4/25: Hello readers and friends. I'm still recovering from a surgery I had on 4/11, so I'm unable to attend events and do typical coverage. See this post for the latest update. I'll work as I can and I'm improving every day! Thanks for all your support 🙏. - Jonathan Maus, BikePortland Publisher and Editor

Veloce Bicycles in Beaverton is closing

Veloce Bicycles Facebook post dated March 6th.

A bike shop with close ties to Portland is the latest to announce that it’s closing.

Veloce Bicycles opened in 2003 in Portland and was located on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard until 2017. Original owner Demetri Macrigeanis sold the business to current owner Brent Engstrom in 2011.

Engstrom announced earlier this week on the shop’s Facebook page that the shop will close and their last day will be May 31st. “After 17 Years in the Portland area, Veloce Bicycles is closing,” he said. “We have been very proud to serve our great customers throughout the years. Thank you all! Unfortunately due to various reasons we forced to close.”

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Portland’s bid to host 2026 Road Cycling World Championships seeks city council approval

Let’s do this!

When I sat down with Kevin Hyland in May 2019 to learn about his efforts to bring the UCI Road World Championships to Portland, he was a self-described “one man army.” Now he’s managing a Local Organizing Committee of over 40 people and their effort to win the 2026 bid is going full steam ahead.

You may have noticed your social media channels filled with the shiny new Portland Cycling Worlds logo and graphics this morning. That’s because venerable local company Chris King Precision Components has teamed up with Hyland to help with graphics and marketing efforts. King employees have also polished up the new website and set up social media accounts.

This marketing push has one goal: Build support that leads to an official letter of intent signed by the City of Portland by early June of this year. An online petition has been launched and Hyland hopes having thousands of signatures to add to his list of over 100 existing businesses and notable supporters will make a positive impression on Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler and the rest of City Council.

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Cycling through the Covid-19 outbreak

(Photo © J. Maus/BikePortland)

It all became very real yesterday. Actually, for those of us following this closely it’s been real for a while now. But Wednesday felt like the dam broke and we finally saw widespread acknowledgment — locally and nationally — that the Covid-19 outbreak is here and it’s time to act like it.

With mass cancellations and rising infections, it’s a scary time. I don’t know what comes next, but I know one of BikePortland’s roles will be to keep folks informed about how cycling is impacted by the outbreak and can (possibly) help mitigate its impacts. In 2012 while in New York City during Superstorm Sandy I saw first-hand how cycling is the most resilient form of transportation during a disaster.

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Governor Brown’s executive order on climate change could have impacts on transportation

Governor Kate Brown holds up the signed executive order at a signing ceremony held today.
(Photo from Oregon Legislative Information System livestream.)

Fed up with repeated walk-outs by Republican lawmakers over their objections to climate change legislation, today Oregon Governor Kate Brown took the matter into her own hands. Brown signed Executive Order 20-04 (PDF below) at her desk in Salem this morning surrounded by young students from around the state.

At the signing, Brown said, “I think this Executive Order is extremely bold and aggressive.” The order itself justifies the action by stating, “Given the urgency and severity of the risks from climate change and ocean acidification and the failure of the Legislature to address these immediate harms, the executive branch has a responsibility to the electorate, and a scientific, economic, and moral imperative to reduce GHG emissions and to reduce the worst risks of climate change and ocean acidification for future generations, to the greatest extent possible with an existing laws.”

The order specifically calls out 19 state agencies and governor-appointed commissions. Among them are the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Oregon Transportation Commission (OTC).

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Becky Jo’s Carfree Life: Going intermodal

There’s a practice bus rack at PSU and it helped calm my bus/bike fears.
(Photos: Becky Jo)

About 20 years ago I worked for Greenbrier, the corporate headquarters for Gunderson Rail and Marine on NW Front Ave here in Portland. I learned about — and loved — the concept of intermodal transportation. A steel box container can go from ocean barge to rail to truck, creating the most efficient mode of global transportation. Instead of specialized modes, intermodal always seemed more efficient to me.

So it just made sense that eventually I’d get to the point of traveling with my bike on public transit, thus making myself intermodal.

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From the Archives

More biking = better driving. So why isn’t this said more often?