oregon bike summit

Agenda set, registration open for Oregon Active Transportation Summit

Buffered Bike Lane with a bike symbol and arrow pointing forward

Legislator bike ride at the Oregon Bike Summit-9

The summit returns to Salem this year.(Photos © J. Maus)

In case you missed it, organizers behind the Oregon Bike Summit — an annual event since 2006 with a goal to make Oregon the best state for bicycling in America — is now known as the Oregon Active Transportation Summit. The event took place in Portland last year, but will return to Salem this year (March 29-30) to take advantage of the legislative session.

The name change is in line with a growing trend to go beyond the bike and build a larger movement by incorporating walking and transit into the mix. Here’s how summit organizers explain the change:

Oregon’s best and brightest bike
advocates all came together for
the 2010 Oregon Bike Summit.
– Photo Gallery –
(Photos © J. Maus)

The Oregon Bike Summit happened on Friday. It was a lot of excellent information packed into one day, without a lot of breaks. That meant it was difficult for me to simultaneously attend, listen, talk with people, photograph, and create coherent stories on the day of the Summit (especially since I left before it was over to see my 7 year-old daughter in a school performance). I did a few stories, but there’s much more to report.

As promised, here’s the second installment of portraits and a bit of information on the advocates here at the Oregon Bike Summit…

Kirsten Kaufman, the Bike Realtor.

In case you’re wondering who’s here at the Oregon Bike Summit, I took my camera around for a few minutes during a recent break in the action to find out…

Zach Ham (L) and Cullen King, founders of RideWithGPS.com.

Tim Blumenthal addresses the crowd
at the Oregon Bike Summit.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Nearly 200 bike advocates filed into the World Trade Center in downtown Portland this morning for the kickoff of the fifth annual Oregon Bike Summit. Held each year since 2006, the purpose is to knit together all the advocates, politicians, insiders, and citizen activists working on biking issues, programs and projects throughout the state.

The opening keynote this year was given by Tim Blumenthal, executive director of national non-profit, Bikes Belong. Blumenthal is the most prominent and active figure for bicycling in America. In his speech, he recapped the National Bike Summit and gave attendees a view of the national political landscape for biking.

Oregon’s official state bike rack
(as seen in Sisters at the 2007 summit).
(Photo © J. Maus)

If you followed my National Bike Summit coverage, you know that these are exciting times for bike advocacy in Oregon. We’ve got the advocates, planners, partners, and politicians — from small communities to Capitol Hill — to make Oregon the #1 state for biking in America.

We’ve got to keep the momentum going and the Oregon Bike Summit is a natural way to do that. The big day is June 4th and registration just opened and the agenda has been set.

Bikes Belong Executive Director Tim
Blumenthal spoke at the Oregon Bike
Summit yesterday.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Bikes Belong Executive Director Tim Blumenthal shared a lot of inspiring news and information during his remarks at the end of the Oregon Bike Summit yesterday.

Blumenthal is a key figure in the national bike movement. He’s at the helm of arguably the most well-funded and well-positioned bike organization in the country and he deftly wears many hats including that of an advocate, a corporate fundraiser, a marketing expert, and a smooth political operator.

Legislator bike ride at the Oregon Bike Summit-13

On the steps of the Capitol.
-Slideshow below-
(Photos © J. Maus)

This morning, as part of the Oregon Bike Summit, a handful of state legislators suited up for the first-ever Legislator Bike Ride.

About 50 summit attendees met on the steps of the Capitol building before taking a leisurely, five-mile ride around Salem. Joining the bike advocates from around the state were six state legislators: Rep. Jules Bailey (D-Portland), Rep. Tobias Read (D-Beaverton), Sen. Jackie Dingfelder (D-Portland), Sen. Ginny Burdick (D-Portland), Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene), and Sen. Jason Atkinson (R-Ashland).

-Slideshow below-
(Photos © J. Maus)

Day One of the Oregon Bike Summit is in the books.

With a focus on the legislative agenda, summit attendees got a crash course in lobbying. Tomorrow we start bright and early with a bike ride with state legislators. Then, it will be time to storm the capitol to meet with our representatives and sharpen our advocacy tools at a variety of breakout sessions.

Stay tuned for more reports. In the meantime, check out my photos in the slideshow below:

Two new bike shows are being planned for the Portland area in 2010.

The Northwest Bike Show, “Where cycling comes full circle”, is slated for February 20-21 and will take place inside a 54,000 square foot hall at the Portland Expo Center. The event is being put together by the Hilsboro-based Convention & Meeting Planners of Oregon, Inc. (they’re also behind the Rose City Bridal Showcase). The CEO of the company, Lora Heil-Frone, has a booth here at the Oregon Bike Summit. She said highlights of her Northwest Bike Show will include a kids safety area, a performance stage, and hopefully (she’s still working on it) a stunt riding performance by the Dew Action Sports team.

Speaking at the opening session of the Oregon Bike Summit today, Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) Executive Director Scott Bricker gave a rundown of their existing priority bills in the 2009 legislative session.

With the door officially closed on Idaho Stops (interesting report about it on the Mercury blog today) and with news today that their Driver’s Education bill (HB 3252) will not move forward this session, the BTA is pouring all remaining efforts into their vehicular homicide bill, HB 3399.

Time to rise up, Oregon cyclists!

Next week’s Oregon Bike Summit (4/21-4/22) in Salem could be the most important advocacy event of the year.

In previous years, the summit has been held in Eugene, Sisters, and Portland, but this year organizers are taking the bike movement straight to the lawmakers and pursestring holders in Salem.

The man behind the summit, Jerry Norquist, is the ride director of Cycle Oregon, Chair of the Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and one of the state’s pre-eminent bike advocates. He’s decided to model the event on the National Bike Summit, held each year in Washington D.C..

Agenda set, registration open for Oregon Active Transportation Summit

Reporter’s notebook: Recap of Oregon Bike Summit

Oregon Bike Summit: Who’s here? (Part Two)

Oregon Bike Summit: Who’s here? (Part One)

At Oregon Bike Summit, a view of the national landscape

Agenda set, registration open for Oregon Bike Summit

Bikes Belong hopes all-star team can bring biking mainstream

Legislators suit up for ride around the Capitol

Oregon Bike Summit: Day One slideshow

Two new bike shows coming to Portland in 2010

BTA: Vehicular homicide bill is “alive and kicking”

Have your say in Salem at the Oregon Bike Summit

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