Year: 2017

Cyclocross Crusade will feature adaptive bike race on Saturday

Handcycle ride wth Ian Jaquiss

(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

It’s a big weekend for cyclocross as the River City Bicycles Cyclocross Crusade series heads to Bend for their annual Halloween festivities.

This year — in addition to the usual two full days of racing, legendary costume contest, and huge blowout party sponsored by Deschutes Brewery on Saturday night — organizers have something new up their sleeve: an adaptive bike race.

The Crusade’s Halloween party has been a benefit for the nonprofit Oregon Adaptive Sports for the past several years. According to Sherry Schwenderlauf with the Cyclocross Crusade, the Bend chapter of OAS reached out earlier this year in hopes of allowing its members to try their handcycling skills on the ‘cross course.

Schwenderlauf says about six people from Bend will take part in the event. Using handcycles, they’ll race for 30 minutes on a modified section of the course’s grassy bowl area near the brewery on Saturday afternoon after the other races have finished.

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Introducing the SaunaVelo: Portland’s mobile, bike-powered warming hut

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Simon Lyle and his SaunaVelo.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Powered by leg muscles and fire, the SaunaVelo is the manifestation of many passions for southeast Portland resident Simon Lyle. At its core, the cedar wood structure that sits atop a bicycle trailer is simply a place to warm up. But it’s also a mobile community builder. After all, it’d be difficult to enjoy its warmth — usually done wearing only your skivvies — without getting to know the people huddled next to you.

For Lyle, the 37-year old builder who grew up near the Buckman neighborhood of inner southeast Portland where I met him yesterday, the SaunaVelo is a fun side-project. But it’s also much more than that.

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North Portland rising: Arbor Lodge and Overlook residents ready to fight for safe streets

At the N Greeley Traffic Safety Open House last night.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Something’s happening in north Portland. And it will have a profound impact on street safety for years to come.

People in all 11 neighborhoods that make up our city’s northern peninsula are sick and tired of living next to unsafe streets. And they’re coming together to do something about it.

Last night about 60 people crowded shoulder-to-shoulder inside Madrona Hill Cafe on the corner of Ainsworth and Greeley for a “traffic safety open house”. The meeting came five days after 50 people donned raincoats and rallied for safer streets at an unrelated event in St. Johns.

At the open house last night there were babies and kids and senior citizens and young professionals. And everyone had a story to tell. By the end of the night there were well over 100 post-it notes stuck to two large maps where people had written things like, “dog hit” “car hit” and “son cannot cross street w/ bike in the morning”. The event came after months of planning from a nascent group of volunteers from the Arbor Lodge and Overlook neighborhoods who are focused on traffic safety issues.

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Weekend Event Guide: Blazers Bike Night, costumed ‘cross, cemeteries, and haunted places

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A weekend of cyclocross racing like no other: The Crusade heads to Bend!
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Looks like we’ll have a nice and dry Halloween weekend. And that’s great because for some reason there are a lot of spooky-themed rides to enjoy!

The Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by Abus Bike Locks. Thanks Abus!

If you’re not headed to Bend for the cyclocross racing like a few thousand other Portlanders, don’t miss the Crosstoberfest down in Lake Oswego on Saturday. There’s also a fun alleycat and Blazers Bike Night if that’s more your style. Then on Sunday we’ve got three scary rides to choose from. See the selections below and remember to check the full calendar for events not listed here.

Trick or treat!

Friday, October 27th

Breakfast on the Bridges Halloween Edition – 7:00 to 9:00 am on Steel, Hawthorne and Tilikum
Come for the free coffee and snacks, stay for the friends and conversation. Watch for the big gorilla on the Steel Bridge. Be nice and it’ll give you a banana!
More info here.

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Neighbors see Willamette Blvd paving project as golden opportunity for better bikeway

Current cross-section of Willamette. Lane on the left is used by residents to park cars.
(Image: Friends of Willamette Blvd)

Volunteers from several north Portland neighborhoods are seizing on a paving project as an opportunity for the City of Portland to make long-awaited changes to Willamette Blvd that would improve bicycle access on a key link in the network.

The Friends of Willamette Blvd have set up a website and are urging people to call Mayor Ted Wheeler, City Commissioner Dan Saltzman, and PBOT Director Leah Treat. They also have an online petition to gather as many signatures as they can by the end of this week.

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OMSI wants to realign Water Ave and build a two-way cycle track

Slide from a PBOT presentation made to City Council on October 18th. The yellow line is the realigned Water Avenue.

The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry is located in a prime location transportation-wise. It sits at the confluence of the Eastbank Esplanade path, the carfree Tilikum Bridge, a streetcar and MAX station, and there’s even a submarine dock and a major railroad line nearby!

When their latest plans come together it’ll be even more impressive.

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Let’s talk about bike boxes


On a ride into downtown this morning I came across a common sight: People on bikes waiting for a red light in a single-file line at an intersection that has a bike box. The bulk of the bike box — a large green space at the front of the intersection intended to make auto users to stop further back — was empty.

This has always puzzled me for several reasons. Whenever I come upon a bike box at a red light I’ve always thought it best to fill the box. That’s why it’s there right? So, in an effort to spread the word, I posted a photo and message about it to Twitter.

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Council session reveals City’s commitment to I-5 congestion pricing

I-5 north of Weidler overpass.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

“I’m fully cognizant of the fact that [congestion pricing] may not happen before this project and I certainly don’t want to see this project fall by the wayside because of that.”
— Dan Saltzman, City Commissioner

As the Oregon Department of Transportation tries their best to move forward with a project to widen Interstate 5 through the Rose Quarter, there remains broad support from experts, activists, insiders — and even politicians — that charging a toll to drive on the freeway is the most sensible way to respond to congestion concerns.

But until last week it had been all talk and posturing. That was before City Commissioner Dan Saltzman (who oversees the Portland Bureau of Transportation) drafted an amendment to an action item on the project in the Central City 2035 Plan. At their October 18th work session on the plan, Portland City Council agreed with Saltzman on an idea we first reported on back in September: That ODOT must implement congestion pricing on I-5.

But the devil is in the details. When would the tolls start? Would they be legal? How committed is the City of Portland to congestion pricing on I-5? Are they willing to risk the entire project if it doesn’t happen?

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Product Review: Cool weather, USA made kit from Ornot

Socks, Bib shorts and jersey colourways sync up for a put together look.
(Photos: James Buckroyd)

Pretty psyched for a change of season, I ordered up some new gear.

I needed some new colder weather kit and wanted to try something different, so I grabbed a few things from Ornot, a smaller San Fransisco company that has been around for about four years. Ornot’s brand stuck in my mind from the play on words in their clever marketing campaign: “You can be a rolling billboard, Ornot.” The whole point being that their kit has no logos, no sponsors, no massive branding. In the cycling world we’ve all been subjected to logos everywhere on cycling kit — some tastefully done, some not. Browsing through the website you see an array of products all with minimal branding and really nice patterns and designs.

I ordered up some winter bib shorts, a winter jersey and socks for the full matchy-match look.

Here are my impressions…

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Job: Bike Tour Guide – Trek Travel

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Job Title *
Bike Tour Guide

Company/Organization *
Trek Travel

Job Description *
Do you want to bike around the world while getting paid? GREAT! We can’t wait to hear from you!

TREK TRAVEL is in search of vibrant and service driven individuals who are passionate about people, cycling, and travel to lead cycling vacations worldwide. We are especially interested in candidates with strong bike mechanic skills, travel experience and fluent in another language.

How to Apply *
If you are interested in finding out what it takes to be a TREK TRAVEL GUIDE, learn more at https://trektravel.com/employment/be-a-guide/ Application deadline December 31 2017 for the upcoming season. Completed applications are reviewed and processed in the order they are received.

Four-month closure of Stub Stewart trails starts November 1st – UPDATE

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We’ll miss you. But it’s for the best.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

UPDATE: This project has been delayed and the trails are still open until further notice. Please see the Oregon State Parks website for latest updates.

You have about one more week to enjoy the awesome off-road biking trails at Stub Stewart State Park before they close for the winter.

Word from our friends at the Northwest Trail Alliance is that a logging project is set to begin in November and continue to the end of February. In addition, Oregon State Parks says that the paved Banks-Vernonia path will be closed between Buxton and Tophill for the month of January. The BV will be closed Monday through Friday from January 8th through the end of that month due to helicopter operations.

The purpose of the Stub Stewart closures is a logging and forest management project. NWTA trail builder Joe Rykowski says crews will use helicopters to thin the forest — a project aimed at improving the overall health of the forest that will have the added benefit of making biking better. Helicopters will be used (instead of trucks and tractors) in order to limit erosion and other environmental impacts to the trail system. This also allow crews to lift each tree out of the forest without it ever touching the ground. About 560 acres will be logged and about 25 to 40 percent of trees will be removed depending on the area.

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