Subscriber post: Ode to the Thursday Night Ride

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It rolls from Salmon Street Springs every Thursday around 7:30 pm.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

The dream of the nineties is somewhat alive in Portland.

In Portland, cars most certainly exist. Except for once a week on Thursday, when people ride bikes or double-decker bikes. They ride unicycles. They ride skateboards!

No matter what our President tweeted, no matter what forest is on fire, no matter what ODOT has done that week to make it easier for people to use cars, the Thursday night ride rides on. It does not care about liberalism, conservatism, that week’s gross domestic product numbers, or really much of anything. You do not even really need a bicycle (as long as you are a fast jogger) or a cent to your name.

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Blazers Bike Night is Oct. 28: Ticket sales close this Sunday

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Blazers Bike Night in 2014.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

The NBA’s bike-friendliest franchise is again inviting Portlanders interested in bicycling to get discounted tickets and join a special bike-themed pre-game reception.

This season’s first Portland Trail Blazers Bike Night happens at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 28, when the Blazers will face the Phoenix Suns at the Moda Center in inner Northeast Portland. It’s being co-organized with the Community Cycling Center, the local nonprofit bike shop and bikes-for-all advocacy group.

200-level tickets that night are on sale for $58 and 300-level tickets are on sale for $28, with a $5 transaction fee per order. To get those prices and entry to the pre-game reception (“food, drinks, raffle prizes and an opportunity to learn more about the Community Cycling Center”), sign up at rosequarter.com/bikenight/ with promo code BIKE. The promotional sale ends this Sunday, Oct. 1.

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Morrison Bridge bike path set to reopen by Oct. 22 (updated)

Detour signs on the east landing direct people walking and biking to the Hawthorne Bridge.

The Morrison Bridge’s biking and walking path should reopen three weeks from Sunday, a Multnomah County said Tuesday.

The path has been closed to walking and biking for much of the summer, as have various travel lanes. It’s related to a deck replacement that’s a do-over from a 2012 replacement job that didn’t prove nearly as durable as it was supposed to.

The physically separated path along the south side of the Morrison connects Water Avenue on the Central Eastside with Naito Parkway and 2nd Avenue downtown.

On Monday, the county had tweeted that the path would reopen Oct. 16, but county spokesman Mike Pullen said in an email Tuesday that another six days would be required.

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An interview with Linda Robinson, a stalwart advocate for east Portland parks

Linda Robinson at Gateway Green back in February.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

This is the third installment of our Women’s Bike Month interview series written by Steph Routh. This content is sponsored by the Community Cycling Center and Gladys Bikes.

Anyone who has enjoyed a park in East Portland likely owes at least a sliver of that experience to Linda Robinson. Linda was a founding member of the East Portland Parks Coalition, is a former member of the Portland Parks Board, and has been a voice advocating for parks throughout the Gateway Urban Renewal process in Gateway.

What does this have to do with cycling? Two words: Gateway Green. Linda retired in 2002 and jumped straight into advocacy and organizing for Gateway Green, which just opened this past summer.

I interviewed Linda last week…

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The Monday Roundup: LA’s future lane capacity, America’s worst bus stop and more

The wide protected bike lanes are in green.
(Image: Perkins+Will, Nelson\Nygaard)

This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by Urban Tribe, the affordable family cargo bike.

Here are the bike-related links that caught our eyes this week:

Lane allocation: Check out the lane capacity charts on Lyft’s vision of LA’s future streets.

Against stoplights: Amsterdam flipped off the traffic signals at a busy multimodal intersection and saw startlingly good results. “People pay more attention,” said one man.

Private bike share: The 4,000 private shared bikes in Seattle have been “far more successful in two months than Pronto ever was in its two years.”

Rose Quarter freeway: CityLab’s headline calls our local expansion battle “the freeway fight of the century” and Mayor Ted Wheeler’s argument for it “rather disingenuous.”

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Weekend Open Thread: your rides and Milwaukie-Sellwood Sunday Parkways

Westmoreland Park and 22nd Ave

Jonathan’s enjoying Europe, so I wanted to revive the Weekend Open Threads and ask what bikey or outdoorsy things you did this weekend. I got out to Sunday Parkways- maybe the first one I’ve been able to attend this year. Parkways was well-attended; I suspect that’s because people are feeling the “end of summer” pressure.

Native American presentation at Westmoreland Park

Native American salmon bake/smoke at Westmoreland Park

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Half-hour ‘human-protected bike lane’ will rally support for permanent street improvements

A human-protected bike lane in San Francisco in May. A group of Portlanders are organizing a similar event on Naito Parkway next Thursday, before the protected bike lanes there are removed.
(Photo: Brandon Splane via Streetsblog SF)

As the City of Portland prepares to remove the temporary protected bike lane along its downtown waterfront, some Portlanders see a one-time chance to grab the public imagination.

A group of residents and others who support protected bike lanes in the central city and elsewhere are planning to line up along the soon-to-be removed Naito Parkway protected bike lanes at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 28, to touch arms and create a half-hour “human-protected bike lane,” complete with music, then capture the image for a crowdfunded advertising campaign in support of permanent bike lane protections.

“I think it’s gonna be awesome,” said Emily Guise, the co-chair of advocacy group BikeLoudPDX. “We’re taking inspiration from people who have done them around the globe: Dublin, San Francisco, New York. … It’s going to be a really positive event.”

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Weekend Event Guide: Sunday Parkways, Ninkrossi, Bike Town Hall, and more

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Community Cycling Center Executive Director Kasandra Griffin (L) and ODOT Planner Jessica Horning are excited about the weekend!
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
The Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by Abus Bike Locks. Thanks Abus!

Welcome to the weekend.

I’m typing this from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam awaiting a flight to Paris. I’m having a great time so far! I hope all is well back in Portland.

If you need some suggestions for rides to do this weekend, we’ve got a few ideas for you. Don’t miss the Town Hall ride on Saturday. It’s a great chance to chat with your state legislators. And of course Sunday Parkways!

Saturday, September 23rd

Rapha Prestige – All day, starts in Yamhill
This team event promises to be an all-day adventure with a challenging 90-mile route from Yamhill County wine country up and over the coast range. Registration is closed, so if you aren’t already on the list you might want to flag this one for next year. More info here.

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Free bike tour of central city will highlight local design work by women

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The Eastbank Esplanade, designed by a team led by Carol Mayer-Reed, is an unofficial stop on the ride.
(Photo: J.Maus/BikePortland)

The local chapter of the American Institute of Architects is honoring some of Portland’s urban design gems with a free educational bike ride Saturday that happens to include a trip along one of its most important bikeways.

The common link: Female designers are behind all eight stops on the approximately 10-mile tour.

The tour meets at the Portland Aerial Tram Biketown station at 9:30 a.m. this Saturday, Sept. 23, and finishes near the same site around 1 p.m., with lunch to follow.

It’s a project of Portland AIA’s ForWARD Committee: “Forum for Women in Architecture and Related Design.”

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One year after he was killed while biking to work, Gresham man’s family will honor him

Robert Esparza.
(Photo via Legacy.com)

The family of Robert Esparza will be on the Gresham-Fairview Trail late afternoon Sunday to call attention to bicycling awareness, organ donation and Esparza’s life.

Esparza, 21, was hit by a Corvette on Sept. 24 of last year while biking through the marked crosswalk near 200th and Glisan at 3:30 a.m. The alleged driver was Alex Jacoby. Esparza, a 2013 Gresham high school graduate, had been on the way to his shift as a welder for medical equipment maker CAPSA Solutions.

Esparza’s sister Janelle Ramirez said in an interview Thursday that she and her family will set up a table, bottled water, cookies and pictures of her brother from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (Facebook event here.) She expected other family members, friends and supporters to be there or stop by too, though no particular speech or moment is planned.

“I kind of just thought we could talk to people as they approach if they’re interested,” Ramirez said. “I just want a way to recognize him.”

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New PBOT campaign aims to tame chaotic school zones

Detail from PBOT materials to be used in new Safe Routes to School safety campaign.

Sometimes the streets that should be safe for the whole family are unfortunately the most stressful.

Neighborhood Greenways are one example. Because they lack stop signs and are often adjacent to gridlocked arterials, they are increasingly saturated with cut-through drivers. And consider the streets in front of schools. Because too many people use cars — often with complete lack of respect for other road users — streets near schools can be a chaotic, dangerous mess two times every day.

The Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) is well aware of this problem. The lack of safety during pick-up and drop-off makes the city’s goal of encouraging more people to bike and walk to school much harder. That’s why the city is launching a new safety campaign aimed at taming this daily street snarl.

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From the Archives

The good, the bad, and the ugly on the Oregon Coast Bike Route