April 2010 Archives

Metro’s Robert Liberty on the CRC: “Time to leave the monster behind”

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Robert Liberty wants to show the
DOTs that they aren’t the only ones
with ideas on how to fix the
I-5 bridge over the Columbia.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Metro Councilor Robert Liberty has just taken his opposition to the Columbia River Crossing project up a notch.

In a statement released today, Liberty urges people to send in their bridge design proposals. He writes that it’s “Time to leave the monster project behind and find some smarter, cheaper, greener solutions.” Liberty calls a recent project review panel appointed by DOTs from Washington and Oregon as nothing more than an “embarrassing… exercise in rubber-stamping” and a “waste of public funds on opinion management.”

Liberty says he wants to collect design proposals for the bridge that haven’t been given a fair look by the state DOTs:

Big crowd fills the Chris King employee cafe
at kickoff event for Portland Trail Fest.
(Photos © J. Maus)

The kickoff of the first annual Portland Trail Fest last night served as an inspirational kick-in-the-pants for local off-road riding advocates.

It has been nearly three years since the lack of local trails was first brought to the attention of the City’s bicycle advisory committee. Chris Distefano, the man who made an impassioned speech to that committee on May 9, 2007, addressed the crowd last night. Distefano is the marketing director at Chris King Precision Components, a company that allows him paid time away from the office to advocate for more mountain biking in Portland. Before introducing the night’s speakers, Distefano — a former board member of the International Mountain Bicycle Assocation (IMBA) and PR guy for Shimano America — stated the ultimate dream for local mountain bikers:

Bikes have saved us from expensive
road projects and congestion.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Bikes do a lot of great things for our city. We often hear about the environmental benefits, the health benefits, and so on. But what about the reduced impact on our road network and congestion? What if more Portlanders drove cars into the city instead of bikes?

Doug Fir — not just for live music anymore!

Doug Fir Lounge on East Burnside is the latest Portland venue looking to mix bicycles and business. They’ve launched a “First Mondays Biking Wonderland” event series that will run from May to October. Headlining the events is a Goldsprints competition with a championship slated for October 4th.

On each of the six first Mondays starting in May, the fun will start at 6:00pm with a “Biking Social,” then the Goldprints will run from 7:00 to 9:00 (under an awning on a patio adjacent to the lounge) and an after-party until 10:00pm will round out the evenings.

Year: 2003
Brand: Trek
Model: 1000
Color:silver/alum with black trim
Size:54cm
Serial: GQ3H2633
Stolen in Portland, OR 97212
Stolen:2010-04-23
Stolen From: 2440 NE 12th backyard. Scaled locked gate.
Neighborhood: Irvington
Owner: Jennifer Hawkins
OwnerEmail: jhawkins@easystreet.net
Description: Well loved but in good condition 2003 Trek 1000 silver/alum with black trim, water bottle, serial # GQ3H2633. My phone-503 577-5307
Police record with: T10002314
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Jobs of the Week

Here are the latest job opportunities posted on BikePortland.org this week.

Did you know that you can sign up for all the latest job listings via RSS, email, or by following us on Twitter?

These are paid listings, so when you apply, please remember to tell them you saw the ad on BikePortland.

For detailed employment information including duties and how to apply, follow these links:

Model: Mountain bike
Color:white w/orange/green highlights
Stolen in portland, OR 97202
Stolen:2010-04-23
Stolen From: Sellwood Middle School
Neighborhood: Sellwood
Owner: max harris
OwnerEmail: whitmax@hotmail.com
Reward: $10
Description: This is my 12-year-old son’s bike. A smaller mountain bike..larger than little kid size but smaller than average adult bike. Mainly white with orange and green. Looked kind of tie-die, “surfer”, funky color scheme. We think the bike is about 5 years old. We purchased used last year so don’t have a lot of info on it other than that. Newer tires.
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Black Specialized XR Sport 2005

Year: 2005
Brand: Specialized
Model: XR Sport
Color:Black
Serial: P5FQ10742
Stolen in portland, OR 97215
Stolen:2010-04-22
Stolen From: Se 46th and Salmon
Neighborhood: Sunnyside
Owner: Kim Johnson
OwnerEmail: wrytide@gmail.com
Description: black fenders, patch kit in little seat bag,
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Oregon State Bike Map now available online (for the first time ever)

Detail of latest Oregon State Bike Map, now available online!

Ever since I moved to Portland six years ago, I’ve loved seeing all the interesting tattoos people have in this town. I don’t have any myself (yet), but if and when I ever get one, there’s a good chance it will have a bike-inspired design.

I came across something in my Twitter feed this morning that mentioned bike tattoos so I delved into my photo archives to see if I could find any. I did! So I figured I’d share them with you…

North American Cycle Courier Championships

[This article was written by long time BikePortland reader and active community member and volunteer Kronda Adair. She recently borrowed a mountain bike from River City Bicycles and headed out to explore the Sandy Ridge Trail System.]

Kronda on some of Sandy Ridge’s “awesome,
flowy, and swooping,” singletrack.

(Photo: Jessica Niggemann)

Mountain biking season is coming. The weather is teasing us with warm sunny days sprinkled between the usual spring deluge, so I decided to head out to the new Sandy Ridge Trail System (located about 40 minutes east of Portland) and find out what all the buzz is about.

Situated on BLM land, the Sandy Ridge trail network was built specifically for mountain bikes (read a BikePortland article about the project from August 2008) . It has just under five miles of trails, with ten more planned for 2010-2011.

In case you haven’t noticed, off-road riding is the new commuting in Portland.

Our regional mountain bike advocacy group, the Northwest Trail Alliance, is hitting their stride and there are a lot of new trails being built and talked about in and around Portland. To bring it all together the Northwest Trail Alliance will kick off their first annual Trail Fest tonight.

The keynote tonight will come from the executive director of the International Mountain Bicycling Association Mike Van Abel. His talk will be on “the current state of affairs and the future of mountain biking across the globe and in our backyard.” Emcee for the evening will be none other than author/activist/adventure dad Joe “Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie (who will almost certainly share his tale of being chased by elephants on a recent bike trip in Africa).

Metro’s Robert Liberty on the CRC: “Time to leave the monster behind”

Trail Fest kickoff a pep rally for off-road advocates

How bike traffic has saved our city time and money

Goldsprints (and more) coming to Doug Fir Lounge

silver/alum with black trim Trek 1000 2003

Jobs of the Week

white w/orange/green highlights Mountain bike

Black Specialized XR Sport 2005

Oregon State Bike Map now available online (for the first time ever)

Seen in Portland: Bike tattoos

Going off-road on the new Sandy Ridge Trail System

Trail Fest starts tonight!

Latest Headlines

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From the Archives

With six kids and no car, this mom does it all by bike