We rode in our second Cycle Oregon Weekend ride this past weekend. Honey and I have done 7 different Cycle Oregon Week long rides, and 2 different Cycle Oregon Weekend rides. There are some definite differences and similarities between the two distinct events. It is helpful to have an understanding of just what you are going to get out of a cycling event. It allows you to adjust your approach to the effort, and to better match your expectations to the realities.
Some pictures during our Vernonia ride
Our list of thoughts about this ride and the differences between the two events. In no particular order. Continue reading →

Metro’s Bike There! map has guided cyclists through the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area for 25 years. We are long time residents of the Portland area, and as such can usually find our way to most spots without the need for a map. That said, we still have used these maps for many years and find them quite handy for mapping out the details for our routes throughout the city. The maps are indispensable for determining the safest routes. For years, we have had one of the laminated wall maps posted at the back door of our house where we can refer to it easily as we leave home. Plus, Honey is much more comfortable setting out for a ride when she has a clear sense of how she is going to get there. A new 2007 edition of the award-winning map is now available. The map is a region-wide guide to designated bike lanes and multi-use paths that link people and places across city and county boundaries. Selected through streets where bicyclists share the road with motorists are rated for cycling suitability. Bike There! will help you plan bike-friendly routes to work, school, shopping and your favorite parks. Biking is economical and healthy for you and the planet. So pump up your tires and get out on your bike to enjoy nature in your neighborhood. Here more information on the maps, and how to get one.

So, we were looking for a bike ride route for our weekend ride that would allow us to ride our bike and do our errands, and Honey says, why don’t we do a loop that includes inner SE Portland so we can stop by the Portland Nursery which is on SE Stark. “I would just like to look around and get some ideas” she says. And I hear, “I would like to pick up some plants, because I have some ideas”.  Which means, I had better be prepared, and I hook up our two expandable grocery panniers to the back rack. As we approach the nursery, the rain clouds open up and forcing a mad dash to the espresso stand just outside the nursery. We drink our hot coffee under the covered areas of the tropical plant section and as we wait for the weather to clear. This gives Honey ample time to find plants that she would love to see in her garden. She is reluctant to ask about carrying some home, so I assure her that those two plants she likes will be easy to take home. This opens starts her on a roll, and I am powerless to stop her til she has collected 8 plants she needs to have. In the meantime, I have found a half dozen 5 foot bamboo poles that would be perfect for a blueberry netting cage. The bamboo poses a little challenge since I hadn’t prepared for possibility of strapping poles to my bike. But with the nursery’s generous donation of some pretty cool little adjustable tie down straps, I was able to easily strap the poles to the top bar of my bike, with the poles sticking out under my seat and straight out the back. This is one more reason I personally like the straight top bar design as opposed the the sloping top bar design. With the plants snugly packed into the open top panniers, we were off. This adventure, coupled with our walk out to the retrieve our take/bake pizza, we enjoyed a productive, car-free day.

We have done the MS ride in Oregon several times. I have a couple of friends how do this ride every year as part of teams. They raise an incredible amount of money for the MS society. I have to admit I am not a very successful fund raiser for these events. You can only hit up your friends and co-workers so many times before they tire of your solicitations, and possibly start to avoid you. But, having said that, it is still a great cause and it is an easily attainable goal to generate the funds needed to participate in the rides. It is a ride we recommend you participate in at least once. It is a well run event, the organizers treat you well and they truly appreciate your efforts. Plus the last time we did the MS ride, George Hincapie was there to ride with us and that was really cool. We actually passed him on the road. OK, he was coming back from a loop and we were going out on the loop, but technically we passed him.

The Oregon ride is August 4-5, 2007. The ride starts and ends at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon

Here is the link for the Oregon MS ride that we have done.

The PR folks for the Washington MS ride sent me this information on the Washington ride.
We have not done the one in Washington, but would love to give it a try soon.

As many as 2,000 cyclists, including some living with the challenges and uncertainties of multiple sclerosis, are expected to pedal for the cause during The Group Health MS Bike Tour Sept. 8 and 9 in La Conner. The National MS Society, Greater Washington Chapter, hopes to collect $1.25 million from the fund raiser, one of about 100 rides in 48 states to support MS programs and research. With approximately 100,000 participants raising $67 million nationally, the ride has become the largest organized cycling event in the country.
The local tour – sponsored by Group Health Cooperative and Point B Solutions Group – starts and ends in La Conner and offers riders a choice of routes through scenic Skagit, Whatcom and Island counties. The money raised goes to programs and services for the 50,000 people living with or affected by MS in Western and, as well as research into treatments, a cause and a cure.
There is no cure for MS, but advances in drugs and treatments have helped people live with and manage the disease.

I have always admired David Byrnes talent and imagination, including the work he has done with the “Talking Heads”. David also takes time to post his own ” musings, reviews, polemics, tour logs, drawings, dreams, etc.” in his blog, the “David Byrnes Journal”

Today, he talked about his love of bicycling. Here are some interesting thoughts:

• I have been riding a bicycle in New York City for almost 30 years! For transport, not for sport
• A ride across town gets the adrenalin going as one heads to work or to the studio in the morning. By the time one arrives for a meeting one is fully awake — blood pumping, on alert — having often just had 3 near-death experiences.
• But, if one pedals at a relaxed pace and stays away from the snarled traffic as much as possible (cars and trucks raise the surrounding temperature) one can arrive more or less dry, but with a healthy glow.
• Now there are markings on some streets indicating imaginary bike lanes (imaginary because the traffic and pedestrians often ignore the markings) but they are there in spirit, at least.
• Bikes as a means of local transport has worked elsewhere; the mayor of Bogota, Enrique Peñalosa, relieved traffic congestion AND made his city more livable by converting streets to bike/pedestrian use and by adding dedicated bus lanes. Of bike lanes he said, “If an eight year old kid can’t ride on it safely then it isn’t a bike lane.”
• After a few years of riding in New York I discovered a folding bike and I began to take it on tour with me every couple of years. I realized I could then explore the city where I’d be performing that evening
• There’s a feeling of freedom that comes with cycling in a big city which is very important, as one can feel trapped by the routine of touring, work, or even travel. Trapped in a neighborhood of hotels and offices, or a neighborhood of tourist attractions, one can escape — quickly and instantly — and ride along the levees in New Orleans (pre-Katrina) or through the back streets of Grenada. (In New Orleans I rode to the Decadence Ball, an outdoor affair that admitted guests on two conditions: if they were in costume or were naked. I guess my helmet and odd fashion sense qualified as a costume.) Even if freedom is an illusion the physical sensation of riding does a pretty good job of making it seem attainable for a moment.

For all the years I have owned and operated a motor vehicle I have never felt the need to get involved in the vanity/specialty license plate thing. But things change. If and when these plates come out, we will be all over it. We will get them for us, we will likely give the kids money to get them for their cars, maybe even offer to pay family and friends to convince them to get them as well.

The Share the Road license plate bill passed the Oregon House on Friday, meaning that SB 789 is off to the Governor’s Desk. This bill creates a new license plate that will be designed to encourage people to share the road. The bill states that each plate will cost $5 per year of registration at the time of purchase. So if you are re-registering your car and buy two plates, it would cost $20 (2 plates for two years.) On your new car if would be $40 extra, 2 plates for four years. You will not have to pay again when you register your car in out years. The bill calls for BTA and Cycle Oregon to help lead the design, funding, and promotion for the plate.

Also, ever hear or say, “Bicyclists don’t pay for roads”? Well , in the Metro area, 85% of the money that goes to new transportation projects (not maintenance) over the next 30 years will come from non-vehicle funding sources – property taxes, urban renewal dollars, system developments charges, etc. These are fees and taxes we all pay, not just drivers. And local governments depend on them to keep modernizing our transportation system.

And, while there are cyclists who do not own cars,  many by their own choice,  most cyclists do own cars out of some necessity, which means that they are drivers too.
I’m just sayin……

The Night Ride
Once known as the Midsummer Night Ride will be held July 7th. Riders will get glowing necklaces and tshirts, Tire Flies, a Disco Dance Party rest stop, a Filmed by Bike bike-in-movie rest stop (with hot popcorn!), and of course donuts at the finish line.
The ride benefits the BTA and runs on volunteer power – so if you can help out, theywould be grateful!
Volunteers get free registration, plus tshirts and donuts! You can check out the volunteer shifts online – almost all of the shifts allow you to ride the course – and you can even sign up to volunteer online.

I-205 Detour ride
On Friday, July 13th, TriMet is hosting a bike ride, a bike giveaway and a party to celebrate the opening of the I-205 bike path detour route. The ride will start near I-205 at 5:30 pm, and will end at the party at Clackamas Town Center. In addition to refreshments, they’ll be giving away a new Trek Lime bike from Bike Gallery, Pink Martini concert tickets, TriMet monthly passes, a Clackamas Town Center gift card, two entries into Cycle Oregon’s 2008 Weekend Ride, bike tune-ups, cycling club memberships, and more!
After the detour opens, if you have questions or concerns about it you can write to Diane Goodwin (GoodwinD@trimet.org) at TriMet, and she will forward them on to the right person.