🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏

Oregon Manifest unveils ’09 show details: Builders will be put to the challenge

The 2009 Oregon Manifest (10/2 – 11/8) can hardly be called a bike show. After the success of their first show last year, organizers have signed a presenting sponsorship deal with Chris King Precision Components and transformed the event into five “concentrated weeks” of art, workshops, and unique events designed to showcase the nation’s best handmade bicycles.

The highlight of this year’s Manifest is the Constructor’s Design Challenge and the Constructor’s Race. Builders from around the country will design and build a transportation-oriented bicycle that will then be raced on a 77-mile epic ride and judged by a panel of experts.

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Eric Davidson Fundraiser Moving Sale

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

What: Come grab some hot deals and help raise money for Eric and Ana-Carin at their giant moving sale. Tons of stuff goes!

(Ed. – Eric was struck in a hit-and-run May, 2008.)

Newer modern furniture incl. gorgeous leather L sofa, power and manual tools, décor, climbing wall holds, kitchen stuff, sports equipment, new/newish Nike wear/shoes, clothing, rugs, electronics, garden supplies, nice house plants all kinds of household stuff is going. Who knows what else? (Cash only)

When: Sat. May 2nd – 9AM-3PM

Where: 3406 NE 44th Ave (1/2 block south of Fremont)

Priorities and promises: How will bikes fare in the Mayor’s budget?

Platinum Press Conference-14.jpg

Will he deliver a Platinum budget?
(Photos © J. Maus)

Right now in City Hall, Mayor Adams and his staff are getting set to release their transportation budget.

When the Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) released their budget back in February, it was embarrassingly bad for bikes. There was no dedicated revenue for bike projects, one-time funding for the Transportation Options Division (which funds Safe Routes to Schools among other things) was reduced 40%, and there was no guarantee to fund new bike boulevards (eventually, PBOT Director Sue Keil found $178,000 for the boulevards).

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Heels on Wheels with Clever Cycles

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What: Celebrate with us, strawberries and wine. Wear your cutest bike outfit, your highest bike heels and check out what Ibex, Sheila Moon
and Suzabelle would like to see you in this Spring. If you fall in love with any of these items, you can take it home for 10% off during the event. We will then head up to the Sapphire Hotel.

When: Thursday April 30th, 6-8pm

Where: Clever Cycles. 908 SE Hawthorne Boulevard

New link in Westside Trail opens this week

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The Tualitin Hills Parks and Recreation District has announced the completion of a new, 2-mile segment of their Westside Trail.

Here’s more from their website:

The new trail marks an important link in THPRD’s efforts to establish a continuous north-south trail backbone through its district. Combined with other existing segments and additional trail projects to be funded by the district’s 2008 bond measure, the backbone will eventually stretch 10 miles from PCC’s Rock Creek Campus to Barrows Road.

The trail is now open for public use and a grand opening to celebrate the new trail segment will be held on Saturday May 9th at the Tualatin Hills Nature Park (15655 SW Millikan Way, Beaverton).

More details on that event at the THPRD website.

Bike Boulevard Boogie with the Easy Riders

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What: We’ve asked Greg Raisman to lead us on a tour of North / NE Portland’s future bike boulevards. Greg works for PBOT so he knows the what’s, the where’s and the how’s and he’s agreed to show us some of the routes that are being discussed as potential bike boulevards. Along the way Greg will share some his knowledge of how a simple street becomes a bike boulevard, some of the hurdles that must be overcome and how to get involved if you live in the neighborhood. If you don’t care about any of this stuff? Come along anyway, it’s not like there will be a test after and you’ll get to spend the afternoon cruising around on your bike.

The ride will be low traffic, mostly flat and slow paced so feel free to bring the kids along.

Where:
Meet: The Waypost‎ – 3120 N. Williams
Route: http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Bike-Boulevard-Boogie
This map is an approximation. Greg might improvise and alter the route slightly during the ride.
Distance: 13.5 mile loop
Elevation: Pretty flat
Rain Check: It’s Spring! Aren’t we past that?
Dinner and Booze: Probably 5th quadrant, maybe Amnesia – we’ll take a vote or something.

When: Saturday, May 2, 2009. Start gathering around 10:30am, we’ll ride at 11:00am.
Return: 3:00pm – 4:00pm

What happened to Cary Bernick? On the scene of a fatal collision

Flowers placed as a memorial
near the location where
Bernick was hit.
(Photos © Dan Liu)

Last night, BikePortland news intern Dan Liu and I visited the scene of the collision that killed Cary Bernick on Monday evening.

We timed our arrival to match that of the crash itself, shortly after 5pm. There wasn’t a ton of traffic. Biking up and down the Halsey/Weidler couplet (that’s wonk-speak for two, one-way streets) doesn’t feel exactly safe — you have to look sharp — but it also isn’t the terrifying freeway on-off ramp I expected.

Dan and I stood for a while looking at the crash scene. It had rained heavily all day and dried out several hours beforehand. Someone had tied a bouquet of flowers to a nearby street sign with a yellow ribbon, and another bouquet was laid carefully on the sidewalk. We later learned that the flowers were placed by Bernick’s wife, brother, and his brother’s girlfriend. Shortly after we left, a ghost bike was chained to the same spot.

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Copenhagenize: Hugging cops vid is “helmet propaganda”

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“It’s the latest fake viral film from our car-centric Danish Road Safety Council. Slowing chipping away at Danish bike culture without worrying about facts and science.”
— Mikael Colville-Andersen, publisher of Copenhagenize.com

Mikael Colville-Andersen, proprietor of the globally renown blog Copenhagenize, says a video of Danish cops handing out hugs and helmets to bike riders is nothing but the “latest fake viral film from our car-centric Danish Road Safety Council”.

In a post on his blog this morning, Colville-Andersen calls the film “helmet propaganda” and says the motivation behind it is to sell more cars by placing a focus helmets and the dangers of cycling.

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Beware of test-riding crook on Craiglist

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Stolen.

My friend Felix got his bike stolen last night and his experience might be a lesson for others.

Felix posted a listing to sell his bike on Craigslist. A man responded with interest (Felix says the phone number displayed as “unknown”) and then showed up at Felix’s house at about 9:00 pm last night to take it for a test ride.

Felix says the thief left his backpack as collateral and then left for a test ride. After about 10 minutes, Felix checked the backpack and found nothing but a blanket stuffed inside.

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