En route to PCC Rock Creek and Sylvania!
(Photos: WashCo Bikes)

A fleet of 20 new bicycles is headed to two Portland Community College campuses on the westside. The bikes are part of a partnership between Hillsboro-based WashCo Bikes and PCC’s Sylvania and Rock Creek locations. [Read more…]

WashCo Bikes’ new logo and new ED Joe Kurmaskie (as seen at an anti Columbia River Crossing rally in 2009).
(Photo: Jonathan Maus)

Bike advocacy on the other side of the west hills from Portland has gone through a lot of changes in the past few months.

The nonprofit Washington County Bicycle Transportation Coalition changed their name to WashCo Bikes back in May and this week they’ve announced their first-ever executive director.
[Read more…]

Kurmaskie (in rear with cowboy hat) and
campers last summer).
(Photo courtesy Joe Kurmaskie)

Portland author Joe Kurmaskie says he feels conditions on the Springwater Corridor path have gotten so bad that he might be forced to cancel his popular teen summer bike camp program.

Kurmaskie, who turned 50 this year, is known for his “Metal Cowboy” books that describe his many adventures while bike touring through the United States and around the world (including two cross-country journeys with his wife and five children). He moved to north Portland in 1998 and now lives in Sellwood. For the past four years he’s run the “Camp Creative: No Child Left Inside” summer camp for 9-13 year olds in partnership with Portland Parks & Recreation. The camp is completely bike-based and the main route used to access activities is the Springwater Corridor. This year Kurmaskie says he’s decided to put the camp on hold because of an increase in unruly and unsafe behavior from people he’s encountered along the path.
[Read more…]

Kurmaskie (second from left) and Camp
Creative participants on a recent trip.
(Photo: Camp Creative)

On Friday, Portland Parks & Recreation announced their selection of non-profit Ethos, Inc. to occupy and manage the Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC) building at 5340 N. Interstate Avenue.

As I reported back in April, Ethos founder Charles Lewis has partnered up with local author Joe “Metal Cowboy” Kurmaskie to include bike-related programs into their new offerings at the IFCC.[Read more…]

The new Team Metal Cowboy jersey.

North Portland resident and nationally known author Joe Kurmaskie is set to announce “Team Metal Cowboy” at The Bicycle Show tomorrow. Kurmaskie, who is slated to give a presentation on the Main Stage at 4:00, will share the news that he’s now sponsored by Eugene-based bike manufacturing company Co-Motion Cycles, who will produce a signature line of Metal Cowboy bicycles to be rolled out nationally to dealers across the country.

According to Kurmaskie, the bikes will have custom features and Co-Motion has agreed to donate a portion of the profits from the sale of each bike to Kurmaskie’s non-profits — Camp Creative and One Million Bicycles (an effort he launched in 2008, but has put on the backburner since then). [Read more…]

Cover of Kurmaskie’s latest book,
on store shelves February 2010.

Remember two years ago when we checked in on local author and self-described “adventure dad” Joe Kurmaskie right before he and his family embarked on journey across Canada?

Well, somehow the family is still together (joke) and Joe has just finished a book about the adventure.

Known to thousands of fans across the country as the Metal Cowboy, Joe’s latest book, Mud, Sweat and Gears: A Rowdy Family Bike Adventure Across Canada on Seven Wheels, isn’t slated for mass release until February 2010, but he gave us a sneak peek at the cover art and copy from the bookjacket.[Read more…]

Organizers of the CRC Opposition and Alternatives Rally have just released their third spoof “Bridge Shopping Network” video. But something has gone awry — hosts Joe and Kristen’s sales pitch is interrupted by anti-CRC hackers!

From the release notes:[Read more…]

The grassroots group that is forming to oppose plans for a new 12-lane Columbia River Crossing (CRC) bridge project on I-5 has released the second in their series of mock sales pitches.

In the first episode, host (and local author) Joe Kurmaskie tackles the bridge’s cost (“…only one million easy payments of $4,000 each!”) and its potential impact on transportation spending and priorities in coming decades.

The second episode, titled “Bridge Cures Cancer,” focuses on the public health costs of highway projects.

[Read more…]

Joe Kurmaskie, seen here at the
“We are All Traffic” rally held in
November 2007 after two
bike fatalities.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Mayor Sam Adams’ support of a proposal that would authorize the construction of a new I-5 bridge that could “be built to accomodate up to 12 lanes” has sparked a new level of opposition to the current direction of the Columbia River Crossing project.

Adams’ decision to compromise with Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard on this issue has provided a spark for citizen activists to organize and rally in opposition to the project.

A loose coalition of activists has come together and is planning a rally at 12:00 noon on April 5th in Waterfront Park (which is, fittingly, the site where the Harbor Drive Freeway was once located before it was removed, thus sparking Portland’s green transportation planning legacy).[Read more…]