(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)
The NBA’s bike-friendliest franchise is again inviting Portlanders interested in bicycling to get discounted tickets and join a special bike-themed pre-game reception.
This season’s first Portland Trail Blazers Bike Night happens at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, when the Blazers will face the Phoenix Suns at the Moda Center in inner Northeast Portland. It’s being co-organized with the Community Cycling Center, the local nonprofit bike shop and bikes-for-all advocacy group.
200-level tickets that night are on sale for $58 and 300-level tickets are on sale for $28, with a $5 transaction fee per order. To get those prices and entry to the pre-game reception (“food, drinks, raffle prizes and an opportunity to learn more about the Community Cycling Center”), sign up at rosequarter.com/bikenight/ with promo code BIKE. The promotional sale ends this Sunday, Oct. 1.
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You don’t have to get to Blazers games on two wheels to attend the Bike Night, of course. But that’s almost certainly a good idea in any case.
— Michael Andersen: (503) 333-7824, @andersem on Twitter and michael@portlandafoot.org
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Michael,
what evidence do you have for the Blazers being the “bike friendliest” team in the nation? They do an extremely poor job of managing traffic on Interstate before games. I have had conversations with them each year where I bring up numerous safety concerns, they are surprised and concerned and promise to get to the bottom of the issue and make changes, and nothing happens. Last year before Blazers Bike Night (and I think the year before), I raised concerns on the blog and Jonathan promised to talk to staff about how they deal with the bike lanes running past the Moda Center on Interstate and report back-nothing. There has been a little bit of lip service, but zero action! I place most of the blame for the bad conditions on PBOT, but the Blazers could do a lot to improve safety if they trained the flaggers waving cars into their parking areas to motion for cars to wait until the bike lane was clear and the car could clear the bike lane before turning into the drive, etc. I know this sounds a bit complain-y, but I have had so many horrible close-calls and minor collisions over the years, I find your claim that the Blazers are bike friendly to be dubious and I would love to hear what make you think htey are bike friendly.
I would be blown away if you could find an NBA arena or franchise with even half of the bike friendliness and access that Portland has.
The Timberwolves probably give the Moda Center a run for its money on connectivity to a good bike network.
so the thing that makes the Blazers the “NBA’s bike-friendliest franchise” is adjacency to bike lanes? I am seriously wondering if there is more to it than that
One way they’re bike friendly is not to locate the arena in a distant part of town, but most basketball venues are fairly central. It’s the NFL and to a lesser extent, MLB stadiums that are plopped in the middle of distant lands. As for active bike friendliness, there’s the fairly good bike parking, and that’s about it. Bike lanes adjacent to the arena are clogged with cars, and almost nothing is ever done about it.
The Portland teams that do more toward bike friendliness—although still problematic—are the Thorns and Timbers. Lots and lots of bike parking set up just for each game (right out front, not tucked away like at Moda), almost no car parking provided, a BIKETOWN station adjacent, and a much safer street grid surrounding Providence Park. Some of this isn’t Mr Paulson’s doing, but the end result is it’s way more fun to ride to and from a soccer game than a basketball game in this town.
I’m both Rip City *and* RCTID, but more often, when I ride, I ride for the Timbers.
I’m still getting a ticket to the game, though.
Get out of the bike lane and take the lane when cycling Interstate through the Rose Quarter on game nights. The parking robots with orange vests will guide people driving cars to right-hook you. I never once had a parking robot attempt to stop a car from turning right across my right-of-way and cutting me off.
Easier said than done when the traffic is basically at a standstill! I am on high alert for those right hooks, I slow down through here, and I still have close calls. I also frequently encounter a car full of people all spontaneously exiting in the middle of the road- it is pretty hard to anticipate and avoid being doored when people are opening doors without looking and they are in the driving lane.