Portland bikers, consider yourselves spoiled with bike fun. Here is a round-up of rides happening on the first day of 2006 (if you know of others, feel free to add them to the comments):
Stolen: Black Surly
At approx 7pm tonight my bicycle was stolen.
It was parked outside my editing studio at The Hall Gallery on SE 3rd
and Alder for 20 min. 18 more than necessary to get though the cable
lock, which was not found.
The bike is a 2004 black Surly Cross Check. There is a zoobomb sticker
on the left down tube, part of a deadbaby bikes sticker on the badge,
the Surly bike stickers are covered with electrical tape. The front
right fork has yellow reflective tape, the seat has a red reflective
strip, and there is a red reflector above the black aluminum rack
holding a single black Orlieb pannier on the right side.
The wheels are black anodized aluminum, the tires are cyclecross-style
with a reflective band.
There are Shamano drop bar-end shifters and components and a Crane Creek
headset.
My “Get Lit” headlight was on it at the time.
Thank you for your vigilance.
revphil +at+ freegeek.org
503.232.9350 – freegeek phone number. leave a msg, only answered 11am-7pm tue-sat
Portland wheels into the NY Times
Peter Loewi is a regular BikePortland.org reader, PDOT intern, and dedicated Veloshop Team member (he once had his mouth wired in pink to show his team colors!).
When he noticed a recent NY Times Travel article on Portland made no mention of bikes he decided to give them a piece of his mind…and they printed it!
List of common violations and fines
The LDTMA (Lloyd District Transportation Management Association) recently held an open forum to discuss bike issues in the Lloyd District area. They invited several NE Precinct police officers and traffic division commander Bill Sinnott. During the Q&A session, someone asked to see a list of the most common bicycle infractions and the cost for each of them.
I followed up with Bill and he took the time to compile this nice list. While you read it, keep in mind that cops actually write very few tickets to cyclists each year (this will be changing in the future), but I wanted to publish this just so we’re all on the same page.
Greetings from California
I’m down in Orange County visiting family and I won’t be back until Dec. 29th. I’ve only been here about 5 days now, but I already miss Portland. We’ve rented a mini-van and I’ve done more driving in the past few days than I have for the past 6 months. Everywhere I look there are rivers of cars…
Take Sam’s budget survey
Sam Adams has just posted a survey that allows you to weigh in on how you think the city’s transportation money should be spent. This is an exciting opportunity to cast your vote and let the folks at City Hall know how strongly you feel about the key role of bicycle access in the future of our city.
Read more over at Sam’s blog.
Report from transportation budget forum
by Jessica Roberts, Metro Area Advocate for the BTA
I attended last night’s budget forum, hosted by Commissioner Sam Adams.
I’m pleased to say that bicycling was well represented. Over 30% of participants arrived by bike, and it was clear through the course of the evening that this was a crowd that loves riding a bike.
Bike Channel launches
Chris Smith is full of great ideas lately. Earlier this month, he started working with the folks at KBOO radio to offer past and future episodes of the popular KBOO Bike Show as MP3s for our listening enjoyment. Now he’s gone and put together an aggregate site called “The Portland Bike Channel“.
UP gets commemorative bike lane stencil
There’s another new bike lane stencil that just hit Portland streets. This one was made to commemorate the University of Portland women’s soccer team on their NCAA championship victory. It lives on N. Willamette Blvd.
I ride by there all the time so I look forward to introducing myself.
[Thanks to Roger Geller for sending me this photo]
New bike lane stencil by Joe Biel
Some of you may remember that Joe Biel (founder of Microcosm Publishing) is working on a documentary about bike art. He was particularly interested in Portland’s whimsical bike lane characters.
I just heard from Joe that after a few meetings and phone calls he was given the opportunity to design and lay out his very own bike lane character. So here it is, courtesy of Joe Biel. It lives on NE 33rd, just past the Columbia Slough (by the DEQ).
To see more of Portland’s bike lane stencils, check out these photos.
Airport bike parking “for employees only”
A few months ago I was smitten with PDX airport because of their new and vastly improved bike access. After reading my post, several folks were inspired to ride to the airport to take advantage of the new bike lane and enclosed long-term bike parking facility.
However now all that has changed. A few riders scoped out the facility in advance of a recent flight and were dismayed to find it is now locked with a sign that says it’s only for airport employees. I went and read the original press release (PDF) and sure enough, this was the plan all along. I must have used the facility before it was finished being built.
Interactive Pedalpalooza characters
The Pedalpalooza craziness has already begun…and it’s only December. Check out the new interactive feature over on the Shift website. You can make the bike fun action figures say anything you want.