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Weekend Open Thread: Getting muddy and giving back

2008-11-22T08:03:56Z

Cross racing heads out to Sauvie
Island this weekend.
More photos
(Photo © J. Maus)

It might be cold and rainy, but that won’t stop ‘cross fanatics from enjoying another good romp in the mud.

Sunday will see the return of Kruger’s Crossing, a cyclocross race out on Sauvie Island. I was there for the inaugural event back in 2006 and I remember lots of broken derailleurs and some very thick and straw-filled mud. But I also remember a raging bonfire, hay rides for the kids, and plenty of good times.

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Also on Sunday is what will hopefully become a new Portland tradition — Cranksgiving. The plan is to meet at People’s Co-op in Southeast and ride to several other locally owned grocery stores, load up on food, and then deliver it to a shelter. What a great idea! More details here.

What are your plans for the weekend? Go ahead and share them and your experiences in the comments below…

Jeremy Jordan gets 70 months in prison for hit-and-run, DUI

2008-11-22T07:58:37Z

After pleading guilty last month, a judge sentenced Jeremy Jordan to five years and eight months in prison this morning.

Jordan is the man who sped out of a Safeway parking lot after being denied purchase of beer and struck Eric Davidson as he rode on NE Fremont street back in May.

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The crash left Eric Davidson with a brain injury that he may never recover from.

According to KGW-TV, who was in the courtroom this morning, in addition to the prison sentence, Jordan will, “not be able to have a drivers license for eight years and he will be watched closely under post-prison supervision for the three years following his release.”

Eric’s wife Anna-Carin Davidson continues to share her thoughts about the saga on her blog.

More coverage of the sentencing from the Oregonian and KGW.

Veer premiere tonight; tell us what you think

2008-11-21T23:46:46Z

Tonight’s premiere is sold out.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Veer, the full-length documentary that offers a glimpse into Portland’s bike culture, will premiere tonight (7:30 pm) at the Hollywood Theater. The show is sold out (but I hear a few tickets will be made available at the door) and it’s sure to be an exciting evening.

If you haven’t heard about the film, check out my review or watch the trailer at VeerTheMovie.com.

So far, I’ve watched it with the filmmakers and the cast and crew and both times I’ve gotten a bit teary-eyed in parts. I love it, but being so close to the stories and the people in the film (not to mention I’ve been documenting this stuff for years now) my perspective is a bit strange. I’m very curious how the movie will come across to the general public (especially folks that aren’t “in the bike community”).

If you’re one of the lucky ticket holders, would you be kind enough to share your thoughts on the film in the comments below?

Beaverton-based company offers peace of mind to cyclists

2008-11-21T21:36:41Z

PedalSecure is a new, nationwide company based in Beaverton (just a few miles west of Portland) that offers comprehensive roadside assistance specifically for bicycle riders.

For as little as $9.95 per month, PedalSecure offers “peace of mind” that you will be taken care of during your ride; whether you lose your U-lock key, need a free ride home, or need a roadside flat fix. They’ll even take you to a shop and pay for your repairs (subject to a list of services and a $150.00 dollar limit of course).

Kathleen Vasconcellos, co-founder of
PedalSecure.

The company was co-founed by Beaverton resident Kathleen Vasconcellos, who tells me she got the idea from Parker Hayes, an employee of the Beaverton Bike Gallery. Vasconcellos and Parker’s father Dewey, are partners in the company.

According to Vasconcellos, PedalSecure sprung from their love of biking and “seeing the economy fall apart and the need for more people to use alternate ways to travel”. Vasnconcellos says one of the main reasons they believe people don’t commute by bike (especially longer distances) is because they are concerned about getting stuck or stranded with no way of getting back home or to work.

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“So we put our heads together,” she wrote, and then added,

“and came up with what we think is the perfect solution: Low cost membership that will pick up the member and take them either home, work or to the bike shop to have the bike repaired. We will pay the shop to repair the bike for what it was transported for.”

Here’s what you get by being a PedalSecure member (taken from their website):

24 / 365 - Toll Free Emergency Pickup:

In the event that a member is involved in a breakdown that renders a covered bicycle un-rideable, the member is entitled to be picked up - free of charge…

Emergency Bicycle Roadside Service:

When a participating member’s bicycle becomes disabled, 3 miles or more, from the member’s home, Pedal Secure will dispatch one of its service vehicles to deliver the bicycle and rider to the nearest Pedal Secure Authorized Bicycle Dealer…

“Peace of mind is what we strive for so more bicyclists will ride more often.”
– Kathleen Vasconcellos, co-founder.

Lost Key - Lockout Service:

In the event a member loses his or her key to a registered locked bicycle, Pedal Secure will send a service representative to cut the lock.

Accident Recovery Service:

In the event member is in a bicycle accident NOT involving a motor vehicle and member is unable to power his/her bicycle home, or member has to be taken to the hospital, Pedal Secure will pickup the members bicycle and store the bicycle for the member.

24-Hour Emergency Bicycle Locator:

In the event a member’s bicycle is stolen or abandoned, member received a special coded decal with Pedal Securer’s 24-hour service number for passerby, police, sanitation or other officials to call when they observe the member’s stolen and/or abandoned bicycle.

24-Hour Nationwide Emergency Room Locator:

When biking across the country, if a member becomes sick or injured; just call the 24-hour emergency room locator operator for the nearest emergency room. Operator will provide member with the location and directions to the nearest emergency room or urgent care facility.

And here’s how much all this peace of mind will set you back:

The PedalSecure menu.

Vasconcellos says they’re aware of Better World Club, another company that offers bicycle roadside assistance, but she says they offer a much more comprehensive list of services (”more than just transportation”).

For Vasconcellos, this is more than a business opportunity, it’s something their team believes in. “We all have found such tremendous satisfaction with putting this company together and knowing deep down how much this membership will help the bike community. Peace of mind is what we strive for so more bicyclists will ride more often.”

For more details about PedalSecure and information on how to join, check out PedalSecure.com.

Business booms for SoupCycle

2008-11-21T19:24:40Z

Mr. SoupCycle, Jed Lazar.
(Photos courtesy Jed Lazar)

Who would have thought that in this down economy, a local business that delivers soup by bicycle would flourish?

That seems to be the case with SoupCycle. Launched back in August, the Southeast-Portland based company started by Jed Lazar now boasts 100 weekly soupscribers. Lazar is so busy he recently took out a job listing on BikePortland (for a “Bicycle Delivery Souper Hero” — get it?).

I checked in with Lazar a few days ago and he told me that, “Things are going well and the business is keeping us busy”. He also added that 100 deliveries is “nearly insane for me to deliver myself.” He makes the deliveries all over Southeast Portland (a place he calls Souplandistan) from SE Powell to I-84 and from I-405 in Northwest Portland to SE 39th.

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Lazar all loaded up for a visit to the BTA headquarters downtown.

That’s a lot of ground to cover but Lazar does it in comfort (and with a smile) on his three-wheeled, electric-assisted bike while pulling a trailer (made by Blue Sky Cycle Carts).

“Live free or drive” and “Make soup not war”
stickers adorn a Soup delivery vehicle.

About the challenges of bike delivery, Lazar says, “Being out in the elements for eight hours, while delivering a product that is attractive to customers takes some serious care, but we’re committed to making it work.”

Lazar says excited at how Portland has responded to SoupCycle, and he gives a special shout out to Portland’s legions of bike lovers: “We owe a big part of the success we’ve had to Portland’s bike-loving culture.”

SoupCycle is just one of many bike-based businesses that have sprouted up in Portland in recent months. Lazar hopes the trend spreads beyond our borders:

“I see Portland as a testing ground to perfect bicycle transportation and delivery. We hope that other cities around the US see the success of Portland’s bicycle-based businesses and are inspired to move in that direction.”

Learn more about Jed and his adventures in Souplandistan at SoupCycle.com and also check out a profile of him in the Portland Mercury.

Bike share in Portland Part Three: Lessons from Stockholm

2008-11-21T18:31:24Z

Tom Miller
(Photo © J. Maus)

Welcome to Part Three of our six-part, guest article series on bike sharing in Portland.

The series is written by Tom Miller, chief of staff for Portland City Commissioner and Mayor-elect Sam Adams. Yesterday, Tom shared his initial impressions on bike sharing systems from a recent trip to Scandinavia.

In today’s article, Tom shares what he learned when a delegation of Portlanders (including Mayor-elect Adams) tried to navigate through Clear Channel’s bike share system in Stockholm, Sweden.

Part Three: Lessons from Stockholm

There was a station right
outside our hotel.
(Photos: Tom Miller)

We set out on June 21, the national Mid-Summer holiday in Sweden, thankful to have a day off from the formal tour circuit. We hit our first logistical challenge right away: you can’t buy access to a bike at a station with cash, debit, or credit. Instead, you need a specific card, sold at just three locations in all of downtown Stockholm. Sam (Adams) and a group set off to find the nearest location. It took them more than an hour. Since we had the day off and really wanted to ride the bikes, we endured.

In the meantime, all of the bikes in front of our hotel had been taken. When Sam’s group returned, we trekked off to the next closest station, a few blocks away. Our group was big and it was clear we were going to take all of the existing bikes at this station. Just as one in our group was about to select the last remaining bike, I noticed that the chain had fallen off.

Your future Mayor wondering
which way to go.

“Hold up! Don’t choose that bike!” All the bikes have beefy chain guards, which are great for keeping your pants out of the grease and out of the sprocket. But how do you put a chain back on under one of those chain guards when you’re just a casual user traveling without tools?

So we ended up short one bike. What would we do? I looked at the map provided; it showed 64 bike stations citywide with no detail getting you to the exact location. There’s no scale provided so I’d guess that the scale gets you within one square half-mile of the actual station.

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I eventually set off on one bike in search of the next closest station. Again, as a tourist riding a bike on a beautiful day, I was happy to wander. But what would my patience be like under the stress of a normal work day? Note to self, I thought: if Portland does bike share, we need maps that work.

Consulting the map.

It took me 20 minutes to find that station and grab a second bike. I rode one bike back to the original station while balancing the other, earning lots of curious looks on that busy street adjacent to the central train station in downtown Stockholm.

Okay, finally we were on bikes and heading out. It was awesome. Stockholm is a spectacular city and riding a bike on the longest day of the year, a national holiday with low traffic, was pure joy.

Sam was in the lead and noticed a cool restaurant down on the water. He encouraged a stop to take in the environment and refuel. It was a great idea we all endorsed.

Question? How do we lock these bikes? Answer: we don’t. There are no locks. We have two choices: hunt down the closest bike station and hope there will be a sufficient number of bikes for us when we return, or watch the bikes closely as we try to enjoy ourselves at this spot. Given the challenge in getting bikes in the first place, we parked the bikes as close as we could to where we were sitting.

Portland developer John Carroll (L)
and Mayor-elect Adams.

It took the manager just a minute or two to decide he didn’t like our choice in bike parking locations. We moved the bikes to accommodate him, of course, but we put them further away and therefore at greater risk of being stolen. The reality was that if anybody wanted to steal our bikes—which you purchase until you return them—it would have been easy to do so. We took a chance.

Fortunately karma was on our side. We got back on and decided we wanted to focus on the ride for awhile. It was great. We lost ourselves, literally and figuratively, for an hour or so until we realized our time was lapsing and we needed to return our bikes to a station. Although we had purchased cards good for multiple days, the system still required that we return the bikes every three hours or be given a strike. If you get three strikes you are banned from using the system.

“We got back to our hotel, exhilarated from our explorations of a great city by bike, but well armed with insight into the bewildering range of logistical hurdles necessary to provide a great bike share system.”

We darted off with our marginally useful maps to find a station so we could return our bikes. Of course, it was our intention to return the bikes then immediately retrieve them. We laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation. We were feeling stressed with poor maps and an arbitrary deadline to find a station to return bikes that we were only going to retrieve the moment the system had them logged back in.

We didn’t see our use as particularly atypical: we were tourists by bike for the day. And we had bought cards that were good for multiple days. Nonetheless the system requires the return of the bikes every three hours without exception.

After we completed our bike shuffle dance to appease the technology we jumped back on and rode without aim for a few hours. More bliss. What a great way to see a beautiful city on a gorgeous day.

Again we got lost. We debated our location with the maps until we sheepishly asked a local a simple yet uniquely important question: where are we?

It turns out he was from Great Britain but he got us pointed in the right direction. We got back to our hotel, exhilarated from our explorations of a great city by bike, but well armed with insight into the bewildering range of logistical hurdles necessary to provide a great bike share system.

Next up, Part Four: What’s at stake for Portland

Could proposed “leaf tax” sweep away a bike safety hazard?

2008-11-21T16:39:46Z

Leaves where bikes like to be.
(Photo: Elly Blue)

Every fall in Portland, mounds of leaves pile up on neighborhood streets, creating slippery conditions on road shoulders and sidewalks.

Yesterday the Oregonian featured a story about a new “leaf tax” being considered by Mayor-elect Sam Adams that would create “leaf districts” in areas of the city with many street trees.

Adams’ idea made me wonder if this new tax would improve biking conditions.

I witnessed the bicycle safety implications of leaf buildup while riding down NE Tillamook on my way to work a few days ago. At 16th, a man riding ahead of me made a turn to cross the traffic calming barrier, rode through a deep pile of leaves, and toppled over onto his side. He picked himself up, ruefully said he was okay, and kept riding.

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(Photo © J. Maus)

Exactly one year ago, we covered the leaf safety issue. That story focused on a Tribune article that mentioned a couple who voiced concerns that general tax dollars were being used to clean up leaf debris in some of Portland’s wealthiest neighborhoods, while residents in other parts of the city had to pay to remove leaves themselves.

That’s unfair according to Eastmoreland Neighborhood resident John Replinger. The Oregonian’s Jim Mayer reported that Replinger told City Council; “I’m paying to do the right thing…We’re rewarding the lawbreakers and putting pedestrians and cyclists at risk.”

Currently, the City picks up leaves in the roadway in areas with a lot of street trees — places with heavy bike traffic like Sellwood, Laurelhurst, and Irvington. In advance of scheduled leaf collection, residents receive a notice, which many take as an opportunity to sweep all of the leaves from their yards into the street — sometimes ruining a perfectly good shoulder to ride in.

What is your experience riding on leaf-strewn streets this time of year? Would you support this leaf tax idea if it meant your bike route would be a bit safer to ride on?

The tax is under consideration for next fall. Read the full story (and comments) in the Oregonian.

Job of the Week

2008-11-21T06:22:06Z

This week, we’ve got a job opportunity you’re not likely to come across in many other cities. Yes, SoupCycle is hiring a “Bike Delivery Souper Hero” (watch the Front Page for more on SoupCycle).

Check out the link below for more information:

Bike Delivery Souper Hero - Soup Cycle

For a complete list of available jobs, click here. If you’d like more information about the BikePortland Job Listings, contact me, or visit the Job Listings page.

You can sign up for the all the latest job listings via RSS or email.

These are paid listings, so when you apply, please remember to tell them you saw the job on BikePortland.org!

New CCC project will focus on underserved communities

2008-11-21T00:20:59Z

The CCC, known for their work
with kids, will seek to broaden
their impact into underserved
parts of the city.
(Photo © J. Maus)

The Community Cycling Center plans to launch a new project in 2009 that will seek to broaden the scope of their mission into ethnically diverse and low-income communities in North and Northeast Portland.

According to the CCC’s Director of Community and Programs Alison Hill Graves, the new project will start in early spring of next year and will seek to build “cultural competence” by partnering with other community organizations who view bicycles as “a viable option for their community.”

In an email about the program to BikePortland, Graves wrote :

“…the Community Cycling Center believes that as the economy sputters and gas prices fluctuate, the need for affordable, reliable transportation options will continue to grow… more viable options need to be available, particularly to serve the needs of a growing and more diverse community.

Engaging partners through a series of conversations about the priorities of their community will help determine how bicycling can fit as a viable option to address the health, safety, and transportation needs across social, cultural, and economic strata.”

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Hill also told me that the CCC expects to learn a lot about how the “bike community” is perceived in parts of the city where the idea of ‘bike culture’ is a foreign concept.

Alta Planning, PSU’s Initiative for Bicycle and Pedestrian Innovation, and Kristin Lensen Consulting are all involved with the project and the CCC is seeking support from Metro. Graves says Metro is set to decide whether or not to fund the project in mid-February.

[Editor's note: This project reminds me of the stories back in February of 2007 when a string of attacks on people riding bicycles in North and Northeast Portland came to light. That story brought up many issues including how bikes intersect with race and socio-economic status. Let's hope the CCC finds funding for this important work.]

Portland’s first cycle track proposed for Cully

2008-11-21T19:35:10Z

A cross-section detail of proposed design of NE Cully Street shows 8 1/2-foot wide cycle-track. Note: Not shown is a wide pedestrian walkway. See below for fully cross-section.

Nearly two years ago, we wondered whether it was time to try physically separated bike lanes. Now, the City of Portland is poised to build its first-ever, Copenhagen-style traffic lane for bicycles — otherwise known as a cycle track.

The cycle track is part of the Cully Boulevard Improvement Project, a multi-agency, $5.4 million project that will completely rebuild NE Cully Blvd. from NE Prescott to NE Killingsworth Streets.

This Street View of Cully shows a largely
unimproved road with no sidewalks
or safety features.

Working from a clean slate, PDOT has recognized that this major road project is a rare opportunity to create a world-class bicycle facility from the ground up.

This morning I learned more about the project from Rob Burchfield, PDOT’s head traffic engineer.

He explained that there’s been a lot of interest in cycle tracks from within Portland’s planning and bike advocacy community, but that questions remained about how to implement them. The Cully project, he says, offers a unique opportunity because it’s, “a complete street reconstruction, something we rarely do.”

A delegation of Portlanders ride on a
cycle track in Copenhagen last month.
(Photo: Jay Graves)

With a clean slate to work with, and a very wide right-of-way, Burchfield has seized on this opportunity to build, what he calls, “a bike facility to a European standard.”

Burchfield said he and his team initially looked at bike lanes on Vassar Street on the campus of MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Those facilities put bike traffic on a wide sidewalk and use texture and colors to try and separate bikes and pedestrians.

The Vassar example has been criticized for not doing enough to separate bike and pedestrian traffic and Burchfield said a citizen committee working on the Cully project also had reservations about mixing the two modes.

It was at this point in the project when Burchfield urged everyone to abandon the Vassar design and embrace a Copenhagen-style cycle track. On Copenhagen cycle tracks, bikes and pedestrians have both vertical (trees or other median) and horizontal separation (at a different height from other traffic).

The current design for Cully has the motor vehicle roadway, then a 3-inch curb up to the cycle-track, then another 3-inch curb up to a planter median and pedestrian sidewalk.

Complete cross-section. (Click to enlarge)

When Burchfield first pushed for the Copenhagen-style design, he hadn’t yet visited the city. That changed in October when he was part of a delegation that visited Amsterdam and Copenhagen to learn and see first hand how the best bike city in the world designs its roadways.

That trip, according to Burchfield, “strongly validated the direction we were going.”

So, how does it work? What will people on bikes experience on this new cycle track?

A separated bikeway in Montreal, similar
to what’s proposed on Cully.
Photo: joelmann/Flickr)

Burchfield says the cycle track would be constructed from concrete, smoother than a sidewalk, and longer lasting than an asphalt roadway. Bike traffic will also enjoy a comfortable width. Current design calls for a cycle track that’s 8 1/2 feet wide (including a 2 1/2 foot buffer for opening car doors). For comparison, the standard city bike lane is 4-5 feet wide.

At intersections, the cycle track will drop back to the street in order to cross, and then will start up again on the other side (Burchfield mentioned that on high volume cycle-tracks in Copenhagen, bikes have their own signal at intersections).

Burchfield said they’re still thinking about how bike traffic will leave the cycle track to make a left turn or access a driveway or business on the other side of the street mid-block. He said they’ll design the curbs to be “rollable” so that bike riders can easily leave the cycle track.

Another aspect of this new design is having parked cars between two lanes of traffic. “The parking will give more buffer to the cyclists,” says Burchfiled, “but also makes you less visible.” It’s important to note that on Cully, since it’s a largely residential street, there isn’t expected to be much demand for the on-street parking spaces.

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According to Burchfield, a new Cully Blvd. cycle track is likely to cost less than a standard bike lane facility. Because the cycle track is on a separated grade and will be made from concrete, the city has less width of (increasingly expensive) asphalt roadway to build. Burchfield pointed out other advantages as well; “We’ll have less street to maintain and in terms of life cycle, a concrete surface built well, will be much better in the long term than asphalt.”

“You need to take that first step somewhere and this is a great opportunity to do it.”
– Rob Burchfield

While they provide more space and comfort for bike traffic, cycle tracks are likely to draw the ire of vehicular cycling proponents who tend to oppose separate facilities. From sources close to this project, we’ve learned that some of the same critics of Portland’s bike boxes have already raised questions about PDOT’s move toward cycle tracks.

When I brought that up to Mr. Burchfield, he was aware of potential controversy, but said this project has one major difference from the bike boxes. Cycle tracks, he said, are more of a street design and “built environment” issue and don’t involve traffic control elements like the bike boxes did (meaning that, some of the controversy was around the fact that bike boxes were new traffic control devices that hadn’t been properly vetted before installation).

For Burchfield and the rest of PDOT, this is an exciting project and it represents an opportunity for Portland to live up to its green and bike-friendly reputation.

“You need to take that first step somewhere and this is a great opportunity to do it,” says Burchfield, “I don’t see any downside in this case.”

The Cully Boulevard Project isn’t slated for completion until 2010 and the final design will be put to a City Council vote before it’s built. As for the innovative cycle track component making it through to final construction, Burchfield is optimistic; “From a design feasibility standpoint, we’re comfortable with it. We’ve really got the design worked out.”

[Editor's note: The City of Portland, working with Portland Streetcar, is also planning to build a separated bike lane (similar to this one in New York City) on NE 7th Avenue through the Lloyd District as part of the streetcar plan. I'll have more on that next week.]