BikePortland

Biking with a bump (at 32 weeks)

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

[Editor’s note: The story below, written our Family Biking columnist Marion Rice, is a follow-up to a story we published on February 2nd. That story introduced you to Portlander Angela Koch and posed the question: Should you ride while pregnant?]

Angela Koch, 32 weeks pregnant,
pedals happily along SE Ash Street.
(Photos © Dan Liu)

Angela Koch is now 32 weeks pregnant, and she’s still biking around the streets of Portland with a smile on her face. Her belly is significantly bigger now than it was back in February when I first wrote about her, and she’s still doing great.

Sure, at the end of a long day she’s tired, and there are a few aches and pains (darn sciatica) — but nothing that keeps her off her bike.

Legislator bike ride at the Oregon Bike Summit-24

Riding under the cherry
blossoms in Salem.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Hi everyone,

There wasn’t time to do a Weekend Ride Guide today. There’s a lot going on this weekend, though:

Check out the Shift calendar for bike fun events, classes, and even a camping trip.

Also take a look at the OBRA calendar for racing and mountain biking events, clinics, and training rides.

Me, I’m going to check out the SE Peep’s Ride in a couple hours (it’s billed as a “safe, mellow, family-friendly” alternative to another ride that historically happens on the last Friday of the month).

Students in the BTA’s
Safe Routes to
Schools program will
compete with PSU students.

Earlier this month, the Portland-based Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) opened online registration for its second annual Walk + Bike to School Challenge Month. The event is a month-long contest that pits preschool and elementary school students against college and university students, to see who will bike (and walk) to school more often during the month of May.

The BTA hopes to sign-up 75 primary schools statewide, and 4 colleges or universities, by the start of the Challenge on May 1st. Last year’s inaugural challenge drew 30 elementary schools and one university (Portland State), with over 4,000 individuals participating.

I’ll have something on the Front Page next week, but for now, below is the press release from the Bureau of Transportation with all the info about the upcoming Bicycle and Streetcar Open Houses.

BICYCLE AND STREETCAR OPEN HOUSES
Portlanders examine long-range plans to shape transportation and livability

(PORTLAND, OR) – Imagine getting around Portland twenty years from now, with streetcars serving neighborhood business districts and an extensive network of bikeways so safe, comfortable, and attractive that more than a quarter of all trips are made on a bicycle.

That’s a future that could come trueif the City adopts a new Streetcar System Plan and a 2009 update to the 1996 Bicycle Master Plan.

The public is invited to help shape this transportation transformation at a series of six May open housesaround the city to showcase the two long-range plans. Visit the open house event in your community to learn more about the City’s strategic investment in green transportation:

Southeast Portland
4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Franklin High School Cafeteria,
5405 SE Woodward St, Portland 97206

East Portland
4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
David Douglas High School North Cafeteria, 1500 SE 130th Ave, Portland 97233

North Portland
4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Roosevelt High School Cafeteria,
6941 N. Central, Portland 97203

Central City and Northwest Portland
4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Portland Building, Room C, 2nd Floor,
1120 SW 5th Ave, Portland 97204

Northeast Portland
4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Grant High School Cafeteria,
2245 NE 36th Ave, Portland 97212

Southwest Portland
4:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Wilson High School Cafeteria,
1151 SW Vermont St, Portland 97219

At each event, you may drop in anytime between four and seven, and there will be brief remarks by a member of Mayor Adams’s staff at 6:00 p.m. There will be bicycle parking, light refreshments, and certified childcare in English and Spanish.

The 1996 Bicycle Master Plan made Portland the top bicycling city in the nation and became recognized as a national model. Over the past dozen years, the City has successfully implemented many elements of the plan and created robust programs to encourage bicycling. The results: each year more people are choosing to bicycle! For example, in 2008, daily bicycle traffic over the Willamette River bridges was more than five times higher than in 1995, and 20% of all trips over the Hawthorne Bridge were made by bike. The Bicycle Master Plan 2009 update project is taking a fresh look at the next steps to make Portland a world-class bicycling city. The bicycle plan is expected to go to City Council in October, 2009.

The Streetcar System Plan looks at extending development-oriented transit throughout the City. Far outstripping the original ridership projections, the downtown streetcar now carries over 11,000 passengers per day, and ridership growth averages 15% per year. Construction of the Eastside Loop Streetcar will start this summer, with service beginning in 2011. Where else should streetcar service be located? The Streetcar System Plan is a big picture look at the City of Portland’s transportation network and how streetcars might fit into this network in the future. The plan identifies a citywide network of potential streetcar corridors integrated with TriMet’s existing and planned transit system. The streetcar plan is expected to go to Council in August, 2009.

According to Metro growth projections, the City of Portland’s population is expected to grow from 575,000 to approximately 725,000 by the year 2030. In that same time, the region’s population may grow from 1.9 million to 3 million people. As the City of Portland prepares for this growth, new cleaner, greener transportation and development strategies must be a part of the solution. Both the Streetcar System Plan and the Bicycle Master Plan are key elements of the transportation strategy in the proposed City-County Climate Action Plan, and are being coordinated with the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability’s Portland Plan process. In addition to proposing new networks, these two planning efforts include funding and implementation strategies.

— More information on the Bicycle Master Plan update

— More information on the Streetcar System Plan

Local bike tour company will help guide you to work

Todd Roll, owner of Pedal
Bike Tours, wants to guide
you to work.
(Photo © J. Maus)

North Portland-based Pedal Bike Tours wants you to “Ditch the car and discover the best route to safely ride your bike to work,” and they have a novel way of helping you do it.

The company, founded by Todd Roll back in November, will offer guided rides from North and Northeast Portland to “show new bike commuters how easy it is to get downtown.”

Roll says that with the onset of Spring “there are lots of people who are just itching to ride to work instead of being trapped in the car but are unsure of the best route to get there.” Roll hopes these events will show people how easy it is to find a safe and efficient route.

Graphic from a postcard
announcing the event.

A down economy hasn’t stopped a local bike shop from completing a major remodel and expansion.

To mark the occasion, the Bike N Hike store on SE Grand Ave in Portland will hold a special grand re-opening celebration that kicks off tonight with a private, VIP cocktail party and continues tomorrow with a full schedule of events.

The store — which is perennially named a “Top 100 Shop” in the nation — originally opened in 1984 and has just completed a major remodel and 1,500 square foot expansion. According to Bike N Hike owner Kevin Chudy, the expanded size will be dedicated to women’s specific products.

Catherine Ciarlo with Mayor Adams
(Photos © J. Maus)

Yesterday I met with Mayor Sam Adams’ Transportation Policy Director Catherine Ciarlo. Ciarlo was the executive director of the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) from 1998-2005 and is a former member of the Portland Planning Commission.

In a rapid-fire conversation that lasted just about an hour, we touched on several topics, including the Mayor’s Transportation Cabinet, the budget, and the Columbia River Crossing project.

The Mayor’s Transportation Cabinet is a 24-member group that includes representatives from a wide range of interests and perspectives (including of course, bicycling). Ciarlo said the group (whose formation was listed in Adams’ “First 100 Day Action Plan”) is Adams’ “kitchen cabinet” that is full of the people he turns to for strategic advice and to help him set priorities.

Trailhead’s delivery truck.
(Photos © Dan Liu)

Few are the passions can match the fervor of bike geeks, but the achievement of the quintessential espresso has driven coffee innovators since the death of the penny-farthing gave way to to the modern bicycle.

Portlander Charlie Wicker, owner and operator of Trailhead Coffee Roasters, has found a way to combine both of those passions into a solid local business.

Bikes Belong Executive Director Tim Blumenthal shared a lot of inspiring news and information during his remarks at the end of the Oregon Bike Summit yesterday.

Blumenthal is a key figure in the national bike movement. He’s at the helm of arguably the most well-funded and well-positioned bike organization in the country and he deftly wears many hats including that of an advocate, a corporate fundraiser, a marketing expert, and a smooth political operator.

“I bike and walk a lot…I’m especially careful when people are on a cell phone because their attention is obviously on someone else and not me.”
–State Rep. Carolyn Tomei, sponsor of a bill to ban use of mobile devices while driving.

A bill that would ban cell phones and texting while driving passed out of committee earlier this week and the bill’s sponsor, State Representative Carolyn Tomei (D-Milwaukie), told me this morning she would be “shocked” if it didn’t become law this session.

The bill, H.B. 2377, would make Oregon’s existing cell phone use while driving law much tougher. Tomei’s bill would make the use of a “mobile communications device” (which includes text messaging) while driving a primary offense. (I regret that earlier this week I incorrectly reported that the bill would only make it a secondary offense. I have corrected that error).

Billing it as a “A new kind of town hall,” two Oregon State Legislators will lead a bike ride around their districts next month.

Representative Michael Dembrow and Senator Jackie Dingfelder — both of whom represent districts in Northeast Portland — will join their constituents for a bike tour around the Cully neighborhood on May 9th. The six-mile ride will make a stop at the Rigler School Community Garden for a brief work party and organizers are considering a stop at the site of the upcoming cycletrack (slated to go in on Cully Blvd between Killingsworth and Prescott).

Legislator bike ride at the Oregon Bike Summit-13

This morning, as part of the Oregon Bike Summit, a handful of state legislators suited up for the first-ever Legislator Bike Ride.

About 50 summit attendees met on the steps of the Capitol building before taking a leisurely, five-mile ride around Salem. Joining the bike advocates from around the state were six state legislators: Rep. Jules Bailey (D-Portland), Rep. Tobias Read (D-Beaverton), Sen. Jackie Dingfelder (D-Portland), Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland), Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene), and Sen. Jason Atkinson (R-Ashland).

Biking with a bump (at 32 weeks)

Weekend Open Thread

Kids young and old gear up for Walk + Bike to School Challenge

Make plans now to attend bike/streetcar master plan open houses

Local bike tour company will help guide you to work

Bike N Hike will hold grand re-opening this weekend

Checking in with the Mayor’s transportation policy czar

Local coffee roaster does it all by bike

Bikes Belong hopes all-star team can bring biking mainstream

Cell phone, texting ban out of committee, set for House vote next week

Portland legislators will hold town hall meeting on two wheels

Legislators suit up for ride around the Capitol

Latest Headlines

Shawne’s transit-to-track adventure to Cedar Park in Sandy

‘Better Sheridan’ project brings safer street to South Waterfront

Your guide to finding the ‘Wildwood’ crows by bike

My journey to that ‘Hard Rock glow’

From the Archives

The 10 busiest bicycling spots in Portland