🚨 Please note: BikePortland is currently on hiatus and only publishing guest articles. Learn more here. Thank you. - Jonathan 🙏
I love when I wake up to emails like this:
“Jonathan,
Wanted to let you know I recovered the bike yesterday.
I can’t be sure, but it looks like the response posted on BikePortland.org had a lot to do with the bikes current “owner” contacting me to arrange a return. It was a pretty sketchy dealing, with cops involved and stuff, but my baby’s back home again.
So thanks again for keeping this website running. It’s a great public service.”
The City of Portland has announced more details about the upcoming Portland Bike Summit. It will be held at PSU’s Smith Center (1825 SW Broadway) on June 17th from 8:30 to 1:30.
City Transportation Planner Paul Smith just submitted a guest post over on Sam Adams’ blog. It’s in response to a “small but vocal” group that has been giving Sam flack because they think bike projects get too much love in the transportation budget.
Sam has asked Paul to look more closely into this and come up with the hard numbers. Not surprisingly, it turns out that bikes receive only “a tiny fraction of PDOT’s total budget” according to Paul.
The Portland Office of Transportation Options is in high gear. They’re in the midst of the Northeast Hub Project, a comprehensive program that aims to encourage walking and biking in Northeast Portland.
Yesterday I gained clearance to the top-secret Hub headquarters to check out the operation.
Transportation Options are the folks behind many of the innovative and fun outreach programs in Portland. They do things like the Summer Cycle ride series, the Women on Bikes program, and they give away tons of free bike maps and other goodies at community events throughout the year.
Back in March I said I would give away a Kryptonite Evolution U-lock to a randomly selected bike theft victim. To be eligible, you had to list your stolen bike and provide me with a case number from the Portland Police Bureau.
The first winner is Jay Fields! Jay lost her blue Trek hybrid to theives back on April 4th. Here’s what she had to say about winning the lock:
“Thanks so much for the lock and for this program — it helps to take the sting away from having a bike stolen and instead emphasizes all the wonderful, kind, and helpful people in our community.”
Bike polo is one of the most challenging and fun things you can do on two wheels. I played last summer with the Axles of Evil crew and it was awesome. Blood was spilled and although I barely held my own against their mallet mastery, it was a hell of a good time.
I spilled blood, scored the game-ending goal mid-crash, and felt like I was baptised into the sport. But not everyone is looking for such an intense introduction.
North Portland resident and author Joe “Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie will be presenting from his latest book at the Wordstock Festival this weekend. Back in November, I posted about Joe’s cross-country bike ride with this two sons, Quinn (7) and Enzo (5). His book based on the ride is called Momentum Is Your Friend: The Metal Cowboy And His Pint-Sized Posse Take On America, and he’ll be reading from it at Wordstock this Saturday at 10AM.
Of all the magazines I get, the only one I make a big effort to read each week is The Economist. The Economist is one of the most well-respected publications in the world and it is available on newsstands across the globe. So what does this have to do with bikes?
Well, I was perusing my latest issue when lo-and-behold the name Evan Manvel jumped out at me. Upon closer inspection I was stunned to see a letter to the editor from none other than the Executive Director of our very own Bicycle Transportation Alliance. Here’s the letter:
Bike Gallery is throwing their weight behind a fundraiser for the Glenhaven BMX and Skate Park. The park, scheduled to be built later this summer, will be located in Northeast Portland (82nd and Siskiyou).
On June 8th Bike Gallery will host a showing of, “Joe Kid on a Sting-Ray: The History of BMX” at the Bagdad Theater (3702 SE Hawthorne). According to Bike Gallery rep Barb Grover, every cent of the money raised will go to the park:
The Tour of Georgia is the biggest professional bike race in North America. The six stage race draws the top teams and cyclists in the world. Among them is Portland’s very own Doug Ollerenshaw, a member of the Health-Net Maxxis team.
A few months ago I rode along with Doug on a training ride around Sauvie Island. Now, due to the wonders of his new GPS-enabled cycling computer, we can all ride along with him at the Tour of Georgia. Check out this link for a list of rides (including a recent training ride up on Skyline Blvd.) and click around to view all sorts of neat information including his heart rate and elevation charts.
The third annual Bunny on a Bike ride was the most fun I’ve had on a bike all year. Imagine 150 people dressed like bunnies riding around the City, ringing bike bells, taking over lanes on bridges and stopping for live music and dance routines by the Bunny Cheer Squad.
The first ever Bike to Blazers ride was a big success. About 30 or so brave souls ventured out on a stormy day and enjoyed a bright and sunny ride along the Esplanade from the Lucky Lab to the Rose Garden to watch a TrailBlazers game. We had three families join us and everyone had a good time.
At the arena, we were treated to indoor bike parking and free Zach Randolph bobble-head dolls (which were more popular than I expected). Jeff Bernards and a volunteer from the Livestrong Ride helped me staff a Bike Info table right near the main entrance. We gave away loads of free bike maps (thanks PDOT!), BTA brochures, and stickers.