-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.