If you missed the much-hyped Oprah inquisition of doper Lance Armstrong last night, the highlights are here. But here was my highlight: Lance admits to taking drugs. He admits to lying to millions of fans. He admits to suing the living daylights out of everyone who said he took drugs and lied to millions of […]
Bikes
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Portland’s 75-Station Bike Share System Rolls Ahead
One of Mexico City’s bike share stations The bikes are coming. Today, Portland city council signed off 4-0 on a contract with Portland-based Alta Bike Share to roll out a bike sharing system in the central city. Alta has run into trouble launching New York’s bike share system, where the company is essentially caught in […]
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Bike Craft in Portland This Weekend!
December is a mess of local craft and art shows every weekend, but one of my favorites is coming up: Bike Craft is at Sandbox Studio (420 NE 9th Ave) this Saturday and Sunday. If you’re going to be spending money on holiday presents, you might as well spend it at Portland small businesses. About […]
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Three New Portland-Penned Bike Books Make Their Debut
Three pocket-size bike books by Portland writers have made their debut in the past six months, and they’re all worth checking out. The first, April Streeter’s Women on Wheels was published last May by A Serious Press. It’s a well-designed, dense primer city biking and though “women” is in the title, it’s composed of practical […]
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Bright Green Bike Lanes Now on SW Stark and Oak
Check out this brilliant green lane: The vivid green paint is an upgrade for downtown Portland’s only coupled east-west bike lanes on SW Oak and SW Stark. The city installed the buffered lanes in 2009, with only green splashes in the lane at intersections, but they seem to be confusing to drivers—often cars will obliviously […]
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City Finds Bike Boxes May Actually Increase Crashes
One of the biggest safety problems for bikes and cars sharing the road is right hooks—drivers turning right crashing into cyclists, especially at busy intersections. Since 2008, Portland has tried to stop right hooks by painting green “bike boxes” at 11 problem intersections. But do the boxes actually make cyclists safer? Just this year, Portlander […]
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Judge Declares Operating a “Disco Trike” is Free Speech
During an Occupy protest on a rainy night last winter, Portland Police arrested Portlander Dan Kaufman and impounded his sparkly gold “disco trike,” charging him with “unlawful operation of a sound-producing equipment” as he blasted music during the protest. Today, a judge declared that the charges against Kaufman are worthless. Operating a disco trike at […]
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Three Reasons You Should Care About Swan Island
I didn’t ever really give a thought to Swan Island—you know, the not-even-really-an-island business park that’s at the base of North Portland’s Willamette Bluffs?—until a couple weeks ago when people started telling me about the big issues going on with North Portland Greenway down there. I finally spent some time on Swan Island in past […]
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City Zeroes in on Alta to Run Portland Bike Share
GOTHAMIST For better or worse, here we come! The Portland Bureau of Transportation announced today that it has chosen Portland-based company Alta Bicycle Share as the finalist to run the ambitious bike sharing system that aims to roll out across Portland next year. The city chose Alta over river B-Cycle in part, it seems, because […]
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No Criminal Charge or Ticket for Driver In Fatal Crash With Kathryn Rickson
On May 16, 29-year-old Kathryn Rickson was killed in downtown Portland, just a block from city hall, when she and a truck turning right onto SW 3rd Avenue from Madison collided as she was biking east on the same street. Today, the district attorney finished its investigation into the crash (PDF). The result? The truck […]
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Do Cyclists Make Better Customers?
Businesses in Portland and around the country sometimes push back against bike and pedestrian projects because they think removing space from cars will hurt their businesses. Customers who bike, walk, or take transit to bars, restaurants, and markets are a drop in the bucket, right? A new study shows that people who walk and bike […]
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This Delicious Sandwich is Free to Cyclists on Swan Island Tomorrow
Biking: Always extremely healthy. Incredibly tasty place Tilt (3449 N Anchor) is giving away delicious, unhealthy sandwiches (pictured above) and coffee to bike commuters tomorrow morning. The hard part isn’t going to be down to their Swan Island location between 7-9am, it’s going to be hoofing it back up the hill to North Interstate again. […]