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Rebecka Hartkop, Tina Brubaker, Miranda Moon and Susan Peithman from Team Veloforma/ZYM at a time trial event in May.
(All photos: speithman on Flickr)

The Portland-based Veloforma/ZYM Professional Cycling Team is on a mission to become the best women’s squad in America — and then they plan to take on Europe.

Team owner Mark Duff celebrates
one of many wins last year.

The team announced Friday that they’re expanding their 2009 schedule to include the top races on USA Cycling’s National Racing Calendar. That move is being done in hopes of becoming an official, UCI (the governing body of cycling in Europe) registered trade team in 2010.

Team Veloforma/ZYM made its mark last season with an impressive 63 wins.

Team owner (and owner of Veloforma Cycles) Mark Duff told me this morning that he’ll send a full squad to nine major races this year including the Redlands Bicycle Classic, the Oregon Pro Cycling Classic (formerly the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic), the Liberty Classic in Philadelphia, the Manhattan Beach Gran Prix, and others.

Promotional photo.
(Courtesy Mark Duff/Veloforma)

Duff says he’s negotiating with business owners in Europe now about possible sponsorship deals that will help him raise the estimated $250,000 it will take to field a team (which includes $17,500 just to apply to the UCI).

The team camper. Home sweet
home for racers on the road.

“As long as the economy doesn’t get too much worse, hopefully I’ll have something sealed up by August of this year.”

Once they’ve completed their tough 2009 schedule and they’ve gotten a green light from the UCI, Duff’s plans for 2010 will be to have a two-pronged attack, with 5-7 women racing regularly on the domestic scene and 5-7 doing a full European schedule.

Five members of the Veloforma/ZYM Pro Cycling Team are from Portland but Duff has added racers from Arizona, Washington and Texas to the roster.

Duff says the emergence of this team is just the latest sign that Oregon is becoming a racing hotbed.

“With Oregon emerging as a cycling mecca, the region is the ideal environment to produce a high-caliber program ours. Oregon has become a hot spot not only to race, but we’ve seen a huge influx of bike industry coming here and a lot of talent moving here from other countries. It’s a snowball effect.

I think people will look back in 10 years and say, ‘Wow, I wish I was in Oregon’.”

— For more, read the official press release.

The monthly KBOO Bike Show will ring in the New Year in style on Wednesday. Show founder/co-host, and veteran Portland bike scenester Ayleen Crotty has announced that their January 7th show will be a live, on-air party that will feature up-and-coming local band, Blind Pilot.

Here’s the word from Crotty as posted on her ORBike.com blog:

“Cyclists are invited to the station to share their wishes for a bikey new year, and reflections on the amazing year that we just had.”

Blind Pilot isn’t just a local band that’s poised for great things, they’re also very bike-centric. Last fall they did their West Coast Tour entirely by bike.

For a taste of their music, check them out at the finish line of the 2008 Providence Bridge Pedal ride:

Blind Pilot performs “We Are the Tide” at the Providence Bridge Pedal in Portland, OR from IAVIDEO on Vimeo.

Tune your radio to 90.7 FM or your computer to KBOO.fm on Wednesday (1/7) from 9-10:00 am. Everyone is encouraged to call the station during the program at (503) 232-8187 to share thoughts about 2008. Or, if you’re in the neighborhood (20 SE 8th St.), show up and be a part of the fun in person!

The cover

This morning I received an advanced copy of a long-awaited new book by Jeff Mapes; Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities.

Mapes is the senior political reporter for The Oregonian (he also writes a politics blog) and, while I’ve known about this project for a long time, he’s kept the details secret. I’m excited to dive into this book and see what he’s come up with.

For the past few years, I’ve watched Mapes tote around his notebook interviewing folks in the local and national bike scene. But this book goes far beyond Portland’s borders. Mapes’ book shares the impact of bike culture and activism in places like New York City, Davis, Chicago, and others. He also has a chapter titled, “Learning from Amsterdam”, based on his findings from a trip he took to that bike mecca back in 2005.

As expected, Pedaling Revolution includes a lot of information about Portland. Chapter 5 is titled, “Portland Built it and They Came”.

Author Jeff Mapes, taking a breather
at the 2007 National Bike Summit.
(Photos © J. Maus)

For more on the book, here’s the blurb from the publisher:

From traffic-dodging bike messengers to tattooed teenagers on battered bicycles, from riders in spandex to well-dressed executives, ordinary citizens are becoming transportation revolutionaries. In Pedaling Revolution, Jeff Mapes traces the growth of bicycle advocacy; examines the environmental, safety, and health aspects of cycling; and explores the growing bike culture that is changing the look and feel of cities, suburbs, and small towns across North America.

Tom Vanderbilt, the so-hot-right-now blogger and author of the mega-hit book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says about Us), had this to say about Mapes’ book:

“Writing from Portland, the hub of the American cycling renaissance, Jeff Mapes…makes an admirably clearheaded, convincing and, ultimately, humane argument for making more room for the twowheeler, in our lives and on our roads.”

Jane Holtz Kay, author of Asphalt Nation: How the Automobile Took Over America and How We Can Take It Back, says:

“Finally, the bicycling movement gets the serious examination that it deserves.”

Mapes’ book comes a year after Pedal Power by J. Harry Wray, another book about bicycling’s rise as a cultural and political force in America.

I’ll share more thoughts about Pedaling Revolution once I’ve read it. The book is published by Oregon State University Press and it is set for release on March 20, 2009.

PBOT traffic safety expert
Greg Raisman.
(Photos © J. Maus)

In 2008, there were no fatal bike crashes in the City of Portland. After a tumultuous 2007, when we had six fatal bike crashes (two of them very high-profile), this was welcome news by many in the community.

To gain more perspective on this statistic, I asked Greg Raisman, the chief traffic safety guru in the City of Portland’s Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) a few questions. Raisman thinks that it’s not just people on bikes that are safer, but that as bike traffic grows, all road users have a lower risk of being involved in a fatal crash.

Here’s the Q & A we did via email:

BikePortland.org: Can you put this year’s zero fatals number into historical perspective?

Greg Raisman:
“This is the fifth time in the past ten years that there have been zero bicycle fatalities in Portland. (1999, 2000, 2002, 2006 were the other years).”

Do you see this drop as part of a trend, or is this an anomaly?

“We are definitely seeing positive crash trends in Portland. All modes have seen reductions in crashes and fatalities over the past decade. 2008 was a potentially record-breaking year for having the lowest number of traffic fatalities on record in Portland (the answer will take some homework — I’ll do a follow-up story once Raisman delves more into the stat archives).

Raisman credits partnership with
the Police Bureau as one
reason fatality stats were
low in 2008.

There were a total of 19 fatal crashes with 20 traffic fatalities in 2008 (15 motor vehicles, 5 pedestrians, 0 bicycles). (Note: It’s possible this number can change over the next month if someone dies as the result of a crash that occurred in the past 30 days.)

In comparison, in 2007 we had a total of 35 fatal crashes with 36 fatalities (18 motor vehicles, 12 pedestrians, 6 bicycles). In the past 10 years, the next lowest total fatalities was in 2000 with 27 (17 motor vehicles, 10 pedestrians, 0 bicycles). The highest number of fatalities in the past ten years was in 2003 with 47 (28 motor vehicles, 15 pedestrians, 4 bicycles).”

Can you share what PBOT is doing that you think contributes to a decrease in fatal crashes/injuries (both bike and motor vehicle)?

“All traffic fatalities are a symptom of the same disease. It’s equally sad and tragic if a person is killed while walking, biking, or driving. It also appears that the conditions that make it safer for the most vulnerable make it safer for everyone. As roads become safe enough that a child can safety walk or bike to their friend’s house, the roads also become safer for driving to that friend’s house when you have to.

“It also appears that the conditions that make it safer for the most vulnerable make it safer for everyone.”

I think that partnerships have played a central role in improving safety in Portland. The most important partnership comes from the general community interest in having safe streets. Portlanders should be proud of leading the way towards safer streets by being amongst the safest and most courteous drivers in the country, being proactive about safe walking and biking, advocating for multi-modal safety improvements, and by electing leaders who value traffic safety over faster, wider roads.

PBOT uses a comprehensive approach to traffic safety that includes engineering, education, and enforcement. These areas are programmed to reduce driver error (speed, DUII, occupant protection), for safer routes to schools, and for bicycle and pedestrian safety. Some key elements in each are:

1) Engineering: bike lanes, bike boulevards, more than 1,000 speed bumps, improved signalization, strategic crossing improvements, bike boxes, road diets

2) Education: Share the Road Safety Class, Safer Routes to School Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Education, safety campaigns

3) Enforcement (led by PPB): Community Policing Agreement, photo radar, speed enforcement, DUII enforcement, targeted bicycle education missions

How do you think Portland can improve?

The areas where I think we need the most improvement are in DUII/BUII (bicycling under the influence) and motorcycle safety.”

Do you have any predictions for what bike safety engineering improvements Portlanders can expect in 2009?

“An update of the official Portland Bike Network. New bike boulevards. Portland’s first cycle track. More buffered bike lanes (a technique where paint is used to create a separated space between bike and motor vehicle traffic). New HAWK signals (like the one at 41st and E. Burnside).”

After just returning from 10 days in Southern California (Orange County), I have a renewed appreciation of just how safe it is (for all modes) to travel on Portland streets.

What do you think?

“Whether you drive a hybrid or an SUV, your car is a cash-guzzler. Families trying to save real money should consider going without.”

It may be a true sign of change when the Wall Street Journal suggests that giving up your car could be good for your personal finances and the economy as a whole.

In his December 22 column, A real auto bailout: Escape your car, WSJ staff columnist Brett Arends wrote:

Last week, the auto industry finally got its bailout.

But is it time for Americans to rescue their own finances from their cars?

…Forget lattes and store-brand cereal. If you really want to see where your money is going, take a closer look at your car. Foreign or domestic, it doesn’t matter. It’s a cash guzzler, and it is probably costing you more than anything else except your home.

The column goes on to cite the cost of car ownership (per the AAA): $7800 per car per year on average. That figure is from 2007, before gas prices surged and then dropped again; Arends estimates that amount would drop $400 with current low gas prices.

Is it time for Americans to rescue their own finances from their cars?

It’s surprising to see this perspective represented in the conservative Wall Street Journal, but even more surprising is what Arends suggests next (emphasis mine):

Residents of inner-ring and upscale suburbs, as well as everyone in car-dependent cities like Dallas and Atlanta, are in the worst of all possible worlds on this. They’re paying plenty for real estate – and then paying even more on top of that to run a car for each adult in the home.

Surely they’d be better off moving out to the country, where they would still need their cars but at least real estate is cheap, or into a downtown where they could lose the cars.

The Wall Street Journal has a notoriously conservative editorial board, but its non-news sections, in which this column appears, have been far more in line with the times, promoting the environmentally friendly products and choices which are increasingly driving (and being driven by) the market and government policies.

“Life without a car may seem inconceivable,” Arends writes. But his tough love advice is to start imagining it, for the sake of your bank account.

It’s good to see the mainstream press start to question the absolute necessity of car ownership. I hope we’ll soon see a more widespread acknowledgment in this quarter of the effects of cars on more than just personal finances, and deeper exploration of how we can make that choice a more realistic one for the millions of Americans who may not be free to either give up their car or move away from car dependent areas.

Happy new year, everyone!

- There has been a lot of editorial page pontification in the last week about what our cities’ transportation policies should be in 2009. Here are a handful:

• The Hartford Courant, which I’ve been reading, wants better public transportation and restoration of historic train stations.

A province in Rwanda has banned bicycle use; Maryland police are surveilling a bicycle group

• The Toronto Star calls for a transformation of the city with more carfree streets and better walkability.

• The Jakarta Post (which doesn’t have permanent links to their stories) says “Let’s be friendlier in 2009!” and asks for more carfree spaces and safer streets.

- New Portland Commissioner Amanda Fritz has been given the job of “river czar” and the task of overseeing the cleanup of the Willamette and the development of its various functions, including transportation.

- Chris Smith at PortlandTransport.com has looked over the draft of the region’s new transportation priorities document, and found it lacking in vision for sustainable transportation.

- The Willamette Week called up a few Portland bike shops to ask about they’re doing in the economic downturn.

- The New York Times writes that “A surge in bicyclists appears to be waiting,” and interviews a number of retailers — including Jay Graves of Portland’s own Bike Gallery — about how low gas prices and the recession are hitting their business, and ridership.

- Bikes are becoming popular again with China’s elite, as a fashion statement as well as a way to get around.

- The New York Times has rounded up some differing opinions about new bike lanes in Brooklyn.

- A province in Rwanda has banned bicycle use, and locals are at a loss as to how to get themselves and their goods around.

- DC’s Washcycle blog has turned up a Washington Post story about various groups that Maryland police have labeled “terrorists,” including an unnamed group dedicated to “establishing bike lanes.”

- And finally, a reader sent in this link to an artist’s vision of incredibly obese cars.

As always, feel free to discuss any of these items or post your own in the comments.

I’m still on my East Coast Tour, and will have two more Mondays on the road.

[This story was written by BikePortland.org Managing Editor Elly Blue. She's on an East Coast Tour. Follow her adventures here.]

New Haven Mayor John DeStefano (in center) about to cut the ribbon on a new bridge over a newly paved section of the Farmington Canal Trail.
(Photos by Elly Blue)

As I was biking into downtown New Haven this morning (it’s about a 4 mile ride from my parents’ house in Hamden just to the north) I happened across a small crowd of people standing on what had just yesterday been an impassable construction zone on Hillhouse Avenue. Two men were holding a shining red ribbon across the roadway, a couple of reporters scribbled notes and took photos, and a local news station was there. Then I recognized New Haven Mayor John DeStefano, reading from a piece of paper.

“As a kid, this trail was a big part of my outdoor life… It was useful for getting to the library, or the nearby college where my mom worked, or to go rollerblading.”

It was the ribbon cutting ceremony for a rebuilt bridge over the old Farmington canal. As I rode up, I could hear DeStefano speaking. First there had been a river, he said, then a canal, then the railroad, and now the Farmington Canal Heritage Trail.

He cut the ribbon to polite applause, and I rode on.

The Farmington Canal Trail stretches 84 miles, from New Haven to Northampton, Massachusetts. It’s a neat trail, with a lot of connections to interesting historical destinations, including a number of old canal locks that have been preserved. Unfortunately, it isn’t all paved.

A recently paved section
of the trail in downtown New Haven.

As a kid, this trail was a big part of my outdoor life. Its first paved section was for the ten miles directly to the north of my house. It was useful for getting to the library, or the nearby college where my mom worked, or to go rollerblading. When I was on the cross country team in high school, we would go running on overgrown, unpaved sections.

But the part of the trail that figured most in my life was the section to the south, which could have taken me all the way to New Haven, but was never paved and never even usable as a hiking path. This was a constant source of longing and frustration, especially when I was living in New Haven and biking north on non-bikeable streets to have dinner with my parents every week.

In recent years, though, there has been some progress. Significant parts of the trail in New Haven are now paved, creating a bicycle highway from the edge of Hamden right into downtown. Using this section of the trail instead navigating a maze of one-way city streets takes at least ten minutes off of my travel time from my parents’ house to the Publick Cup, the coffeeshop where I’ve been working.

The Farmington Canal trail is clearly part of the growing popularity of rail trails since Rails to Trails helped gain federal funding for the paved paths the 1990s. It looks like this thing has momentum. I’m looking forward to the day when I can come back here and take a ride on a nice summer day all the way from New Haven to Northampton. For now, it’s really good to see better bike infrastructure coming to my old home town.

Update: After posting this story I got an email from Norm Thetford of the Farmington Canal Rail to Trail Association. He wrote that the gaps in the trail between New Haven and Hamden are scheduled to be completely paved by summer of 2009. At that point the trail will be complete from Hillhouse Avenue in downtown New Haven all the way north to Cheshire.

The next step in the works, Thetford wrote, is to continue paving the trail south from Hillhouse Ave all the way south to Long Wharf (where there is a theater, a hot dog factory, and an Ikea, among other destinations). This section is fully funded, and is currently in the design phase.

A note on funding: Thetford said that the new and near-future sections of the trail have come from a combination of specially appropriated federal monies and the federal Transportation Enhancement portion of the Federal Highway Association budget. Yale has been providing the required local matching funds through investments in bridges over the trail such as the one pictured above.

I’ll have more reports coming up in the next few days from my stay in New Haven. You can follow my travels from my East Coast Tour page, and on Twitter.

[BikePortland.org's Managing Editor Elly Blue is currently on an East Coast Tour. This is the latest dispatch from her trip.]

The Devil’s Gear is a focal point
for New Haven biking.
(Photos by Elly Blue)

When I lived in New Haven a decade ago there wasn’t much of a bike scene. People biked, as did I — but I never had the sense of being part of a movement, or a community, or that bicycling was anything more than a fun but somewhat embattled way to get to work.

That’s all changed now.

Biking was already starting to get big in 2003 when Elm City Cycling, an activism, advocacy, and community-building organization, was formed. Yale University, a major social and economic force in New Haven, began to promote bicycling. More organizations formed, from the New Haven Bike Collective which refurbishes old bikes for low-income people to the beer-swilling, freakbike welding Elm City Scorchers. Critical Mass rides year round, sometimes attracting hundreds of participants. There are a couple of local bike-related blogs now as well, WalkBikeCT and Bike New Haven. And more people are out there riding bikes, even in the dead of winter during college break, than I’ve ever seen here before.

“If there’s a geographic locus of the New Haven bike scene, it’s the Devil’s Gear Bicycle Shop.”

If there’s a geographic locus of the New Haven bike scene, it’s the Devil’s Gear Bicycle Shop . About the time I was moving to Portland, my friend and former mechanic Matt Feiner was opening this shop an out of the way corner of downtown New Haven.

Unlike the few other bike shops in town, the Devil’s Gear caters to commuters and utility riders as well as the more traditional racing and recreational clientele.

Matt, the owner, has been a racer for much of his life, but has long used a bike as his primary transportation as well. “That’s the key to success,” Matt said when I commented on the shop’s focus on utility cycling. “That, and being open all the time.”

A bike fitting in the Devil’s Gear basement.
The shop’s signature pennyfarthing
is in the background.

Matt was doing a fitting with a customer when I came in, so I chatted with the other three guys working there, and got to know Monk, the helpful shop dog. One mechanic, Skyler, is from Portland (he used to work at the Community Cycling Center) and is moving back this summer.

The Devil’s Gear has had a roller coaster year, with things going up and down right along with the economy.

The store has been popular as New Haven’s population has increasingly embraced bicycling. In February of 2008 they had a ribbon cutting on a second shop, the Devil’s Gear II in a more prominent downtown location that they rented from Yale University (Yale owns much of the property in the center city).

Yale wanted to have a ribbon cutting, and Matt asked them to invite Mayor DeStefano to do the honors. His contact at Yale laughed this off, but Matt said “Ask him, he’ll be there.” And he was.

At the opening, DeStefano gave a nice speech, and hung out afterward eating cookies with everyone. He told the story of Matt walking into his office several years ago and telling him, “With all due respect, bicycling in your town sucks.” Since then the city and Elm City Cycling, the main advocacy group in town with which Matt is associated, have worked together closely with strong results.

Last summer the economy was booming, gas prices were high, and both shops did incredible business. They couldn’t keep stock on the shelves, their distributors were running out of basic things like locks and tubes, and things were looking rosy for both shops.

There’s a lot to look at on the walls:
Vintage jerseys, classic bikes,
signs, photos, articles

Yale asked Matt to move the second shop to a larger space nearby, and he moved in August, happily paying the higher rent and taking on an extra staff person; around the same time he put in a big order for bikes at their original store.

Then came October. All at once the economy tanked and gas prices went back down, and “from one day to the next” Matt knew his business was in trouble. The Devil’s Gear II closed a month ago, on December 1st, Matt’s birthday.

His original store is still going strong, despite this setback. They put flyers on bikes all over town, host events, show up everywhere, and generally manage to keep in the midst of all things bikey.

Matt’s goals for 2009 are to “sell bikes and promote bike culture.” In practice, this means more rides and more repair classes — education and building community.

First we had an insane snow and ice storm and now I hear that the Portland region is being pelted with record rain.

A few hours ago, reader John P. sent me this photo of the Springwater Corridor
Trail (at mile marker 10.5) along with this comment:

“The cool thing about riding it right now… there’s so much oil and crap floating on the water you don’t have to worry about oiling your chain later.”

What’s it like up there? Please don’t hate me, but I’m typing this from the warm and dry confines of Orange County, California. (I’ll be back on Monday. If the Portland weather has got you down, check out my photo gallery from California (actually that might just depress you more).)

Me, hanging out on the
Seal Beach Pier.

Seriously though, rain or no rain, it’s the first weekend of 2009 and I hope many of you have plans to ride. (I was happy to read a nice article in the Oregonian about the BTA’s annual New Year’s Day Ride.)

I’ve ridden a few times down here in Cypress, California and I’m headed out again tomorrow morning (a ride to the beach with a friend from high school).

Please use this post to share your bike plans for the weekend. How are you doing with the harsh winter weather so far? Have you hung up the bike and hit the bus/train? Or are you toughing it out?

How are the conditions up there? Has all the debris and gravel been cleaned up from the bike lanes? Are you thinking of buying a paddle for your commute?

This ghost bike was stolen, then
returned by a regretful thief.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Looking back at the 1,385 stories published on BikePortland.org in 2008, we thought it would be fun to take a look at the ones that you read the most. I looked up our top ten stories by total number of pageviews* and here’s what I found (some results I expected, others surprised me).

1. Man on a bike is tackled, then tasered by Portland Police (6/11/08)
This unfortunate incident was by far the biggest story of the year. It was picked up by local and national media and created a huge buzz across the Web. By the way, the civil criminal component of this case will go to trial in mid-January.

2. Road rage incident sparks media frenzy, spurs us-them mentality (7/10/08)
Opening with a photo of the Oregonian front page headline “Cyclist clubs driver with his bike,” this story was my response and analysis of the impact of mainstream media coverage on stereotypes and conflict on our streets.

3. Ghost bike returned, thief ‘truly sorry’ (02/15/08)
A strange story of sin and redemption. A man steals a ghost bike and then returns it, along with a hand-written mea culpa letter.

4. Updated: Arrest made in NE Portland hit and run (05/10/08)
This article details the tragic crash that occurred when Jeremy Jordan, driving while drunk, stole beer from a convenience store, drove away quickly, then hit Eric Davidson who was bicycling past (and also drunk). The collision caused traumatic brain injury from which Eric is still struggling to recover.

The 2008 World Naked Bike Ride
was a hit, both on the street
and on the web.

5. “De Ronde” returns, even tougher than last year (03/03/08)
I love that a sporting event is on this list — and what an event is was this year.

6. Sheldon Brown R.I.P. (1944-2008) (03/03/08)
The death of Sheldon Brown, a bike guru whose knowledge touched millions, was felt all over the world.

7. Time in the saddle means time off work for local company (06/10/08)
This write-up of Portland-based component manufacturer Chris King has made waves around the web. The company has an aggressive program to encourage their employees to bike to work.

8. Portlanders prep for record breaking naked ride (5/30/2008)

9. A naked ride for the ages (6/16/08)
No surprise here. Naked ride stories are always popular — both on the web and in real life. In 2008, Portland’s Naked Bike Ride turned out to be the largest in the world. It was a massive gathering that many think might have been the largest unorganized group ride in Portland history.

10. The Trek Stop: A Qwik-e Mart for bikes? (07/01/08)
The main reason for this story’s popularity was that it was picked up by several social media, link-sharing websites (not to mention it’s a very novel and exciting concept).

It’s interesting to see the stories that were viewed the most in 2008. Remember, popularity is not always related to newsworthiness. For a look at the big news that really mattered this year, stay tuned for my annual “Year in Bikes” review (see the 2007 version here).

I’m also working on a slideshow with my best photos from 2008.

And, if I don’t get a chance to say it before midnight tonight… Happy New Year!

*[We used Google Analytics for pageview data. Managing Editor Elly Blue contributed research to this story.]

Bike parking under the Huntington Beach Pier.
(Photos © J. Maus)

A trip to Huntington Beach for dinner last night made me feel old. As a kid, I remember spending countless days at that beach, trying to hone my surfing skills and hanging out on the sand with friends. The boardwalk path that runs at the edge of the sand was also where many of my first long bike rides culminated and where I fostered my earliest delusions of bike-racing grandeur.

The path is a bit chaotic.

Since my youth, this beach town known as “Surf City, USA” has grown up a lot. Major hotels, shopping centers, and other beachfront developments have helped Huntington Beach become a major tourist draw. When we walked around before dinner last night, we noticed many groups of people who didn’t speak English and who were taking group photos at every turn.

Cruisers were everywhere.

The first thing I noticed after we parked the car (in a newly built parking lot just a few feet from the sand) was the very crowded boardwalk path. This path was larger than a standard width, multi-use path but it still couldn’t handle the crowds (and this is just December!). Tourists walked and gawked while families on rental bikes pedaled by, and surfers carried their boards past joggers as lycra-clad roadies weaved their way through it all.

If there was ever a path in need of some form of mode separation, this is it. Pavement markings, signage, separated grades, anything would help (bike riders are supposed to walk in the most crowded section, but no one obeyed that law).

As we left the boardwalk and made our way onto the Pier, I got my first good glimpse of the standard-issue Huntington Beach bicycle — the cruiser.

Cruisers are to Huntington Beach what all black, fully-fendered city bikes are to Amsterdam, or rod-driven, Communist era bikes are to Beijing.

Walking up Main Street, all you see are helmetless, sandal-clad folks easily pedaling these reliable, single-speed, surf culture icons. Cruisers cemented their place in my mind as the bicycle of choice in Huntington Beach when to my surprise I saw a shop on Main Street, Easyriders, that sold nothing but.

Nothing but cruisers at this
shop on Main Street.

The clerk at Easyriders said sales of their $229 dollar cruisers (available in a number of color schemes) were doing very well.

But there’s an upstart to the dominant bike crown in Surf City, the fixie. I noticed two surf and skate shops that had at least one fixed-gear bicycle alongside their other merchandise. They weren’t selling them, so I assume the fixie was there to communicate that the shop was in the know with the latest trend.

Surf punks are now bike punks.

As we made our way back to the car parked near the boardwalk, I saw the trend in action — a few young surfer kids tooling around on fixies.

It was great to see so many bikes in Surf City. Even if bikes as transportation on equal footing to cars is a foreign concept, at least the language of two wheels is not extinct, it’s just spoken differently here.

— Check the photo gallery for the latest images from my trip to California.

Christopher Heaps

The article below was written by Christopher Heaps. Heaps is a Sellwood resident who rides his bike daily to his job as a lawyer with Stoel Rives in downtown Portland.

You might remember Heaps as the lawyer who garnered a headline or two for successfully carrying out the “citizen-initiated citation” process. We wrote about Heaps earlier this month because he’s representing two men who feel they were wrongly cited in the Ainsworth Incident.

In the article below, Heaps shares his thoughts on why he thinks Portland should adopt a new safe passing ordinance.

Portland Needs a Safe Passing Distance Ordinance

By now you’ve probably read about the Ainsworth Incident, in which Portland Police Bureau Officer Jimmy Pryce passed a cyclist “within a foot” of their handlebars while driving his police car. Several important issues were raised by this incident, but perhaps the most fundamental — for those of us making our way around Portland on two wheels every day — is, “Isn’t this a violation of Oregon law?”

This mock-up sign was created
by Multonomah County.

Being a lawyer (disclaimer: I am also representing the cyclists in the aforementioned incident), I want to make clear that I’m not giving any legal advice here, I’m merely expressing my opinion that operating a motor vehicle so as to cause it to pass within a foot of a bicyclist’s handlebars is indeed a violation of Oregon’s Vehicle Code.

So … what’s the violation?

The first place you might look is the legislation passed in 2007 that led to Oregon Revised Statute (ORS) 811.065 (see this page for all the statutes referenced in this article). That law provides for a traffic offense known as “unsafe passing of a person operating a bicycle.” It requires drivers to pass bicyclists at a “safe distance,” and defines the term “safe distance” to mean

“a distance that is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver’s lane of traffic.”

That sounds exactly like what Officer Pryce is alleged to have done, right?

Unfortunately, the law contains a broad exception that applies on virtually all streets where bicyclists ride, making the law – in my humble opinion – virtually worthless. A driver cannot commit the traffic violation of “unsafe passing of a person operating a bicycle” if the driver is going 35 mph or less. Yes, really.

The existing safe passing distance
law applies only to rural roads
with speeds over 35 mph, like
this one in North Plains.
(Photos © J. Maus)

Simply put, it makes no sense that this exception is in the law. As I mentioned, the speed limit will be 35 or less virtually everywhere bicyclists ride. The law is only applicable on rural roads, and Portland doesn’t have any of those. This law does not help Portland’s bicyclists at all. Nor does is help anyone riding virtually anywhere in any of Oregon’s towns.

We all know speed is dangerous. One could argue that it’s not as dangerous to pass a bicyclist within the prescribed distance when going slower than 35 mph. But, as anyone who rides around our fair City (or any other) can tell you, it’s dangerous to pass someone that closely even at 15 mph. It’s so close that even the slightest miscalculation or unforeseen event could cause the bicyclist’s death or severe injury.

So, why shouldn’t this infraction apply regardless of speed?

I’ve asked this question of some people who are familiar with the legislative history of this rule, and I was told that it is the product of a political compromise in which TriMet felt that its bus drivers should not be required to give bicyclists this much room when passing them*.

[*Editor's note: In a story published here two years ago, a TriMet spokesperson expressed concerns about a passing distance law in downtown "where streets are very narrow."]

“If we really want to encourage people to get on their bikes and ride around Portland … we need a specific standard that everyone can understand, a standard that protects bicyclists from the risk of being killed by people trying to save a few seconds on their drive.”

In addition, it’s very difficult to prove how fast a driver was actually going without the benefit of police radar. That means it’s virtually impossible to cite a driver for this violation without the benefit of a speed trap. The rule requiring safe passing should not require proof of the motor vehicle’s speed. Further, it should be based on a clear standard for what distance is far enough (such as the “fall-over” standard in ORS 811.065).

When I first started riding on the streets of Seattle and a motorist gave me a very close pass, I was terrified. I considered never riding on the roads again. It frightened me so much because I knew I could have been killed instantly. And there are only two reasons drivers do this; either they’re oblivious to the risk they’ve created or they’re trying to send that very message to you. That message is, get out of my way and stay off the roads so you don’t slow me down.

Do we want our laws to help those few dangerous drivers to send that message?

Now, if you’re thinking about the Ainsworth Incident, you’re asking, “Was Officer Pryce going 35+ mph?” To answer that question you first have to ask: What evidence of his speed is there? As I mentioned above, it’s a difficult thing to prove. And knowing Officer Pryce’s speed isn’t important to the point of this editorial anyway. One point is that ORS 811.065 is of limited value – the proverbial bone thrown to a few concerned activists (thank you!) who showed up in Salem and told stories about how people riding on rural roads were killed by aggressive drivers trying to pass them.

ORS 811.065 does nothing to address the numerous, and often unreported, incidents that occur in Portland every day when drivers attempt to unsafely pass bicyclists.

So, are there any other candidates for dealing with this dangerous behavior? Yes. ORS 811.420 prohibits passing in a no passing zone. Many of us have experienced drivers passing us this way, whether it be on blind hills on the west side of Portland, on a curve out in the Gorge, or within only a few feet of an intersection around town. Unfortunately, this offense doesn’t specifically address close passing.

Narrow downtown streets likely prevented
a more broad safe passing distance
law from being enacted.

Also, the “unsafe passing on the left” violation in ORS 811.410 requires vehicles to pass “at a safe distance.” Unfortunately, what constitutes a safe distance under this rule is not defined. That means it will be left for the judge to decide what the distance actually was – does he or she believe the police officer or the bicyclist? And, regardless of who she goes with on the facts, was that distance “safe”? Has the judge been on a bike since she was 5 years old? Can she understand what it’s like to have two tons of metal bearing down on you while you’re pedaling next to parked cars?

The judge’s predilections aside, it seems clear to me that passing within a foot of someone’s handlebars violates ORS 811.410.

The only other candidate Oregon law offers us is “careless driving,” (ORS 811.135). A driver is driving carelessly if he/she drives, “in a manner that endangers or would be likely to endanger any person or property.” Is passing within a foot of someone’s handlebars an act that endangers them? Again, it seems obvious to me that it is. But, there is no bright line in the law. So, we’re faced with the same issue of judicial discretion.

Right now, it seems that ORS 811.410 (vehicles required to pass “at a safe distance”) and 811.135 (careless driving) are all we’ve got. Do you really want to have to rely on being subjected to this sort of terror and then going to court and getting a good (ahem) lawyer to argue that what the driver did was so dangerous and irresponsible as to be illegal? Or, would you like to have a clear standard that everyone can understand? A standard like: Don’t come within 5 feet of me with your car under any circumstances.

Riding in a bike lane in East Portland.

It seems to me that, if we really want to encourage people to get on their bikes and ride around Portland – and that’s what I want – we need a specific standard that everyone can understand, a standard that protects bicyclists from the risk of being killed by people trying to save a few seconds on their drive.

You might be surprised to learn one city in Oregon has done this. You might be even more surprised to learn that it’s Grants Pass. Yep. Thanks to the work of attorney Mark Lansing and some dedicated roadies down in southern Oregon, Section 6.20.220 of the Grants Pass Municipal Code requires drivers to give bicyclists three feet of distance when passing. Pretty great, right? Five feet would be better, but still – it’s clear.

During our recent City elections, I supported two candidates (Jim Middaugh and Chris Smith) who were not elected to the City Council. I spoke with both of them about creating a city ordinance that incorporated the standard in 811.065, providing that it is unsafe and illegal to pass a bicyclist – at any speed – at less than “a distance that is sufficient to prevent contact with the person operating the bicycle if the person were to fall into the driver’s lane of traffic.” Both of them liked the idea. I think most, if not all, of our current City Commissioners would too.

If our City leaders truly want to encourage people to ride around town, they can do something very simple to remove one important daily source of fear and frustration for Portland’s bicyclists, not to mention something that will perhaps provide a key source of education for Portland’s police officers. They can enact an ordinance that tells motorists, plain and simple, to give bicyclists room.

I’m considering gathering names for a petition to our City Commissioners about this issue. What do you think? Would you join me in asking our City Council to adopt a clear and enforceable safe passing distance ordinance?

After two weeks of a once-in-a-generation winter storm that pelted Portland into submission, the Bureau of Transportation is now in full clean up mode.

A few days after the first snow fell, we turned our attention to how gravel laid down by PBOT to break up the ice was impacting bikeways. Back on December 16th, they didn’t mince words in telling us that we shouldn’t expect the gravel to be picked up “any time soon.”

Now, in their latest press release about the storm clean-up effort, PBOT says their work crews are finally beginning to pick up the 4,600 cubic yards of sand and gravel they laid down during this storm (enough, they tell us, to cover an NFL football field 26 inches deep).

In that release (published 12/29), PBOT acknowledged that plowed accumulations of snow are a

“challenge for vehicles seeking on-street parking and bicyclists and pedestrians making their way around Portland.”

They also add this warning;

“Many bike lanes have too much sand, gravel, and debris for cyclists to use safely so they are forced into the travel lane.”

PBOT says their clean-up effort may take a few weeks but that, thankfully, crews are “focusing on bike routes today where they can get to the curb.”

Dealing with this storm has cost the City an estimated $2 million dollars already (twice their allotted budget for weather emergencies), and we will likely be paying for it in more ways than that: This severe weather will make our already potholed and rutted streets event more so come spring.

— See all our Storm of 2008 coverage.

Filmed by Bike is Portland’s very own bike film festival. Each year, the event has exceeded the organizer’s expectations. If you’d like to be part of this event as an intern, check out the opportunity listed below…

• Internship - Filmed by Bike

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!

Cover of 2009 Summit brochure.

The League of American Bicyclists has announced details of the workshops that will be presented at their annual National Bike Summit that will take place in Washington D.C. on March 10 - 13th.

The event is both an educational and networking opportunity for bike advocates across the country as well as a chance to lobby lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Here are some workshops that caught my eye (followed by my thoughts):

Bicycle advocates and industry leaders united for change.
The bicycle industry is more involved than ever in advocacy. Learn how we can more effectively work together in the corridors of power.

Bringing the economic argument together will be key to making the case for bikes from both the transportation and recreation perspective.

Making local transportation choice a major national priority.
Short, local, non-commute trips dominate travel throughout the United States but are overlooked in transportation models and priorities. Learn how and why we must turn this dynamic around in the next transportation bill.

I am glad to see this because too often public conversations about biking (in the media especially) revolve solely around commuting to work, when the majority of bike trips in this country are non-commute trips.

Getting a Fair Share for Safety.
Bicyclists and pedestrians account for 13% of traffic fatalities and get less than 1% of federal safety funds. Strategize on ways the next transportation bill can redress this balance.

I don’t like lumping bikes and peds into the same pot, but this is a very important point to make.

Urban Trails and Jump Parks.
The next frontiers are your neighborhood and city parks. Providing great riding close to home is the perfect way to attract youth to mountain biking. Learn how trails in urban areas have transformed the riding scene.

This topic has huge relevance to the Portland region. We have an intense demand for more urban, off-road riding opportunities and several projects in the works.

I plan on attending the National Bike Summit again this year; which will be my fourth consecutive year. With a new administration and a re-authorization of the transportation bill looming, there’s a renewed sense of urgency that should make this one of the best ever.

It would be great to continue the tradition of having a huge delegation from Oregon. If you think bicycles should play a more prominent role in our nation’s transportation mix, I would strongly recommend making the trip. If you’d like to join us, find out more information about the Summit here.

Snow piled high in the bike lane on
SW Broadway on 12/26.
(Photo: Rex Burkholder)

I’m down in California, but judging from reader emails and a story this morning on KGW-TV, it looks like Portland’s bike lanes are in bad shape following an unprecedented storm that has left streets with mountains of snow, gravel, and other assorted hazards.

I left town just as The Big Thaw was about to begin and I can only imagine what it’s like out there now.

The day after Christmas, Metro Councilor and daily biker Rex Burkholder sent me photos of conditions on SW Broadway.

Snow in the bike lane on SW Broadway on 12/26.
(Photo: Rex Burkholder)

It looks like it’s not just the snow itself, but also how it’s forcing some cars to park in the bike lane.

Adding to that is the perennial issue of gravel. We reported about it just a few days after the first snow fell, after PBOT said people who bike would “just have to wait” until they could pick up it. This morning, KGW TV did a story about how gravel is making things tough — whether you bike or drive.

Here’s what KGW said about biking conditions:

“It was a tough weekend for bicyclists like Ortman, who had trouble avoiding the tiny rocks, since bike lanes were temporary holding zones for the stuff. To make matters worse, several bike lanes were still covered in heaps of snow pushed there by plows, temporarily pushing cyclists into traffic lanes.”

(Photo © J. Maus)

KGW also reminds us of the unfortunate reality that the storm will lead to even more (and larger) potholes throughout the city, in part because of the rain and snow, but also because of all the tire chains and snow tires that have been pounding the streets for several weeks.

When I posted an update about the KGW story to Twitter (and it also showed up on my Facebook page), Tony Pereira replied that the gravel isn’t too big of a deal, but there’s another storm byproduct he’s worried about:

“I don’t mind the gravel much myself, but those broken tire chains out there could do some damage! Barely missed a half dozen of them yesterday.”

In their latest storm update (published 12/26), the Bureau of Transportation said, “Sand and gravel cleanup will not start until streets are clear of snow and ice.”*

*UPDATE: PBOT has just posted a new statement about the storm.

What are conditions like where you’re riding? Share your experiences and photos in the comments below.

“It’s just a bummer that occasionally the bike lanes end up being the snow plow lanes and there are mounds of snow coming my way!”
– SW Portland resident Adam Ortman, speaking to KGW TV

I haven’t been following the news as closely as usual this week, but here are some interesting stories I’ve come across from Portland and beyond…

- Local NBC affiliate station KGW has a story this morning about all the gravel left on Portland roads after the big snow storm. The story covered the perils of gravel for people in cars (little rocks are breaking windshields) and for people riding bikes. Check out the full story here.

- Reuters is running an interesting editorial titled “Electric cars will not cure environmental woes.” The writer’s conclusion isn’t all one might hope, but it’s good to see this reality check on an increasing trend of public faith in the redemptive power of electric cars.

- Beijing’s pollution control measures during the Olympics, particularly in limiting private car traffic, appear to have been effective, and many Chinese are calling for them to continue in some form.

- A new study has found that residents of Sydney, Australia are less likely to hop on a bike than residents of cities with better bike infrastructure. From the study:

“The bicycle mode share across these world cities seems to indicate that cities with a record of investment in cycle facilities reap the rewards of higher bicycle use.”

- Critical Mass bicycle convergences occurred the day after Christmas this year in cities around the world, from Mexico City to Mumbai.

- Meanwhile in the continuing saga of the brutal crackdown on Critical Mass by Manhattan police for four years running, a New York City police officer has been charged with assault, harassment, and falsifying records after his tackle of a ride participant was captured on video.

- And finally, a thought for the day. New media guru Tim O’Reilly quotes an “inspired rant” he heard at a programming conference:

If some entrepreneur introduced the bicycle today, no one would fund him. You have to actually learn how to use it! …I saw a controller for Guitar Hero that costs a couple of hundred dollars. You can get a decent electric guitar for that price. But you’d have to actually learn something to play it!

This comment isn’t really about bicycling, but it made me think about the current resurgence of bicycling and what factors might be behind it.

I hope you all are doing well now that the holidays and snowpocalypse are past. In the next couple days I’ll have more stories up from my East Coast Tour — and you can follow my adventures on Twitter as well.

For up to the minute links and thoughts on biking in Portland and around the web, follow Jonathan via his BikePortland Twitter updates.

If you’ve read something that belongs up here, please (as always!) feel free to add a link and your thoughts in the comments.

Cover of January 2009
Oregon Business Journal

The Portland (and Oregon-wide) bike industry is the cover story in the January 2009 issue of Oregon Business magazine. Titled, The Bicycle Industrial Complex: Bike Madness Fuels $150 Million Industry, the lengthy story touches on many facets of Portland’s bike scene to paint a picture of how growing numbers of bikers are helping create a healthy niche economy.

Here’s a snip from one of the opening paragraphs:

The market for anything connected to bicycles in Portland runs rich and deep, and entrepreneurs are sprinting to create new ways to tap into it. About 50 new bike-related businesses have sprung up over the past two years here, and while some are destined to remain forever fringe if they survive the downturn at all, others have tremendous potential.

Written by Ben Jacklet, the piece describes our region’s bike economy as “yet another Oregon niche industry with a dreamy upside, in the tradition of solar power, craft brewing and organic farming.”

“…while the ongoing collapse of the nation’s auto industry is delivering a painful blow to the U.S. economy, it’s not hurting the outlook for Oregon’s bicycle industrial complex.”
— Journalist Ben Jacklet in Oregon Business magazine

Among the companies and organizations mentioned in the article are Clever Cycles, Nutcase Helmets, Sweetpea Bicycles, BikePortland.org, Chris King Precision Components, Alta Planning + Design and Cycle Oregon.

Cycle Oregon ride director and bike industry veteran Jerry Norquist is quoted in the story. He tells Jacklet that he’d like to see the industry in Portland “get to the next level”. Norquist admits that attracting a “top-tier” manufacturer like Trek to Oregon would a “long shot”, but then adds,

“At the same time, the next Trek is out there, and we have a good opportunity to attract the next big thing, with all that’s going on in Portland and in Oregon.”

Check out the full article at OregonBusiness.com.

Portlander Molly Cameron is flying the
Vanilla Bicycles team colors while
racing in Belgium.
(Photo: Nielsdewit.be)

Local racer and owner of Veloshop, Molly Cameron, is “living the dream” by spending her holiday racing cyclocross against the world’s best on a multi-week trip that includes World Cup races in France and Belgium.

Another Portland rider, Sue Butler, is also competing on the Belgian circuit. Butler was also just named to the U.S. Nationals Team and will compete at World Championships at the end of January.

Cameron is joined by friend and trusty mechanic Steven Hunter. Both Cameron and Hunter are keeping local friends and fans posted on their adventures via regular blog updates — Cameron on her personal blog, and Hunter as a guest writer on Race Cyclocross!.

Portlander Steven Hunter is having a tough go
of it, whether he’s lugging around a huge
wheelbag, or getting shoved off the course.

Like Erik Tonkin before him, Steven Hunter has managed to leave his mark on the European circuit. Tonkin amassed a fan club in Belgium for his tough-as-nails, gritty riding and laid-back, quick-with-a-smile style.

Hunter on the other hand, seems to have drawn attention for slightly less admirable reasons. While racing his first European contest in Antwerp, he got a tough lesson from Euro-legend Richard Groenendaal.

Watch Mr. Groenendaal reach out and shove the much slower-riding Hunter off the course with one swift sweep of his arms:

That’s not exactly the type of camaraderie and helpful spirit that exists on the local Cross Crusade circuit! Hang in their Steve.

Cameron just received word that she’ll be on the start list for the World Cup at Zolder the day after Christmas.

Good luck in your upcoming races Molly and Sue, and thanks for representing Portland (and the U.S.A) on the world stage.

— Stay tuned to MollyCameron.com for updates.

It’s not too pretty
out there.
(Photo © J. Maus)

After a morning snowfall, the Big Thaw seems imminent.

I just got off the streets and it’s nasty out there. On some major streets snow, there are big ruts from bus and car tire track bordered by icy, slushy, dirty snow. I’ve been taking the lane, but at times when it’s too uncomfortable (and I feel a car breathing down my neck), I try to move over, only to nearly slide out back into the passing car (lesson: hold your ground in the lane, but watch out for those manhole covers!).

On side streets, the packed snow is slippery and it’s tough to see where the good lines are. There are also concave tire ruts that will keep you on your toes.

Adding to these challenging conditions is the fact that no one seems to be heeding PBOT’s latest advisory to only take essential trips. I rode by Lloyd Center and the place was packed. Broadway looked like rush-hour as usual, and not everyone is driving as cautiously as they should.

And now, as I look out my window, the heavens have opened up again with some serious rainfall.

Yes, the next phase in this once-in-a-generation storm is the big meltdown. The streets will soon be rivers of slush and ice chunks for the next few days (hope you have some extra brake pads and a good set of fenders).

Although I think it’d be kind of fun to see what happens next (not really), I’m headed to California with my family for the holidays.

BikePortland.org will take a day or so off and then we’ll be posting stories and photos as per usual (actually, things won’t be completely normal until I get back to Portland after the New Year). After Christmas, I’m looking forward to taking a look back at 2008 with my annual “Year in Bikes” roundup and we’ve got some other interesting stories planned in the coming week.

Elly, Juli and I wish you and yours a festive and warm holiday!