sizer is beginning the process of selecting my replacement. I believe Chief Sizer hopes to select the person and have them in the office during the week of January 19th, so we can begin the transition.

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Bikey band will headline live KBOO Bike Show party

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The monthly KBOO Bike Show will ring in the New Year in style on Wednesday. Show founder/co-host, and veteran Portland bike scenester Ayleen Crotty has announced that their January 7th show will be a live, on-air party that will feature up-and-coming local band, Blind Pilot.

Here’s the word from Crotty as posted on her ORBike.com blog:

“Cyclists are invited to the station to share their wishes for a bikey new year, and reflections on the amazing year that we just had.”

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First look at “Pedaling Revolution”, a new book by Oregonian reporter

The cover

This morning I received an advanced copy of a long-awaited new book by Jeff Mapes; Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities.

Mapes is the senior political reporter for The Oregonian (he also writes a politics blog) and, while I’ve known about this project for a long time, he’s kept the details secret. I’m excited to dive into this book and see what he’s come up with.

For the past few years, I’ve watched Mapes tote around his notebook interviewing folks in the local and national bike scene. But this book goes far beyond Portland’s borders. Mapes’ book shares the impact of bike culture and activism in places like New York City, Davis, Chicago, and others. He also has a chapter titled, “Learning from Amsterdam”, based on his findings from a trip he took to that bike mecca back in 2005.

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Zero bike fatalities in 2008: A Q & A with Greg Raisman

traffic safety education action

PBOT traffic safety expert
Greg Raisman.
(Photos © J. Maus)

In 2008, there were no fatal bike crashes in the City of Portland. After a tumultuous 2007, when we had six fatal bike crashes (two of them very high-profile), this was welcome news by many in the community.

To gain more perspective on this statistic, I asked Greg Raisman, the chief traffic safety guru in the City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) a few questions. Raisman thinks that it’s not just people on bikes that are safer, but that as bike traffic grows, all road users have a lower risk of being involved in a fatal crash.

Here’s the Q & A we did via email:

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Wall Street Journal suggests going carfree to save money

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“Whether you drive a hybrid or an SUV, your car is a cash-guzzler. Families trying to save real money should consider going without.”

It may be a true sign of change when the Wall Street Journal suggests that giving up your car could be good for your personal finances and the economy as a whole.

In his December 22 column, A real auto bailout: Escape your car, WSJ staff columnist Brett Arends wrote:

Last week, the auto industry finally got its bailout.

But is it time for Americans to rescue their own finances from their cars?

…Forget lattes and store-brand cereal. If you really want to see where your money is going, take a closer look at your car. Foreign or domestic, it doesn’t matter. It’s a cash guzzler, and it is probably costing you more than anything else except your home.

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The Monday Roundup

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Happy new year, everyone!

– There has been a lot of editorial page pontification in the last week about what our cities’ transportation policies should be in 2009. Here are a handful:

A province in Rwanda has banned bicycle use; Maryland police are surveilling a bicycle group

  • The Jakarta Post (which doesn’t have permanent links to their stories) says “Let’s be friendlier in 2009!” and asks for more carfree spaces and safer streets.

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Waiting for CT Transit in the snow

The view from my old bus stop on Whitney Ave hasn’t changed much in 20 years.
The white band on the center pole marks the stop, in lieu of a sign.
(Photos by Elly Blue)

After a warm, dry week, New Year’s Eve brought us another big snowstorm here in Hamden, Connecticut (my hometown, just north of New Haven). At around noon it was snowing hard, the wind was blowing, visibility was low, and the streets were covered with increasingly packed and rutted snow. I decided to take the bus downtown.

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Weekend Open Thread: Rain in the New Year

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First we had an insane snow and ice storm and now I hear that the Portland region is being pelted with record rain.

A few hours ago, reader John P. sent me this photo of the Springwater Corridor
Trail (at mile marker 10.5) along with this comment:

“The cool thing about riding it right now… there’s so much oil and crap floating on the water you don’t have to worry about oiling your chain later.”

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Sellwood Bridge task force set to choose preferred alternative

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The Community Task Force for the Sellwood Bridge project is set to meet on Monday (1/5) and the agenda will include a discussion and “possible recommendation” of a locally preferred alternative.

Here’s more from a press release sent out today by Multnomah County (they own and manage the bridge):

The task force will also hear presentations on public comments received about the project’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), results of a public survey about the preferred alternative, and a report on possible hybrids that combine elements of alternatives that were studied in the draft EIS. Five build alternatives and one no build option were analyzed in the draft EIS. The build alternatives include three bridge replacements and two rehabilitations of the existing bridge…

This month the task force will recommend its preferred alternative to the project’s Policy Advisory Group, comprised of elected and appointed officials. If the task force cannot reach consensus on a recommendation on Monday, a second meeting will be held January 19. On February 6 the Policy Advisory Group will consider the task force recommendation before making its own recommendation. The preferred alternative recommended by the Policy Group must be adopted by Multnomah County, the City of Portland and Metro before the Federal Highway Administration can issue a final approval.

The task force meeting is open to the public and will include time for public comment.

The Community Task Force for the Sellwood Bridge Project will meet on Monday, January 5 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm at OMSI, 1945 SE Water Avenue.

Rolling into the Devil’s Gear in New Haven

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[BikePortland.org’s Managing Editor Elly Blue is currently on an East Coast Tour. This is the latest dispatch from her trip.]

The Devil’s Gear is a focal point
for New Haven biking.
(Photos by Elly Blue)

When I lived in New Haven a decade ago there wasn’t much of a bike scene. People biked, as did I — but I never had the sense of being part of a movement, or a community, or that bicycling was anything more than a fun but somewhat embattled way to get to work.

That’s all changed now.

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