Images of the illegal path user taken by Redditor NewAgeHookers.

A man in a pickup truck allegedly forced a bicycle rider off the I-205 bike path in southeast Portland Saturday afternoon.
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(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

It’s good, but it should be great.

Nearly five years after it first opened, it’s time to implement a permanent design for the protected bikeway on Northeast Multnomah Street through the Lloyd District. Hopefully one that’s truly befitting of one of America’s best biking cities — not an overly comprised, on-the-cheap, paint-and-posts half-measure.
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Supporters toast Kim Minhyeong (smiling in center) at Apex on Thursday.
(Photos courtesy Bryan Hance)

What Portland bike thieves took away, our community is giving back.

As we shared last week, South Korean bike tourer Kim Minhyeong was pedaling through Portland on his dream trip when his bike was stolen from outside the Southeast Hawthorne Fred Meyer. It was fully loaded with all his gear, including his laptop, camera, and more. As word spread, Bryan Hance from Bike Index decided to help. Hance swung into action and held a fundraiser for Kim last Thursday.

According to Hance, about 40 people showed up to Apex Bar — many of them with gear and donations in-hand. They showed Minhyeong what Portland is really all about as they shared free food donated to the event by Grind Musubi. “Definitely made me proud to be a Portlander! It was overwhelming, I won’t lie.” Hance wrote on in an email to supporters.
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Lars Larson with that, there’s-only-10-miles-to-the-finish-line, smile.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Cycle Oregon is many things. The organization — in the midst of its 30th year — is dedicated to helping all of Oregon reach its economic and cycling potential while putting on events that bring people closer to new places and faces.

Cycling is at the heart of what Cycle Oregon does; but they’re really in the people business. When you “do” a Cycle Oregon event it’s entirely possible to come away with more memories of the people you rode with than the roads you pedaled on. That’s especially true on their Weekender event. Without the physical challenge of the much more grueling Classic ride (the seven-day event they’re most known for), Weekender is much more accessible in both price ($199 versus $999) and pain (120 miles over two days versus 490 miles over seven days). This means it might be doable for friends who aren’t as nutty about cycling as you are.

This past weekend I invited a few friends to join me on the ride. We chose to ride 78 miles from Portland to the base camp at Linfield College in McMinnville on Friday (thankfully someone drove our bags down for us). We followed that up with 73 miles on Saturday and a 52-miler on Sunday. None of the days had a significant amount of climbing and we kept our average speed chill and conversational (13-15 mph). It’s also worth noting that we chose the longest of three possible routes both days. (This event would be great if you have friends that would rather ride just 15 or 40 miles a day.) In between miles in the saddle we relaxed, got to know each other a bit better (easier to do than at home where our kids and other responsibilities constantly loom), soaked up the small-town charms of McMinnville, and let Cycle Oregon’s legendary hospitality do the rest.
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Welcome to Monday.

I regret not being in the office on Friday after dropping the Oregon bike tax bomb. I was on the road covering a bike ride in McMinnville. As such, I wasn’t able to respond to all your comments, requests and tweets as I would have liked. Sorry!

So let’s re-engage shall we? To start things off let’s review some of the best things we came across on the web last week…[Read more…]

A few thousand people are headed to these quiet country roads south of McMinnville for Cycle Oregon’s Weekender ride.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

It’s prime bike adventure season. Whether you’ve been itching to explore your neighborhood or the great state of Oregon, now is the time to do it.

There’s a nice selection of rides and events this week. Check out the full menu below…
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Summer hiring season is in full effect! If you are looking to break into the Portland bike scene — or looking for a new gig, check out these hot and fresh job listings.

Learn more about each one via the links below…

–> Summer Shop Help – Metropolis Cycle Repair

–> Customer Service / Volunteer Manager – Cycle Oregon

–> Sales Associate – Performance Bicycle

–> Full Time Painter – Argonaut Cycles[Read more…]

Powell Blvd got a major funding boost in the bill, but it’s biggest advocate inexplicably voted no.
(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Oregon’s statewide transportation bill is on its way to Governor Kate Brown’s desk. With support from boths sides of the aisle it passed the House yesterday 39-20 and passed the Senate today 22-7.

House Bill 2017 was on the rocks just weeks before its passage; but that was before lawmakers hashed out major compromises. The initial proposal would have raised over $8 billion dollars — including about $777 million for four freeway widening projects in the Portland metro region. Funding for those projects would have come from a new local gas tax and increased registration fees. Those fees and taxes brought auto lobbyist groups out of the woodwork in opposition. With the threat of referral to voters, lawmakers slashed the funding for those highway projects, reduced the size of tax increases, and ultimately shrank the bill’s overall revenue by about $3 billion (they also got environmental groups and Republicans to agree to changes in the low carbon fuels program).

The amended bill will raise $5.2 billion over 10 years. And while the big-ticket highway project earmarks — including I-5 expansion at the Rose Quarter — went way down, the revenue share for public transit, biking and walking remained intact.

Among other things, the bill will provide: $103 million a year to transit agencies to improve bus service via a 0.1% employee-paid tax on wages; $125 million for Safe Routes to School via a 40% matching grant program; and an estimated seven million per year (exact amount will fluctuate) dedicated to paved paths and multi-use trails via a combination of sources including a $15 bike tax. The boost in gas tax revenue will also help pay for road projects that will include a minimum of 1 percent investment in biking and walking-related upgrades thanks to Oregon’s “Bike Bill”.
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Read it and weep. Or rejoice, if you think it’s a great idea.

With passage in the Senate today, Oregon’s transportation bill is headed to the Governor’s desk for signing.

We’ve got lots more coverage planned, but there’s one thing that I felt should be singled out. Take a deep breath and consider this: Oregon is now the only state in America with a bicycle excise tax.
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Riders on the Historic Columbia River State Trail.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

Last week we posted a story about how electric bicycles have opened up new riding opportunities\ in the Columbia River Gorge. But it turns out it’s illegal to ride an e-bike on the Historic Columbia River State Trail — or on any other paved bike path within the Oregon State Parks system.

We’ve since updated that story with a note after learning about the issue from a commenter (Park Chambers, who happens to own Fat Tire Farm and Hood River Bikes) and then confirming the facts in a phone call with an Oregon State Parks spokesperson.

This prohibition of e-bikes on paved trails caught me off-guard. As pedal-assisted bikes gain in popularity, I think the issue merits a closer look.
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The 2017 Tour de France is going full steam ahead. As the racers head into stage seven of the 21-stage event, there’s already been quite a bit of drama.

Unfortunately it’s hard to find good TV coverage in the U.S. and if you’re like me — even if you’d like to keep up — it’s sort of a pain if you don’t have a big cable TV package. And even if you find a good streaming package online, it’s kind of nice to watch a stage in public. Who knows, you might meet other people as excited about bike racing as you are.

If you’re looking for a fun and reliable place to see the pain and suffering and glory unfold, look no further than these three local hangouts. Each one of them will have the day’s stage on a big-screen starting at 5:00 pm.:
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A few of the winners. See them all below.

This is Portland at its finest: An art contest to create new bike lane characters that’s hosted by the Bureau of Transportation with the aim of getting more young people to read and ride bikes to the library.

Read that last sentence again and think about how many things have to be working right for something like that to happen. (Hints: A great education/encouragement program at PBOT’s Active Transportation Division; streets safe enough for to make neighborhood cycling a viable option for many young people; and a strong, community-supported library system.)

PBOT launched their ‘Bike to Books’ bike lane art coloring contest on May 1st. They received 196 entries and judged them for originality, creativity, and whimsy.

Here are the winners…[Read more…]

Looking southwest at the intersection of Northeast Cully and Killingsworth.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

51-year-old northeast Portland resident Alberto Canche-Mukel remains in the hospital with serious injuries after a traffic collision late last night.
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Here is my list, in no particular order:

The Steel Bridge lower deck/floating Esplanade. Created thanks to the Bike Bill and Street Trust lawsuit, this is the most spectacular of the crucial bridge and waterfront connections that made Portland’s eye-popping biking boom of the 2000s happen. The floating section of the Esplanade is one of the city’s most wonderful public spaces.[Read more…]

Portlanders are rallying to the aid of a man whose bike — and all of his belongings — were stolen last week.

Kim Minhyeong is from South Korea and was passing through Portland on a once-in-a-lifetime bike tour from Canada to Argentina. Just a few weeks into his trip he stopped into the Fred Meyer on Southeast Hawthorne for supplies. On Friday (6/30) he locked his fully-loaded touring bike to a rack and went inside for 10 minutes. When he came out, everything was gone. “Laptop, a tent, clothes, panniers, camping gears, and food. Someone cut my lock and stole my bicycle. I couldn’t believe, I thought that I mistaken for a different entrance. I got a shock, and I got into a panic,” Minhyeong wrote in a post on his Facebook page.
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This is me on a flat stretch of road where I remembered how to ride with no hands.
(Photos and words by Abby Koonce)

This post was written by 14-year-old Sellwood resident Abby Koonce.

My name is Abby Koonce and I am sharing my story of the 2017 Joyride as a way to encourage other people to join us for next year’s edition. I am 14 years old and I am going to Benson High school this year. My parents are cycling fanatics so I suppose it kind of rubs off.

This was my second year doing Joyride with my mom. The ride is organized by Cycle Oregon, the organization mostly known for their big week-long ride.
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This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by The Classic — Cycle Oregon’s iconic, week-long, fully-supported bicycle ride.

Here are the best stories we came across last week…

Torontonians have spoken: A very healthy majority of Toronto residents understand that lower speeds and better bike access are a good thing for their city.

Speeding is futile: Bike riders know this all too well. When people speed in urban areas, it only wastes gas and creates more danger for everyone.
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End of the path and start of a small but very significant gap between Chimney Park and the Marine Drive path in St. Johns. (Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)

This post was written by a BikePortland subcriber.

As a daily bike commuter and a long time road cyclist in places with pretty horrid biking conditions, riding in Portland has generally been great in contrast when I’m out riding by myself or my fellow roadie friends. Since March, however, I’ve been training for the Cycle Oregon weekend rides with my two teens, ages 17 and 13. And as our rides have started stretching out into 40-50 miles and we’ve started collaborating on where to go ride, all of us are noticing The Gaps.
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Should be perfect conditions for racing at Skibowl at the 6 Hours of Mt. Hood.
(Photo: Portland Racing)

The Weekend Event Guide is sponsored by Abus Bike Locks. Thanks Abus!

Hard to believe it’s already July and Pedalpalooza is coming to a close.

There’s one more huge ride that you just have to experience at least once. Loud n’ Lit will rampage through the streets tonight, blasting tunes and good vibes all over the city.

Sunday is packed with fun rides from here to Seattle, including a group ride to Gateway Green that leaves from outer northeast Portland.

Check out the full menu below…
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Yellow line shows the location of the old Gideon-Brooklyn footbridge. A crucial neighborhood connection, it was torn down by TriMet in 2013 and never replaced.

At long last TriMet says they’ll replace the old footbridge that used to cross over the Union Pacific Railroad tracks between Southeast Gideon and Brooklyn/16th streets.
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