August 2010 Archives

New trail opens at Sandy Ridge mountain bike area

Detail of new trail.s

The Sandy Ridge Trail System just gets better and better. The trail network, already a huge hit with off-road biking enthusiasts around the region (check out our coverage of it here), has just added a new bridge and a new section of trail.

According to the Northwest Trail Alliance, a temporary closure of the area ended on July 24th and is now re-opened “with some very welcome additions.” The new features include a bridge over Little Joe Creek and a brand new section of trail. A new, 2.25 mile loop has been added to the Three Thirty Eight trail and it includes a technical, rock drop section and a bypass for less experienced riders who’d rather avoid it.

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

It’s a rare media outlet that can cover something like the World Naked Bike Ride with a good balance of professionalism and good-natured fun, but the crew at G4 TV seems to have done just that.

Their coverage (watch it below) of Portland’s 2010 World Naked Bike Ride features some familiar faces including “Route Czar” and frequent BikePortland commenter Matt Picio and prolific bike fun participant, gravity biker, and Hammercise co-creator, Dutch.

Here’s the video (possibly NSFW, depending on where you work):

Year: 2008
Brand: specialized
Model: myka
Color:brown/beige
Size:medium
Stolen in Portland, OR
Stolen:2010-08-12
Stolen From: portland northwest hostel
Neighborhood: nw
Owner: sarah symmes
OwnerEmail: ssymmes@hotmail.com
Description: brown/beige with pink flower detail on frame. scratches on fork
Police record with: portland pd
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

red rocky mountain etsx-10 2007

Year: 2007
Brand: rocky mountain
Model: etsx-10
Color:red
Size:16.5″
Stolen in Portland, OR
Stolen:2010-08-12
Stolen From: northwest portland hostel
Neighborhood: NW
Owner: noel gingrich
OwnerEmail: noelezra@hotmail.com
Description: small dent in frame on lower tube
torn red/black WTB seat
Police record with: portland pd
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Man on a bike struck by TriMet bus operator on transit mall – Updated (Photos)

Photo from the scene.
(Photo: Bill Jackson)

At about 7:30 this evening, a TriMet bus operator collided with a man biking on 6th Avenue in downtown Portland. According to TriMet spokesperson Mary Fetsch, the bus was traveling north on 6th and was taking a left turn onto SW Morrison when the collision occurred. The person on the bike was also on 6th and traveling north.

Here are photos taken from the scene by readers Nate Gibson and Bill Jackson:

Year: 2006
Brand: TREK
Model: 820
Color:Red/Orange w/ Silver
Size:Type L frame:13″ – Wheel 26″
Serial: 055CS628A
Photo: No
Stolen in Wood Village, OR
Stolen:2010-08-7
Stolen From: NE 242nd & Glisan, across from Cherry Park Safeway.
Neighborhood: Wood Village / Troutdale
Owner: Jeff Clark
OwnerEmail: jefflc4@comcast.net
Description: Woman’s frame, silver front shock forks, bike body red/orange, silver hard tail.
Police record with: Filed with Gresham
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Vancouver gets two more on-street bike corrals, but businesses thwart a third

New bike parking across
from Esther Short Park.
(Photos by Marcus Griffith

Earlier this week, the City of Vancouver installed two more on-street bike parking corrals, raising the city’s total to three. The new racks were installed Tuesday morning at Esther Short Park and on the corner of Broadway and McLoughlin Blvd in downtown Vancouver.

As reported online in The Vancouver Voice last week, the projects were approved by the Parking Advisory Committee in July, but were not expected to be installed until late summer due to a back log of city pavement projects.

Year: 2008
Brand: Leader (painted purple)
Model: 712 track frame
Color:dark purple
Size:54
Stolen in Portland, OR 97219
Stolen:2010-08-11
Stolen From: SW portland on Southridge street close to Tryon Creek state park.
Neighborhood: Sw southridge dr. Portland/ LO
Owner: Chet Malinow
OwnerEmail: p.chetty12345@gmail.com
Description: dark purple painted leader track frame. White areospoke infront, green deep v in back. Sugino cranks, green shinny riser handle bars, white soma seat
Police record with: Portland PD
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Portland and parking lots: ‘For the love of cars’

“By the 1970s, less than thirty of the two hundred seventy… buildings downtown remained…When did Portland start to trade its most unique built feature for acres and acres of pay by the hour asphalt?”
— Dan Haneckow, historian

A recent post on local historian Dan Haneckow’s Cafe Unknown blog, delved into a sad part of Portland’s urban legacy — the demolition of downtown buildings to make room for surface parking lots. He writes, “By the 1970s, less than thirty of the two hundred seventy cast iron buildings downtown remained.”

But why? It wasn’t always just to make room for highways and onramps. Here’s what Haneckow thinks led to this practice:

In their ongoing effort to make the biking and walking path adjacent to I-205 into a “world class facility,” the Oregon Department of Transportation has just announced the “Equity Bike Ride” to show off what they’ve done and what’s planned for the future.

Shelli Romero, ODOT’s Public Policy & Community Affairs Manager, has been doing a lot of biking this summer and says she has “become passionate” about it. In an email announcing the ride, Romero notes that she has also “thought a lot about how bicycling and the issues of equity and creating/building and supporting communities intersect.”

A lobbying group that made headlines in June for trying to tilt a pot of Metro’s federal funds away from active transportation and toward freight projects now has a former top aide to Governor Ted Kulongoski to manage its communications efforts.

Hans Bernard, who handled transportation issues as the Governor’s legislative deputy director from 2007 to 2009, is now principal at Hubbell Communications, the public relations firm hired by BEST (Building the Economy through Sustainable Transportation), a coalition of business, industry, and freight interests.

New trail opens at Sandy Ridge mountain bike area

Video of the Week: Fun coverage of the World Naked Bike Ride

brown/beige specialized myka 2008

red rocky mountain etsx-10 2007

Man on a bike struck by TriMet bus operator on transit mall – Updated (Photos)

Red/Orange w/ Silver TREK 820 2006

Vancouver gets two more on-street bike corrals, but businesses thwart a third

dark purple Leader (painted purple) 712 track frame 2008

Portland and parking lots: ‘For the love of cars’

Equity Bike Ride will draw attention to I-205 path

Former Kulongoski aide now leads freight lobby PR effort

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From the Archives

An exciting vision for bikes at ‘Gateway Green’