-Slideshow below-
(Photos © J. Maus)
This morning, as part of the Oregon Bike Summit, a handful of state legislators suited up for the first-ever Legislator Bike Ride.
About 50 summit attendees met on the steps of the Capitol building before taking a leisurely, five-mile ride around Salem. Joining the bike advocates from around the state were six state legislators: Rep. Jules Bailey (D-Portland), Rep. Tobias Read (D-Beaverton), Sen. Jackie Dingfelder (D-Portland), Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland), Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene), and Sen. Jason Atkinson (R-Ashland).
Ginny Burdick ride along the Willamette.
The legislators were all experienced cyclists. Atkinson is a former semi-professional road racer who showed up this morning on a custom, Oregon-made Land Shark. Atkinson is still recovering from a freak gunshot wound to his leg back in July of 2008. I spoke a bit with Atkinson about his ongoing effort to build a velodrome facility in Portland (more on that later).
A highlight of the ride was rolling over the recently opened Union Street Railroad bike/ped bridge.
See more legislators in spandex and beautiful spring scenes from Salem in the slideshow below:
Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.
— This is part of our special coverage of the 2009 Oregon Bike Summit. View more coverage here and see our latest photos in the official photo gallery.
Jonathan Maus is BikePortland’s editor, publisher and founder. Contact him at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.