(Taken from KGW footage)
A sad situation on NE Alberta and 18th Streets this morning. According to KGW, a man driving a car passed out and ran into a few parked cars and two bikes locked up in a bike corral. One of those bikes belonged to local artist, author, museum curator, ride leader, and veteran of Portland’s bike fun scene, Carye Bye.
in 2005.
(Photo © J. Maus)
Carye’s “Puch” brand mixte has been by her side for almost 10 years and it has been on countless adventures (I’ve been lucky enough to join her on a few of them). After the collision, Carye posted “Dear Puch bike” memories on her Facebook page. Her updates reminded me how — despite its monetary value — a good and reliable bike can mean a lot to its owner.
Below are Carye’s “Dear Puch bike” memories…
Dear Puch bike, it was tough, but we made it all the way from Portland to Lost Lake in Mount Hood one summer. And while after that I only rode you in and around town (10 speeds has it’s limitations). You were always my favorite.
Dear Puch Bike — we had so much fun in Vancouver BC last Spring. We took the train up and I boxed you up for the first time, and we rode all over town together!
Dear Puch Bike – Our first “tough” ride together to Crown Point.
Dear Puch Bike: you even liked to dress up once in awhile — you went all out for Sven & Greta’s tour this year! I miss you.
Thankfully, Carye has a lot of friends who are handy with bikes so I’m sure the Puch will be replaced — or better yet, reborn!?
Thanks for reading.
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Hi Carye
Sorry dear Puch for your injury and likely bikenasia. Perhaps you will be reinfactoried into a china made bike or Indian manhole cover. (Not a good year for Carye’s bikes – bad luck or conspiracy or bike flu jinx?! Tune into Bikeportland for further reports. ;-/)
From Viva Interbike Las Vegas
From the KGW footage… Slow news day eh?…looks like the staple rack leap in front of the monster berserking car driver to try to save you dear Puch.
Carye… Let me know if you need a loaner. T
I love my Darla (Puegeot Mixtie) and would be totally bummed if something happened to her.Sorry for the loss,but maybe rebirth is an option!
how do you pronounce this thing? puke? pooch? puck?
It’s called a Puch (which rhymes with book).
Ah, thanks Jonathan… how sweet to give dear Puch a front page story.
I was planning to have my 10th anniversary party next March. And she just got an updated beautiful makeover this summer after 9 years of me knocking her around all over Portland (and beyond)
Puch = Pook?
🙁
Sorry Carye. Sorry Puch. Sorry beautiful bike corral. So glad nobody was hurt.
he passed out?!!?
Don’t let his insurance company lowball you, Carye. You’ve not lost the bike equivalent of a Ford Escort, more like a Morris Minor Traveller Estate with wood trim – make them pay accordingly!
sadly the beloved puch just had a major rebild recently as well. fresh powdercoating (w/stem to match), new cables, housing, bottom bracket, fenders, chain, freewheel and all bearings repacked. ugh… she was ready for many more years of service. i believe a wake is in order.
Ach, the tragic! Yet so worse could it have been! Very much with fondness the riding along with the Puch do I remember from such good times in Portland!
That’s a bummer but at least you still have the remains. Gigi was stolen and never recovered…
Sorry for your loss. I hate to see a good mixte go bad. If you are interested, I have some VERY sexy mixte frames in my basement, lemme know if you need one…
Yeah, follow up with the insurance company so you are fairly compensated and can replace it with another good bike!
Perhaps you can make this into a memorial card? I’d buy one.
my slogan:
Was the house wearing a helmet?
A large number of homes in Portland have been run down by cars.
http://www.oregonlive.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2009/06/womans_car_has_runin_with_beav.html
Sorry for your loss. When my clunk-a-bike was stolen, I felt like someone had taken my dog. Major hole in one’s life.
Well, maybe you can salvage the head badge nameplate thing and it can ride with you into the future on your new bike’s stem or seatpost? ….just thinkin’.
what? no threats against the motorist yet?
It makes me nervous parking my bike in an unprotected bike corral. I’d rather at least have it up on the curb, for what little that slows cars.
I’m glad no one was hurt! Hopefully, once the mourning is over, you’ll find a nice new-to-you bike out there.
I hope the driver gets his license taken away for medical reasons. If you black out on occasion you obviously can’t drive!
I am just happy Carye wasn’t in the process of locking/unlocking her bike when this happened.
Could have been even more tragic.
This is what worries me about parking in bike corrals that are on the street.
Y’all wanted parking in the street, now Y’all want parking on the sidewalk.
cars, motorcycles, and yes bikes get bumped and smashed just from being parked in the street. Welcome to the real world
sad news indeed. many more miles from steel than you would have ever got out of aluminum. many good art projects leap to mind…flute/piccalo(sp?) from the tubeage, etc… unless like a corpse its felt in bad taste.
hope the next lasts just as long and makes you even happier!
Red Five #16
The motorist had a heart attack, we can threaten him later, if he lives.
did the driver have a heart attack? i thought the report just said he passed out.
Wow, sorry to hear. But was it really necessary to report this? I guess it was my fault for clicking on the storry.
Perhaps Mike wants to know to do in this case… more about what to do if an insurance tries to low ball the value of such a well maintained bike. Take the bike directly to a shop for a repair/ value estimate. Remember that most cops and insurance adjusters will not be able to estimate value and level of damage for most bikes above Huffy/ Schwinn level or any bike older than 5 years old.
A similar story happened in Vancouver a few years back when an insurance company would not reimburse a rider in a car-bike crash the full value for an expensive bike. It went on to accuse the rider from adding damage to the bike before it was inspected…etc.
I never wanted bicycle parking on the street just more bicycle parking.
can’t wait for the Cars vs. Staple Rack wars.
Glad that everyone is ok.
keep us posted with what you are doing with the remains. seems like an art project waiting to be arted.
More troubling is the fact that someone passed out behind the wheel of a moving car — he could have just as easily plowed his car into a crowd of people as into a bike parking corral.
Why isn’t this more of a problem? What is being done (legally, medically) to make sure this guy doesn’t do the same thing again?
It seems like a lot of fus over bent stuff, no bystanders were hurt, stuff can be replaced
at whose expense, jim?
are- things get smashed everyday in all parts of the city. Are we going to debate every time there is a wreck about who is going to pay? Nobody was hurt besides the driver. This story is getting more attention than it should. It was interesting to see that a bike rack got ran into, thats all. Don’t really care about anyones bent bike.