Recently in the forums the discussion turned to Westside commute routes. A user named “nborders” mentioned his daily commute up and over the Sylvan hill and down into Portland. When someone asked him for more info, he posted a detailed description and even made a series of route maps using aerial photos of the area … Read more
There’s an interesting new group in town called the Community Exchange Cycle Touring Club. I noticed their Yahoo Group linked from a listing on the Shift Calendar. The group is based in southeast Portland and was started by 40-something electrical engineer Steven Kung, a veteran of several international bike tours and a professionally trained mechanic. … Read more
It’s been just over a month since I launched the Portland Bike Forums. So far, 93 people have registered and we’ve got 181 posts. More people are signing up every week and there’s already been some interesting posts and quality discussions. We’ve even been graced by the presence of aspiring filmmaker “WhiteSword”. He shared some … Read more
Two weeks ago I got an email from Cameron Mallory. Cameron is a computer programmer who has lived in Seattle for 6 years, has ridden STP, commutes by bike, and races cyclocross. He said he’d been reading BikePortland.org for several months and wanted to do something similar up in Seattle. I of course was thrilled … Read more
Aaron Tarfman, local bike activist and the man behind YourBodyPower.org, has completed a series of Virtual Bike Tours of Portland. His virtual tours include detailed route descriptions and photographs of nine different routes covering the entire Portland region. These are an excellent resource and a great way to learn how to move around the city … Read more
[Portland to Longview, sans car] Michael Wolfe has a seriously high bike IQ (or would that be bi-Q?). I met him at the PUMP swap meet and have kept in touch ever since. He recently introduced himself to the Shift email list and has already started sharing some of his vast biking knowledge. One of … Read more
The Portland Bike Forums are officially open for business. My feedback and testing crew have been playing around with them for a few weeks now so there’s already some good information posted. My goal is to provide a place where all Portland cyclists can connect, interact and share experiences. I also hope it becomes a … Read more
I don’t think this could have come at a better time. Misinterpretations of bike laws are the basis of many false arguments. Now that ODOT has finally published a summary of all the bike laws pertaining to bikes in the Oregon Revised Statutes this shouldn’t be as much of a problem. You can download the … Read more
After I posted Austin Ramsland’s great checklist for what to do after you’ve been hit, a few people wondered if we could make a portable version. Thanks to the help and suggestions of readers, I found out about PocketMod, a nifty little service that can convert PDFs into handy, wallet-sized booklets. I downloaded the program … Read more
The Portland State University Bike Co-op is a tiny, self-service shop located in a parking garage in downtown Portland. It opened up in October 2004 and it serves the estimated 1500-2000 daily bike riders at PSU. I stopped by yesterday to check it out…all 136 square feet of it. Yes, that’s small. In this picture … Read more
A team comprised of BTA, PDOT, and the Bureau of Technology Services (BTS) reps is developing a web tool to report bicycle crashes and near misses. This close calls map should be ready for beta testing this March and the initial database will be populated with data from your comments to my “Wanted: your close … Read more
Portland continues to lead the charge of online bike fun. Check out these gems I’ve come across recently… GravelTech This site is run by Andrew Morton and Billy Spaceman. Andrew has been reporting on the local singlespeed scene for years and is the creator of two bike zines; One Speed Revolution and BUI (Bikeculture Under … Read more