Pedal Potluck Picnic

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What: Pedal Potluck Picnic

When: First Tuesday in May to September, 6:30pm-8:30pm

Where: 3031 SE Hawthorne – Hawthorne District Hostel

The PPP returns for its FIFTH season! A casual bicycle ride traversing approx. 3-5 miles (5-8km) with a different route each time. The end destination is a mystery park or ark-like setting. The term “park” will be used liberally here, so expect the unexpected! At the endpoint we’ll enjoy a picnic dinner. Eating will be potluck style, so please bring food and drink to share (preferably vegetarian/vegan).
Please also try to bring your own silverware, plate, and cup. We will also stop at a grocery store along the way. If it looks like it’ll rain we’ll end up at a COVERED destination.

Pretty Dress Ride

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What: Pretty Dress Bike Ride

When: Sunday, May 3, 2:00-4:30pm

Where: SE Ladds Circle (in the Center), Near 1996 SE Ladd Ave

Oh it’s Spring and oh it’s so fun to bike in a pretty dress. Join us on this annual ride. All welcome, but you must come wearing a pretty dress! We’ll be riding to a picnic spot. Wear your bloomers, bring a picnic blanket and bring something yummy to share plus your own utensils too. If it is nasty weather we will hang out in Palios at Ladd’s Circle for dessert.

Guest article: Spring cleaning tips from a pro wrench

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Tori Bortman
(Photos © J. Maus)

Editor’s Note: This article was written by guest author Tori Bortman. Tori is very active in the local bike scene. She’s a co-host of the KBOO Bike Show, a promoter of bike polo and women-only alleycats, and she’s the proprietor of her own bike mechanic training business, Gracie’s Wrench (which we reported about two years ago and was featured in The Oregonian this past Sunday).

Today she shares a few tips about how to coax your battered bike (and psyche) out of the winter doldrums and into the sunshine ahead!


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PBOT Bicycle Brown Bag – Be a Bicycle (Commuter) Champion!

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What: PBOT Bicycle Brown Bag – Be a Bicycle Commuter Champion

When: Thursday, April 16 12:00-1:00pm

Where: PSU – Smith Memorial Union Room 296. 1825 SW Broadway (at Montgomery)

Encouraging Riding at Portland State University
Learn some fun and easy ways to get your friends and colleagues to take bike commuting for a test ride – and to stick with it!

Presented in cooperation with PSU’s Transportation Options Department

One hour, 22 citations at Clinton street stop sign (updated)

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bike stop markings at broadway flint-2.jpg

(Photo © J. Maus)

The Portland Police Bureau sent three motorcycle cops to SE Clinton Street this morning to observe and enforce stop sign compliance at 34th and 21st Avenues.

According to Traffic Division Lieutenant Bryan Parman, the “enforcement mission” (a.k.a. sting) came after his office received a complaint via email last week from a nearby resident. Parman said,

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Pedicab operator allegedly run down by man in a car; suspect still on the loose

“If I would have been a pedestrian or on a regular bike, I would have been dead…I feel like an attempt was made on my life. I told the cop I was assaulted but for some reason this was put on the backburner. They told me my case was placed at a low priority.”
— pedicab operator

Last Saturday night at about 2:30 a.m., a pedicab operator was allegedly run down by a man driving a late-model Mercedes while riding east on NW Davis Street in downtown Portland.

The woman, who has requested anonymity because she fears her safety and her job, says the impact from the collision caused her to “fly about twelve feet backwards through the air and land on the ground.”

A witness says the car was traveling at about 40 miles per hour. The impact left the pedicab smashed, but the woman was miraculously unhurt.

I spoke with the victim this morning and she is still in shock and disbelief — not just because of the crash and its aftermath, but because she feels the Police Bureau has not responded adequately to a situation she says could have easily ended in a fatality.

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Get an animated lesson in bikes, stop signs, and the Idaho Stop Law

Screen grab from animation
about bikes, stop signs, and the
Idaho Stop Law by Spencer
Boomhower.
Watch it below.

Lots of stop sign news at BikePortland headquarters today.

I spent my morning out at SE Water and Caruthers where city crews recently removed two stop signs that were deemed unnecessary, I just got off the phone with Traffic Division Lieutenant Bryan Parman about an “enforcement mission” (a.k.a. sting) at a stop sign on SE Clinton this morning, and I have been planning an update on the BTA’s Idaho Stop legislation.

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Traffic Division names new captain

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The Portland Police Bureau Traffic Division has chosen a new captain. Officer Eric Hendricks, who has been in the bureau for 23 years and was most recently in charge of its Training Division, will now lead the Traffic Division.

Assistant Chief and former Traffic Division Captain Larry O’Dea shared the news with me yesterday and O’Dea said he’ll personally introduce Hendricks at a tonight’s meeting of the City of Portland Bicycle Advisory Committee.

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Gateway Green Open House

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An Open House is scheduled for the unveiling of the latest document — the Gateway Green Bicycle Concept Plan. We hope you will join us at that event:

Gateway Green Open House
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Gateway Elks Lodge
711 NE 100th Ave
Portland, OR
[Located two blocks south of the Gateway MAX station]

Soon these pages will have information about the proposed project and the Friends group. We’ll include maps, photos, volunteer opportunities — and copies of documents like the Vision Plan, and the recently completed Bicycle Concept Plan.

Filmed by Bike Opening Night Throwdown

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Filmed by Bike Opening Night

April 17 from 6pm – 1am

Clinton Street Theater, SE 26th and Clinton

7:00, 9:00, 11:00 screenings
The Ruckus in the Street program shows at all Friday screenings
21+ for all shows on Friday.

New Belgium Street Party outside the festival is open to all ages.

$8-15 sliding scale for the movies, street party is free
$15 gets you two complimentary raffle tickets and the signature Filmed by Bike sticker.

Doors open 30 minutes before the show. Line forms one hour before the show. You may only buy one ticket at a time and you must have your ID. CASH ONLY.

——-

We’re getting our week-long festival started right with the Opening Night Throwdown. Come inside to watch the movies (21+) and stay outside for the New Belgium Street Party, all ages and FREE! Though it’s all ages, the street party is a decidedly adult atmosphere.

NEW BELGIUM STREET PARTY
Come party in the street with us for the New Belgium Street Party. We’re opening up Clinton Street between 25th and 26th for our very own party with a beer garden, entertainers, music and more.

EMBRACE THE LINE- COME EARLY
Every year the Opening Night Throwdown screenings have sold out, so this year we added in an additional screening at 11pm. We suggest you come an hour early to get in and to have time to hang out at the New Belgium Street Party. Embrace the line; meet a new friend. Tickets go on sale a 1/2 hour before the screening time, so you can buy your ticket and hang out.

Shows are 21+ so you must have your ID and you can only buy a ticket for yourself. CASH only.

If you’re concerned about getting in, you should really consider buying one of our VIP Access Packs and come in style.

EMBRACE THE LINE
So, yeah, there is a line to get in. A line of awesomeness. Embrace the line. Make a friend. Meet the people you’re standing next to. Drink a beer – yes, you can do that in the line.

MORE INFO
Filmed by Bike: April 17-23
Clinton Street Theater

Bike Farm in full bloom as spring season picks up

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[Editor’s note: This story was written by BikePortland News Intern Dan Liu. Stay tuned for more photos and stories from Dan!]

Volunteer James Moore in action.
(Photos: Dan Liu)

Last fall, North Portland bike repair and tool co-op Bike Farm celebrated its one-year anniversary by moving into a new space — one where the young non-profit now must make rent.

In other words, “We’re excited for the summer,” says Bike Farm’s volunteer analyst Momoko Saunders. “We really hope that the bike community will come out and support us as the weather gets better.”

At their new location in a former hair salon on 305 NE Wygant St., (their old location had been a donated residential garage off Alberta), Bike Farm has officially survived the winter slow-season thanks to individual memberships, donations, and volunteers’ sweat.

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New shop hopes to stoke e-bike revolution

The eBike Store on opening day-103

The eBike Store opened
last week in North Portland.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Opening a new retail business in the midst of an historic economic downturn isn’t exactly a safe bet, especially when there’s not a very big existing market for your product. But that didn’t stop Wake Gregg from opening Portland’s first all-electric bicycle store, The eBike Store (201 N. Alberta), last week.

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