BikePortland

New sharrow markings in NW

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

“Sharrow” lane markings have just been painted on a few streets in NW Portland. Here’s an excerpt from the official news release from the City of Portland:

The Portland Office of Transportation began installing “shared lane pavement markings” on three streets in northwest and southwest Portland today. Known as “sharrows,” these markings are intended to help cyclists better position themselves on roadways where bicycle lanes are the recommended treatment, but which cannot be striped for varying reasons.

They are 10 feet long and are part of federal experiment to monitor their effectiveness. They have already been adopted in San Francisco, CA and are standard treatment in that state.

Many thanks to City of Vancouver bicycle coordinator Todd Boulanger for these photos. You can see more of them on the photostream.

Tags: sharrows

California city is first to Platinum

Reporting from Interbike…

…the first “Platinum” level Bicycle Friendly Community in the U.S. is Davis, California.

In talking with representatives from the League of American Bicyclists (the organization behind the designation), they said Davis is simply “way ahead” of any other city and that they are even on par with European cities.

I was hoping Portland would be first to get this designation, but I can rest easy knowing that we are a major city and Davis is a small, quaint town, dominated by cows, college kids and a major university. Portland on the other hand is a major city and the challenges we face to become more bike friendly are much greater.

So the “Go Platinum Portland” campaign will press on! Stay tuned for how you can get involved.

My ride to PDX Airport

Well, here I am in Las Vegas for the Interbike trade show. In the next few days I’ll talk to all sorts of people in the bike industry. I especially want to touch base with the Portland-based companies that are exhibiting here (there are only a few). If I have time between all my high-profile meetings with movers and shakers in the global bike biz (not really) I’ll snap photos and get the low-down on new products that are of special interest to Portland bikers. Things like lights, racks, fenders, panniers and new commuting/city bikes.

But before all that, I want to share my experience with the new PDX Airport bike paths. In case you missed it, PDX Airport recently completed a network of bike paths. I decided to give them a whirl because my plane left at 6:00AM which was too early for Juli and the kids, the MAX takes too long from my house in NoPo, and because I just wanted to ride my bike. So, at 4:45 Tuesday morning I loaded my bags into the Burley and headed out.

I took low traffic streets the whole way and didn’t see many cars. Then, once I got on the new, off-street path it was very smooth sailing all the way. I couldn’t help from grinning as I felt very proud of my city for this Euro-style improvement to the airport’s bike-ability! The path was great. It was smooth, easy to navigate and it led me right to the bike racks. I was hoping to see more signage but maybe it’s just not up yet.

The best part was the bike parking structure. I was a bit worried about security of my bike and trailer, but after seeing the fully enclosed, gated bike parking(!) I felt much better.

It took me 34 minutes from N. Michigan and N. Portland Blvd. Much faster than MAX and much more fun than driving! I’ll definitely do this again.

First “Platinum” bike city to be announced Wednesday

Despite much energy and excitement recently here in Portland, it seems as though we won’t be the first city in the country to be designated with the League of American Bicyclists‘ “Platinum-level” Bicycle Friendly City award.

Here’s an excerpt from the League’s latest newsletter:

“The latest list of Bicycle Friendly Communities, including the first platinum-level award, will be announced on Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 8:40 a.m. at the League’s booth (at the Interbike Show in Las Vegas)”

This is a somewhat unexpected announcement that definitely throws a wrench in the City’s plans. It’s not that we won’t still move forward with the “Go Platinum” campaign, but there was a real sense of pride about getting it before anyone else.

I leave tomorrow morning for Vegas to attend Interbike, and you can bet I’ll be on hand for that announcement. Expect a full report Wednesday morning.

3 bikes stolen: Jamis, Kona, Yeti

My house was recently broken into and my wife and I lost just about everything including our mt. bikes. The thieves had to get past my two dogs, and used a copper pipe and potatoes to beat them into submission. I’d like to get my bikes back, but would really like to get the guys (known to be at least 2) who did this to my dogs. Here is a brief description of the missing bikes:

Yeti ASX – Black, size large. Full suspension w/ 5th element rear shock. Marzocchi Super T Pro fork (silver bottom, black top). E-thirteen chain guide (clear plastic disk around cranks). Raceface DH cranks, Redline Flight Pedals, Sun Double Track front rim w/ Abbah hub, Sun XT rear rim w/ XT hub. No front derailleur, XTR rear w/ XT shifter. Oury lock on grips. Inner tube wrapped around rear triangle on drive side.

Jamis XLT 1.0 – Grey, size extra small. Full suspension w/ Fox rear shock. Fox front fork (black bottom). Stock except for a WTB Speed She seat. s/n: B201180301

Kona Kula – Red, 18” frame. Hardtail converted to single speed w/ non-working Kore chain reactor on rear triangle. 2002 Marzocchi ZR1 FreeRide fork up front.

Thanks,
Josh

971-227-2030 (cell)

Electra “Townies” don’t fit on busses or MAX

Just found a new Portland bike blog called “Ask the Wise Old Bicycle Guy“. It’s run by a former pro bike mechanic and it’s full of great advice.

He noticed my recent post about Electra Townies and makes a good observation. Apparently, despite growing in popularity in this city and their recent adoption as the official bike of the “BikeTown” promotion, Townies don’t fit on TriMet busses or the MAX! Here’s an excerpt from his post:

“According to a TriMet insider, at the recent kickoff for BTA’s Bike Commute Challenge, a Townie was ceremoniously placed in a TriMet bus rack for a photo op, only it didn’t fit.”

Apparently, the Townies’ extra-long wheelbase is the problem. Besides not fitting on bus racks, they’re also too long to fit in the hooks on MAX trains. The interesting thing is that TriMet is using nationwide standard for the bus rack. I guess the folks at Electra aren’t into the “multi-modal” thing like many carfree Portlanders.

Swede Army bike spotted at Nike

As some of you may know, I have a sincere infatuation with European city bikes. While lurking around the Nike Campus Sunday I came across this fine specimen. (the photo is dark because the sun hadn’t even come up yet!).

It was being ridden by a gardener who had no idea why I was so fascinated with his bike. It’s from a Swedish company called Kronan. Kronan got their start by building bikes for the Swedish Army 70 years ago and their bikes are made to last. Here’s another shot of it from a different angle.

It had a rod-driven drivetrain (which means it uses solid rods instead of wire cables to shift the gears and brake) and the tires had a serious injection of reflective rubber in the sidewalls.

Now, if only it had BikePortland.org on the downtube…

Lance at the LiveStrong Ride: “I’m jealous of Portland”

The LiveStrong Ride with Lance Armstrong was on Sunday morning out at the Nike Campus. It was my first big bike event as “authorized media” and I made the most of it by hanging out with Lance all day. OK, OK, I’m just kidding. Actually it was quite the opposite. We were officially warned to not get closer than 12 feet from him or we would be banned from future Lance events. I’m not kidding. The PR person actually read this to us in an “official memo”. Isn’t that weird? But I guess that’s what happens when you’re bigger than the Pope and Michael Jackson combined. So, I’m sorry I didn’t get to ask any of your great questions.

Anyways, on to the report…

It was still dark when I got to the Nike Campus and made my way to the media briefing. After hob-nobbing with real journalists (like from the AP and stuff!) over coffee and bear claws, the Man of the Day showed up for a little talk. I was pleasantly surprised to hear him go on and on about the Portland bike scene:

“We decided to come to Portland because this is one of the greatest cycling communities in the world…just this morning I read a story in the local paper that was all about bikes and I didn’t know whether to be excited or jealous, because we have nowhere near all that (bike stuff) going on in Austin.”

The best part is when he said our bikey-ness should be, “modeled around the country.” And it just might be because that quote got into the AP story on the ride that is already popping up all over the country.

After the briefing, we checked out the opening festivities. I ran into

The legendary Portland cyclocross season got off to a raging start on Saturday. 272 racers enjoyed perfect conditions at the 2005 Veloshop Cyclocross Season Opener at Hood River High School. I decided to drive out to Hood River to check out the race with the family. We had a great time. I ran around taking pictures and watching the action, while my ladies enjoyed a picnic in the warm sun.

Molly Cameron of Veloshop put on a great event and I officially decided that I will not show up to another cross race as a spectator!..(and I mean it this time).

Check out all 23 of my photos.

Stolen: Road bike with flat bars

Stolen roadbike with mountainbike handlebars. Solid grey frame with black fork and bright blue rear wheel rim.

My roadbike was stolen from PSU on Thursday (September 22). The bike is a custom build women’s road bike (53cm) plain medium grey frame with no decals or markings. The bike has a flat (mountainbike) handlebar with black bar extensions and mountain bike gearing (7 speed). One other distinctive feature is the bright blue rear rim. I know the chances of recovery are slim, but if you see this bike please contact me at vorosk@planet-save.com.

Stolen: Blue Trek

Blue, womens, Trek Navigator 200. Bike was stolen off of Main street in Vancouver at ne 45th street. Slugs broke into my locked truck cap…I have the serial number it starts with IBI…I dont really want to post the whole number in case someone trys to claim it as their own. It was stolen on Tuesday night (Sept 20th). Police report was filed.

Stolen: Marin Quake 5.0

Taken from 122nd and Glisan area in front of Anoush Deli. So, what happens when your lock is too good? They take the whole bleeping rack out of the sidewalk!

My beloved 17″ Titanium finish Marin Quake 5.0 with downhill block stem and red Alex rims was locked to a large black snake style rack. checked on at random intervals and discovered to be missing (along with the rack) about 11:20pm on

Monday the 12th of September. Police report was filed.
seat tube and saddle were in my bag…

i miss it…and it cripples my resources for getting a new bike.

New sharrow markings in NW

California city is first to Platinum

My ride to PDX Airport

First “Platinum” bike city to be announced Wednesday

3 bikes stolen: Jamis, Kona, Yeti

Electra “Townies” don’t fit on busses or MAX

Swede Army bike spotted at Nike

Lance at the LiveStrong Ride: “I’m jealous of Portland”

Report: Cyclocross season opener at Hood River

Stolen: Road bike with flat bars

Stolen: Blue Trek

Stolen: Marin Quake 5.0

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