My neighbor David knows how to roll.
(Photo © J. Maus)
(Photo © J. Maus)
In these waning days of summer, what’s on your bike to-do list?
Some of you are getting some bike camping in, others are out at the first big cyclocross race of the season. For many biking families, this is the last non-school weekend of the year.
Wherever you are and whatever you plan to do, share your plans and excursions with us. You can also use this post to share thoughts on the news stories of this past week, or any bike-related issues that are on your mind.
Enjoy the long Labor Day Weekend. Thankfully, the weather is perfect for getting out on a bike. I’ve got some great stories to share next week and I’ll see you back here on Tuesday.
Thanks for reading.
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Bike on over to Vancouver’s downtown Burgerville (BV#2) on C Street – its the last walk up Burgerville and they are tearing it down once it closes this weekend. ;-(
No way! Really? I love that place so much!
A little suprised to hear love on a portland bike blog for an early 1960s drive-in (being replaced by a mixed use building). “Walk-up” is a bit of a misnomer, theses old drive-ins are more auto-centric than contemporary fast food models since food is intended to eaten in your car in the giant oil-stained parking lot covering the whole site. These drive-ins are always shrines for baby boomers to worship the almighty car (’56 chevys to be specific), car culture in general, fawn over the V8 and fuel injectors under the hood and wax poetically about the good ol’ days of the 1950s.
You are correct…but it is all relative…since this was the only Burgerville that would equally serve cyclists (& pedestrians) at night back when most other fast food restaurants would lock their front door and only serve drivers in the drive thru.
I’m out in Central Oregon for a few days hanging in Sunriver with family and friends. Doing a lot of biking on the 30+ miles of dedicated bike paths. Amazing how many people ride when they have a place to do it.
The Sunday Parkways rides are sure proof of that too.
Ha, I was out at Sunriver this weekend as well. Did the highway up to Mt. Bachelor lodge one day, and an easy spin around Sunriver the next. It was a nice treat to be able to ride with just a cycling cap sans helmet while in Sunriver.
David Douglas cyclocross race (Grand Prix Molly Cameron) in Vancouver, WA today. Great course, good turnout, fun start to the season!
Enjoy SR Jonathan!
The paths are a useful, fun, different place to ride, and were planned to be so nearly 50 years ago.
For those not familiar with SunRiver, there are neither traffic signals nor octagonal STOP signs, only roundabouts and a 25 mile-per-hour limit on the roads–which are strictly limited to motor vehicles.
Cyclists and walkers are required to travel the separate and equally extensive paths. Further, cyclists must give right-of-way to all non-cyclists, meaning everything everything from kids in strollers to on-leash dogs. Also, during popular seasons there will be whole parades of families on klunky rental bikes having really good times!
The terrain is at 4,000 feet elevation, hummocky, with many short steep grades and tight blind curves. Also, where paths cross roads “sharkteeth” admonish cyclists to give way to cars. Gotta watch out!
SunRiver is a paradigm of a community planned from the outset for active transportation in parallel with useful motoring. But it also is a place where cyclists are required to exercise their skills and mind their manners.
Not a fan of the blinking yellow arrows for cars in left turn lanes, especially if the walk light is on for a crosswalk. Yesterday on Baseline and 205th in Hillsboro I saw a mother and her two kids almost get hit by a car in such a situation.
I love the blinking yellow arrow… it keeps me from having to run a red light…
what I hate is people not looking where they’re going…
I dont believe that is correct. If there is an arrow for turning, there would not be a crosswalk sign telling pedestrians to go at the same time. Somebody should verify this if it is really true. If it is then it is an error then it needs fixed
Finished off my second R-12, by completing the OrRando Bridge of the Gods 200km brevet. Crosswinds at Crown Point were epic.
Our town just got its first sharrows! They’re at the new satellite PCC campus.
what town?
So what to think of one of our main bike businesses treating a Labor Day afternoon like the Indy 500? I was at NE 15th and Fremont just before 1:30 when a large blue SUV blew through a stale yellow light at very high speed making a left turn while cyclists were in the intersection.
Suprise to me? The vehicle had River City logos. If our bike businesses don’t care about us, who will?
I would have called the shop and told them.
and yelled at the cyclists for also being in the intersection when they shouldn’t be… since they obviously also blew a yellow or ran a red to get there…
I’m looking forward to my bike season starting in the morning. Welcome school year, the time of year I start getting in minimum 16 mile days taking the kids to school and back. 🙂
Bike Polo World Championships in Seattle
Tues thru Sunday this week..
Woo Hoo. leavin’ in the mornin’
I almost hit a seemingly experienced cyclist while driving my car this weekend. The incident really brought home the fact why so many people in their cars must get irritated at the bikers in this town. The biker was an absolute fool, ignored warning signs, and without evasive actions on my part he would have been severely injured. Please don’t let a sense of entitlement to the roads end up getting you stuffed into a coffin.
There are a lot of cyclists that used to be motorists before they had their licenses taken away. They will continue to break traffic rules and do a lot of stupid things because it is in their nature. At least they are less likely to do as much damage on a bike as in a car.
It is true that there is a sense of entitlement among many cyclists that the laws dont apply to them. The laws are enforced less for bikes than cars. When in your car and there is nobody coming you wont take off early and go through the red light for fear of a ticket, bikes dont have any fear of tickets as the mayor says leave them alone because they are just a bunch of fun loving people.
YEAH ANYWAY, we biked to Manzanita. It was rad.