This is the weekend Portland pays homage to the grand Spring Classics with its own suffer-fests: De Ronde and La Doyenne.
This two-part article is by Aaron Brown, founder of No More Freeways PDX and former board president of Oregon Walks.
A reunion of old friends has sparked a resurgence in Portland’s fixed-gear freestyle scene.
Matt Reyes, Ramon Antonio, and Devin Tolman first met through the San Francisco Bay Area cycling scene. Lovers of fixed-gear freestyle, a discipline that combines flatland BMX tricks with the speed and grace of fixed-gear road bikes, the trio is happily established in Portland. Now they want to connect with other riders and create a community around fixed-gear riding similar to the vibrant scene they left behind in their previous home.
I caught up with them under sunny blue skies and cherry blossoms in Waterfront Park yesterday.
The inter-neighborhood hostilities over the city’s Lincoln-Harrison Neighborhood Greenway Enhancement Project seem to have reached a new level.
On March 13th a man riding a bicycle was involved in a collision with a MAX light rail train in southeast Portland. We haven’t heard much in the way of official updates in the case, but thanks to a comment left on our story yesterday we now know more about where and how it happened.
Kidical Mass is one of my favorite things ever: riding bikes with my kids, hanging out with a bunch of fun families, and demonstrating the joy of biking for transportation. The first ride of the year is coming April 1st (no foolin’), and I’d love to see you out there.
My first experience with Kidical Mass was nine years ago when I was new to Seattle and had up until that point only biked around my immediate neighborhood with just my toddler for company. I attended the inaugural Seattle Kidical Mass ride on May 15, 2009 — on my city bike with my two-year old in a front seat and my seven-month-pregnant belly wedged behind it — and was amazed to see so many other families biking with kids. I was intrigued by the many different types of family bikes and overjoyed at riding in a big pack. Each Kidical Mass ride was the highlight of my month and showed me new parts of town I wanted to revisit. I was motivated to figure out a bike route to the start of each ride and then experiencing these new areas with the big, safe group made me eager to return.
Several sections of the I-205 path will be updated by the Oregon Department of Transportation this year.
As part of a larger I-205 widening and repaving project ODOT plans to make upgrades to the adjacent multi-use path in Maywood Park, at NE Glisan, and at the SE Stark/Washington crossing. They will also stripe new bike lanes and crossings on the SE Johnson Creek Blvd overpass.
Here are the details…
Job Title
Professional Bike Mechanic for Kerr Bikes
Company / Organization
Albertina Kerr
Job Description
Albertina Kerr empowers people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, mental health challenges and other social barriers to lead self-determined lives and reach their full potential.
Albertina Kerr is looking for a Bike Mechanic to join our Kerr Bikes team! The successful candidate will be responsible for maintaining our fleet of rental bikes, working on customer repairs, instructing Kerr clients in repair practices, coordinating part orders with the Kerr bikes manager, maintaining a clean and orderly work environment, delegating responsibilities based on needs, and potentially helping out at some promotional events throughout the summer. The Mechanic should be able to lift at least 50 lbs and adjust to a changing work environment. Training will be provided but a full professional understanding of bike mechanical systems is a must. Experience with adaptive bikes, recumbents, and supplemental adaptive parts is a plus. Professional Bike Mechanic Certification is required.
Position is seasonal from April through October and will be roughly 20-25 hours a week, schedule to be determined but expect to work at least 4 hours Saturday and Sunday Mornings. There will be opportunities for more hours during busy times. Ideally we would hire back the same mechanic the next season if you are still interested.
Apply online at http://www.albertinakerr.org . The nature of the services we provide prevents us from allowing in-person applications or inquiries. Albertina Kerr maintains a drug-free workplace and is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to status as a protected veteran or a qualified individual with a disability, or other protected status, such as race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, age, or other factors protected by law. Individuals with disabilities can request accommodation in the application and employment process by contacting 503-262-0145.
How to Apply
Click, or copy and paste the link below:
https://chm.tbe.taleo.net/chm01/ats/careers/v2/viewRequisition?org=KERR&cws=37&rid=838
After years of planning and plotting and delays, the Portland Bureau of Transportation is ready for public feedback on their $8.4 million project to update central city streets. Today they launched a virtual open house for their Central City in Motion project.
Daniel Greenstadt is a Concordia neighborhood resident and off-road cycling advocate who has attended many of the Off-road Cycling Plan meetings. In a post on BikePortland last April he shared his hopes and concerns for the plan.
Imagine yourself, your family, or your children pedaling along Forest Park’s newly constructed, 1.5-mile, shared-use trail from the area of NW Thurman Street to the brand new, two-million-dollar Forest Park Entrance and Nature Center at NW St Helens Road and NW Kittridge. You’re riding on a 2-6 foot wide path – some of it not even within Forest Park – immediately adjacent to the industrial buildings, rail yards, commercial operations, and tank farms that crowd the Highway 30 corridor. You are riding in the most ecologically degraded area of Forest Park on what Northwest Trail Alliance has described as “essentially a dirt sidewalk.”
Uber has been testing its new self-driving cars on human subjects since last year and now it appears one of them has killed a person who was walking across a street. The collision happened in Tempe, Arizona late last night. According to a local news report, “Tempe Police says the vehicle was in autonomous mode at the time of the crash and a vehicle operator was also behind the wheel.”
This is the second self-driving Uber (that we know about) that has been involved in a collision. Last month a local news station in Pittsburgh reported that one of them slammed into another car while in self-driving mode.
After last night’s death, Uber has announced it will immediately end its testing in Tempe and Pittsburgh, as well as San Francisco and Toronto.
Thankfully in Portland our local leaders and transportation officials have not allowed a private company to test their deadly product on humans.
Welcome to a new week.
Here are the best stories we came across in the past seven days…
A sign of humanity: Read this tale from New York about how a woman’s bike theft-inspired sign sparked a karma loop that began in her neighborhood and reached across continents.
