A bike ride has been planned in response to an ugly incident that happened last week.
Woman seriously injured after mysterious crash on Columbia Slough path
Riding along the Columbia Slough path north of Kenton.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Skjelse Rapoch thought she’d just had a very bad crash while riding her bike. Now the police her family thinks she might have been attacked.
It happened Tuesday night while Rapoch was riding on the Columbia Slough path en route to Portland International Raceway where her husband (who works at Velo Cult Bike Shop) was competing in a cyclocross race. Details of the incident are scarce because Rapoch doesn’t remember anything. It was only after she was recovering in the hospital that she spoke to police and began to put the pieces together.
“What we initially thought was a terrible bicycle accident,” her family says, “is the result of something far more sinister…. it would appear an individual(s) was hiding along the path and hit Skjelse in the face with a rock while she was riding by.”
According to statements from Rapoch and her family, the police are now investigating this as a possible assault (update: the police say there is no evidence to suggest it was an attack).
A rider who found Rapoch says they saw a lone suspect fleeing the area as they rolled up. Rapoch says police have found a bloody rock has been found nearby that matches her facial trauma.
The Monday Roundup: Carbon tax time, fast e-bikes, better blocks, best bike cities, and more
Welcome to the Monday Roundup, where we’ve gathered (with help from readers) the most interesting stories and links from the past week…
Nabbing unsafe passers: Police in Birmingham (UK) are riding bikes undercover-style to catch people who pass them too closely.
Chicago #1 Bike City: Bicycling Magazine’s new rankings are out and Chicago has earned the top spot. The magazine’s editors felt it was Chicago’s turn at the top in large part because of their progress on physically protected bike lanes. San Francisco is ranked second and Portland came in third.
Speaking of protected bike lanes: The NYC Dept. of Transportation has been under fire from advocates for not doing enough to make streets safe for bike riders, so they’re doing a media push to tout their record-setting pace of building 18-miles of protected bike lanes this year.
They got the wrong guy: A man who was biking in Brooklyn says he was assaulted physically and verbally (with a racial slur) by two people inside a car — but somehow he’s the one who spent the night in jail.
Free Coffee for Cyclists- This Tuesday!
Ah September. As the fall months slowly start getting cooler, wetter, and darker in the mornings, you can always count on your friends at Pedal PT for monthly FREE COFFEE FOR BICYCLISTS to keep you warm (and caffienated) on the morning bike commute- Thanks for being part of the bicycling community!
When: Tuesday – September 20th- from 7 to 9am.
Where: Clinton and 25h Ave- (in front of Clinton St Video)
See you soon!
-The Pedal PT gang:
Kevin, Jake + Marisa . .and our NEW Student PT, Steve (from South Carolina!)
PBOT to break ground on first project funded by gas tax increase
Remember the gas tax increase Portlanders voted in favor of back in May? Now the first project is ready to happen and PBOT is (rather wisely) adding some pomp and circumstance to it.
Check the release below for an event in southeast Portland on Monday:
Police seek bias crime suspect who was riding a bicycle
A man pepper-sprayed a family in northeast Portland on Tuesday night and he remains at-large.
According to police, the suspect was riding a bicycle and the family was in and around their car at the time of the incident.
The case is being investigated as a bias crime because the victims – some of which were children – are black and the suspect is described as white or Hispanic. The suspect also allegedly made a racial slur during the incident.
Please read the police statement below and contact them with any information.
Portland’s new surge in bike commuting is real – and it’s gas-price proof
Rush hour on Williams Avenue in May. Once again in 2015, 7 percent of Portlanders said their main commute to work is by bike.
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)
(Photos: J.Maus/BikePortland)
Gas prices? What gas prices?
The great gasoline plunge of late 2014 hasn’t cut the rate of Portlanders biking to work, at least not in 2015.
In fact, drive-alone commuting among Portland residents hit a modern-day low last year — the fifth such record in six years — and public transit commuting jumped to a modern high of 13.4 percent.
City releases draft of Vision Zero Action Plan
Redesigning big streets is a major thrust of the plan.
Over one year after Portland City Council unanimously supported a commitment to Vision Zero, the task force assembled to help lead us there has released its action plan.
A tour of the coast with Brookings Mayor Ron Hedenskog
I’ve seen a lot of elected officials on organized bike rides over the years. Usually they look uncomfortable and their bike doesn’t quite fit: As if it’s obvious they’re doing it mostly for the photo-op.
Brookings Mayor Ron Hedenskog is different.
Today on Cycle Oregon, Mayor Hedenskog joined us for the ride from Gold Beach to Brookings. The last time he did the ride was 1988 — the inaugural edition.
I accompanied him for about 30 miles and got a personal tour of the route. Hedenskog knows the area well. He moved to the coast in 1966, his dad was a commercial fisherman and his father-in-law ran a 400-acre sawmill on the coast in the 1950s — a full decade before the Coast Highway was even built.
Cycle Oregon takes over the southern coast
Bonfire on Gold Beach to end day three.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)
We’re joining Cycle Oregon a bit late this year. The 2,500 or so people that make up this ride (about 2,000 or so riders and hundreds of volunteers, supporters, and staff) are now settled into a beachfront camp.
‘Corn Cross’ takes racing to the farm
Racing through tall corn stocks, an Oregon cyclocross tradition.
(Photos by Daniel Steinle.
(Photos by Daniel Steinle.
Liepold Farms in Boring, Oregon (yes that’s the name of the city) is a working farm 364 days of the year. But for one day each year it’s also a cyclocross race venue.
Weekly Video Roundup: A Sunday in Hell, the science of steep climbing and more
Welcome to the weekly video roundup! There were some interesting videos this week, but I felt like none were feature-worthy. So I’m going back to the vault. This is 1976’s “A Sunday in Hell”. It shows 100 minutes on the Paris-Roubaix race including Eddy Merckx. Enjoy. I’m watching it again as I’m posting this. (also: this race is alluded to below- +3 internet points for the first person to spot it)