Event: Joy Ride through Central Portland (6/18/11)

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Event Name: Joy Ride through Central Portland
Event Start Date: 18 June 2011
Start Time: 11:00:00 AM
Web Site: http://www.madisonsgrill.com
Event Description: New Belgium Brewing, the BTA, Madison’s Grill and The Prudent Cyclist present a chance for you to enjoy yourself.

Explore your city, win prizes and support the right cause.

A Joy Ride thru Central Portland

Not a timed event, but still a contest. Kind of like Amazing Race. Riding together you’ll follow a map to each stop along the way. Look around to find the marker. Enter for a stamp, a playing card and a way to earn your next map. You’ll joy ride Portland. The winning team will enjoy big prizes. Everyone has a chance with the raffle. You will be followed by a film crew.

Each team of 4 riders each will start at Madison’s Grill and embark on a Joy Ride exploring the short-cuts and preferred bike routes of Central Portland. You will all start together with the first map. At each stop the next clue awaits. Don’t have a full team of 4? Sign up and we’ll put together teams.

Where: Madison’s Grill at 1109 SE Madison, just one block north of Hawthorne.

When: Saturday, June 18th. Start at Madison’s at 1109 SE Madison. Plenty of free parking for those that need it.

Time: 11 am – 2 pm. Start ride at 11 am. All teams must finish and be at Madison’s to win prizes by 2:00 pm. We’ll have a complimentary buffet ready for you and your famished team upstairs.

Sign Up: Go to madisonsgrill.com and click on the Joy Ride icon. Submit your contact info and we’ll get back to you to confirm your final registration.

Includes: Route maps, surprises along the way, snacks, emergency refreshments, passport, free food and prizes at Madison’s, specials on New Belgium beers, a feeling of accomplishment.

Price: Free- if you purchase a BTA membership for this event. $15 if you are already a BTA member, $20 for the rest of you.

Extra Bonus: Be a star! The Joy Ride will be filmed and a short will be produced and presented at New Belgium’s Clips of Faith film festival on Portland’s Waterfront on August 5, 2011.

Madison’s Grill Catering & Events has been a SE favorite since 1997. If you’d like more information about this topic, please call 503-730-7040 or email steve(at)madisonsgrill(dot)com.

City of Portland poised to make carfree Ankeny Street a reality

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Portland Car Free Days (Day 2)

One block of SW Ankeny will be carfree
for four months starting in June.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Oregonian reported yesterday that the Portland Bureau of Transportation has worked with business owners to negotiate a permit that will make SW Ankeny Street between 2nd and 3rd Avenues carfree from June 21st to October 21st.

This block of SW Ankeny was the site of Portland Carfree Days back in 2006. Back in October, we flagged it as a perfect place to try a carfree street. Then, a few months ago, the Willamette Week reported on business owners on the street who also supported the concept. With full backing from new PBOT Director Tom Miller, The Oregonian reported yesterday that PBOT has granted a four-month permit to make it a reality:

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Silver Univega Gran Turismo 1973

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Year: 1973
Brand: Univega
Model: Gran Turismo
Color:Silver
Size:58cm (I think)
Stolen in Portland, OR 97232
Stolen:2011-05-25
Stolen From: NE 17th and Broadway in front of Broadway Flowers
Neighborhood: Lloyd District
Owner: Scott Ellis
OwnerEmail: sacklash@gmail.com
Reward: $50
Description: Silver converted 5 speed road bike w/green fenders, Schimano race seat, Trek lights front and back, 3 identical "Boo Frog" stickers in a horizontal row on the back bar of the frame that are about a square inch (blue border with a green frog with fangs in the middle), handle bars have road grease stained tan tape. Being that it is a 5 speed it only has a back derailer and one gear shifter on the right side. Thanks for looking! I miss my baby.
Police record with: Portland Police
Police reference#: 1142861
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Gray Giant OCR 1

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Brand: Giant
Model: OCR 1
Color:Gray
Size:M
Photo: http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/835/img1255xi.jpg/
Stolen in Portland, OR 97206
Stolen:2011-05-24
Stolen From: Stolen from my back yard (Se 67th and se rhone, just south of powell on 67th).
Neighborhood: Foster Powell
Owner: Lisa DeGrace
OwnerEmail: duchessoflevity@gmail.com
Description: Giant OCR 1. Wheel size 700C. Front wheel has blue stripe as pictured, back wheel is all black. 2 water bottle holders, and a holder for a bike pump. Toe clips (the kind you use "regular" shoes with). It is silver with swooshes of pinkish-purple-y color.
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: T11003560
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Interview: Bikes, architecture, and “Cycle Space” with Steven Fleming

“100 years ago architects were fascinated by cars and how cars would transform cities… Now, architects are quite naturally looking at bicycles.”

Steven Fleming is an architectural historian, lecturer, theorist, and urban planning philosopher with a thing for bicycles. The well-traveled academic (he calls Newcastle, Australia home) is currently researching a book on what he calls, “Cycle Space,” a nascent field of his creation that looks at the connections between architecture and bicycles in cities around the world.

Like many smart bicycle thinkers tend to do, Fleming put Portland on his list of must-see cities. We sat down for a chat last week surrounded by exquisite handmade bicycles and photography at the Het Fairwheel Podium Gallery in downtown Portland. (When you read his quotes below, say them to yourself with a strong Australian accent.)

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Blue Trek 7.3 FX 2007

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Year: 2007
Brand: Trek
Model: 7.3 FX
Color:Blue
Size:20
Serial:WTU245C0593B
Stolen in Portland, OR 97211
Stolen:2011-05-25
Stolen From: The side of the I-405N on the Fremont Bridge. My bike rack broke, the bike fell off to the side – by the time I got back (20 minutes), someone had taken it. ODOT reports a white Chevy van loading it up – they just assumed it was his.
Neighborhood: N Portland
Owner: Jenny Malcom
OwnerEmail: jenny_semadeni@yahoo.com
Description: Blue Hybrid bike, with handlebar mirror on the left, fenders, and a back rack.
Police record with: Portland PD
Police reference#: 11-152669
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Heading to the ‘Couve? Don’t forget your helmet

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Aloha Todd and Low Bar Tour - Pedalpalooza-4

Heading to the ‘Couve? Remember your helmet.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Back in 2008, Vancouver (WA) passed an all-ages, mandatory helmet law. While enforcement has been nearly nonexistent since then, the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says that’s about to change.

Hoping to increase compliance with the law, VPD spokesperson Kim Kapp tells us new police patrols, will “focus increasingly on making sure all bicyclists are complying with a city ordinance requiring helmets be worn at all times.”

That’s something to keep in mind if you’re from Portland, where the law only requires helmets on children under 16 years of age.

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Local bike trailer designer looks to Kickstarter to launch production

Len Rubin has a dream to mass produce
these trailers in Portland, and he’s asking
the community to help him make it
happen.
(Photo: Tamara Rubin)

Remember Len Rubin? He’s the Sellwood resident whose one-of-a-kind, custom folding bike was stolen and then recovered a few weeks later.

Now Rubin is asking the community to help him take one of his other big projects to the next level. Rubin has launched a Kickstarter fundraising campaign for his “M.O.M.™- the magically morphing multi-use bicycle trailer”. It’s a very nifty concept. Watch the fun video below to learn more…

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Portland’s oldest office building could house major bike parking facility

The Dekum Building could become
Portland’s first major public bike
parking facility.
(Photo: Naito Properties)

The Dekum Building on SW 3rd and Washington in downtown Portland was built in 1892. It’s the oldest office building in the city and the former home of famed global ad agency Wieden + Kennedy. Now, building owner and manager Naito Properties hope it gains distinction as the largest public bike parking facility in Portland (and it just happens to be right across the street from the bank vault bike parking in the Spalding Building).

Verne Naito, who’s managing the Dekum for his family’s company, Naito Properties (the same family Naito Parkway is named after), says the owner of the building has set aside 4,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space that has already been permitted by the city for bicycle parking and is already built out to fit 300 bicycles.

The idea would be something similar to a Bikestation, which, despite toying with the idea for years, no one in Portland has been able to pull off.

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48cm jamis satellite sport

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Brand: jamis
Model: satellite sport
Color:48cm
Size:black and white
Serial: u98u13605
Photo: http://www.citybikes.coop/bikes/jamis-satellite-sport/
Stolen in Portland, OR 97206
Stolen:2011-05-24
Stolen From: 70TH AND SE BOISE
Neighborhood: FOSTER POWELL NEIGHBORHOOD
Owner: Vanessa Gonzalez
OwnerEmail: talktovanessa@gmail.com
Reward: $100
Description: 48 cm
STILL HAS BLACK AND YELLOW KRYPTONITE LOCK LOCKED ON THE FRAME

“PUT THE FUN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS” STICKER ON FRAME
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike