2013 Archives

NW Examiner highlights “illegal cycling” in Forest Park

Cover of NW Examiner April issue.

The NW Examiner, a free monthly newspaper with a circulation of 30,000 homes and businesses in various neighborhoods of northwest Portland, has made mountain biking in Forest Park it’s cover story for the second time in three months. In the April edition (PDF only), editor and publisher Allan Classen has penned an article titled, Illegal cycling muddies drive for greater use of Forest Park.

Classen’s article comes just a week after author and Forest Park activist Marcy Houle emailed Mayor Charlie Hales, city commissioners, and Parks bureau staff photos of bicycle tracks through the mud of what she claimed to be Wildwood Trail (which is off-limits to bikes). Houle is featured throughout Classen’s article, which reads more like an editorial against mountain biking than a news story. (Note that Classen wrote an editorial in June 2010 where he likened people who ride in Forest Park with “bicycle zealots” with “evangelistic fervor” who “love to ride bikes down steep mountain trails at high speed on Sunday mornings.”)

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Year: 2007
Brand: Cannondale
Model: R600
Color:Blue and white
Stolen in Portland, OR 97216
Stolen:2013-04-7
Stolen From: Lloyd center. Main bike lock up between Macy’s and sears
Neighborhood: Lloyd center
Owner: Tara Stargrove
OwnerEmail: Tara(replace with at sign)dancingdna.com
Description: Baby blue and white cannondale cad5 r800si
Blue handle bar tape
Bontrager rims
White cup holder
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

BTA joins with Joey Harrington to mark 50,000th bike safety graduate

BTA Bike Safety Class at Prescott Elementary

Prescott Elementary students at a BTA
bike safety class in 2005.
(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) will mark a big milestone this week: the 50,000th student to graduate from their bike safety education program since they began teaching in Portland schools in 1998. To celebrate the occasion, they’ve teamed up with the Harrington Family Foundation for an event and ceremonial bike ride with fifth graders on Thursday in northeast Portland.

The Harrington Family Foundation was started by former NFL player and University of Oregon quarterback Joey Harrington. Back in August 2011, a person struck Harrington with their car while he was biking on SE Foster Road. That collision thrust Harrington and his foundation into bike safety activism and they created the Bridges to Breakers charity ride as a result. The stated mission of that ride is to, “create safer streets for bicyclists through education with the aim of reducing and preventing injuries to children.”

Brand: Trek
Model: Hybrid 7300
Color:Black/dark grey
Stolen in Portland, OR 97214
Stolen:2013-04-9
Stolen From: SE 41st & Salmon
Owner: Dayna Sanders
OwnerEmail: daynasanders2003(A T)yahoo.com
Reward: 100
Description: Denver mini license plate on the back. Front tire is flat. Bike and grey or dark green paint job. We saw the thief. The person was dressed in black cutoff shorts, black shirt, black Chrome messager bag. African american female about 5’8”, mohawk hair (the popular lesbian hair style), slender build. This happened about 6:30 pm, today, Monday 4-8-2013.
Police record with: Portland PD
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

‘Bare As You Dare’ naked ride documentary to debut at Filmed by Bike

Still from Bare As You Dare.
(Photo: NW Documentary)

Bare As You Dare, a new documentary that goes behind the scenes of Portland’s annual World Naked Bike Ride will debut at Filmed by Bike later this month. The film was created by Ian McCluskey, Lilah Cady, and Jenn Byrne from NW Documentary, a Portland-based non-profit that teaches the “art of non-fiction storytelling.”

Bare As You Dare is a 17 minute film that features interviews with the volunteers who put on the ride. It also follows several subjects to show the diverse backgrounds of the people that participate. According to a statement from Filmed by Bike, the film, “follows a variety of subjects from a cancer survivor to a reserved homebody, who are surprisingly open in sharing their personal stories and motivation for participation.”

The launch of Breadwinner Cycles drew a huge crowd.
(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)

Breadwinner Cycles drew a huge crowd to Velo Cult on Friday night. The event marked the official launch of the company which was started by noted bike builders Tony Pereira and Ira Ryan (we profiled Breadwinner back in February).

At Friday night’s event, the highlight for me was the assemblage of locally owned Ira Ryan Cycles and Pereira Cycles bikes. Tony and Ira invited all their local customers to display their bikes as a way to demonstrate the lineages that produced Breadwinner. It was really cool to see all these custom bikes, banged up and dirty from being ridden on local streets by local riders. There were touring bikes, racing bikes, mountain and city ramblers, and everything in between. I was especially keen to meet the owners Ira and Tony’s first bikes sold in Portland…

Southeast Portland resident Paul Jeffrey
stands next to a vintage penny-farthing at the
Tweed Ride on Sunday.
(Photos: Will Vanlue)

The fourth annual Tweed Ride was held on Sunday, and it appears to have been yet another smashing success. Despite the threat of downpours throughout the day, a very healthy turnout proved that this ride has become a well-loved tradition here in Portland since it was first held in 2010.

This year’s ride began in Mt. Tabor Park, wove through southeast Portland to Wilshire Park for portraits (taken by a vintage camera), then ended up at Velo Cult in Hollywood for post-ride drinks, live music, dancing, and socializing. I wasn’t able to make the ride, but thankfully there was some truly excellent photographers and videographers on hand.

Mielle Blomberg smiling through the muck.
(Photo: Shane Young/Oregon Velo)

Mielle Blomberg, blogger and team member of Les Femmes de S+M, and sent in this race report from yesterday’s Mudslinger cross-country mountain bike race. — Judd Eustice
—

As race promoter Mike Ripley blew the starting whistle for the rain-soaked racers, we sounded like a flock of angry geese in the middle of the gravel road as our disc brakes sounded off in unison. 325 of my closest mountain bike racing friends took part in yesterday’s wet adventure, also known as the the Mudslinger, held in Blodgett, Oregon for its 25th year.

Ripley reported that of the 325 total racers, 50 were beginners and, in a sign of the mountain biking’s general health in Oregon, 25% of the entire turnout where first-time riders or juniors.

Guerrilla protected bikeway on Seattle Bike Blog.

Here’s our recap of the biggest and best bike news we came across last week…

— Finally. It’s coming folks. Citibike in New York City. My friend Doug from Brooklyn Spoke shared photos and commentary on the new bikeshare stations and kiosks that were installed over the weekend.

— Also in NYC, the NYPD is demanding that a man who was struck while bicycling by an officer driving a police car pay for damages his bicycle caused to the police car.

— It was widely reported last week that religious police in Saudi Arabia lifted the ban on women riding bicycles. However as the news spread it became clear there were a lot of conditions and outlets like Al Jazeera took a more skeptical view of the news.

Brand: Shogun
Color:Red
Stolen in Portland, OR 97214
Stolen:2013-04-6
Stolen From: NE 28th & Alberta
Owner: Benjamin Campbell
OwnerEmail: mrbencampbell( atsign )gmail.com
Description: Red Shogun bike with tan bar tape and cage pedals. Red nail polish spots on the frame to cover missing paint. There is a black grease stain on the right side of the handle bar, and the plastic is missing off the side of the left pedal.
This registrant does not have proof of ownership of this bike

Purple/Black n/a 2010

Year: 2010
Brand: n/a
Color:Purple/Black
Size:54cm
Photo: http://i.imgur.com/KXvR3hP.jpg
Stolen in Portland, OR 97211
Stolen:2013-04-6
Stolen From: 309 SW 4th Avenue in front of Henry Building and Starbucks
Owner: Kelly Kovl
OwnerEmail: kellykovl(A T)gmail.com
Description: Modified handles since the picture has been taken, other mods include: shiny purple girp tap, sram cransets, bmx pedals and grips
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

Blue Marin Bolinas Ridge 2011

Year: 2011
Brand: Marin
Model: Bolinas Ridge
Color:Blue
Size:17
Serial: JA12281JJC047
Stolen in Portland, OR 97239
Stolen:2013-04-4
Stolen From: 54th and Foster in SE
Owner: Ben Abrams
OwnerEmail: benjabrams(at sign)gmail.com
Reward: 50
Description: Comfie Gel Seat; Fastener for OnGuard U Lock;
This registrant has documented proof of ownership of this bike

NW Examiner highlights “illegal cycling” in Forest Park

Blue and white Cannondale R600 2007

BTA joins with Joey Harrington to mark 50,000th bike safety graduate

Black/dark grey Trek Hybrid 7300

‘Bare As You Dare’ naked ride documentary to debut at Filmed by Bike

Breadwinner Cycles launch draws huge crowd

Portlanders display need for tweed at annual ride

A report from the Mudslinger mountain bike race

The Monday Roundup

Red Shogun

Purple/Black n/a 2010

Blue Marin Bolinas Ridge 2011

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