Cycling News & Blog Articles

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Opinion: Actually, yes, cars are the problem

From a road safety protest on SE Division in December 2016. (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

I’m still going through the recent bicycle count report published by the Portland Bureau of Transportation this week and there’s something I need to make very clear: The reason more people aren’t biking is not because of some flaw in the idea of bicycling itself or even because of any shortcomings in the network of roads, paths, and lanes that people do it on.

The problem is cars. Too many cars, to be exact. And too many of them driven without regard for others. This isn’t just my opinion, it also happens to be the official stance of the City of Portland.

This problem has always been right in front of our faces but we don’t recognize it as such because it requires us to acknowledge that something we (nearly) all do on a regular basis might actually have negative impacts on our community and our city. Put another way, the problem is us, and that’s the problem. Not only is driving a car something the vast majority of us do and sympathize with, it’s also normalized by trillions of dollars in marketing over the last century as something that is cool, fun, and harmless. When you’re in a car, Big Auto propaganda says, everyone else is the problem. None of that is true of course, but this is America! With enough money and marketing savvy, you can convince people of anything.

But I digress. What I want you take from this post is a clearer understanding of what has happened on Portland streets in the past decade.


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Let’s talk about the I-5 freeway cap

Conceptual drawing of cap looking southwest from NE Tillamook toward the river. (Source: ODOT)

Just two days after the Biden Administration announced a $450 million grant to construct highway caps above I-5 through the Rose Quarter, the advisory committee that is largely responsible for making it happen held a meeting. Members of the Oregon Department of Transportation’s Historic Albina Advisory Board (HAAB) gathered on Zoom Tuesday. The group aired feedback on the grant news and watched presentations about the caps and other details from project staff.

HAAB meeting on Zoom with ODOT Director Strickler on bottom right..

I found the meeting very enlightening and figured you might too. Below I’ll share some of the slides and other things I took away from it…

Slides shown Tuesday that give us a sense of where the cap will go and its size in context.

The plan is for one continuous cap (also called a “highway cover”) that would stretch over I-5 from the corner of NE Tillamook and Flint south to NE Weidler (see images). The cap, which is estimated to cost about $700 to $900 million total (about half the project total) would fully restore the street grid of North Flint, Vancouver, and North Williams (north/south) and N Weidler, Broadway, Hancock and Tillamook (east/west). The cap would add about 7 new acres of land to the Rose Quarter.
















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Discovering New Cycling Routes: How to Plan Your Next Ride!

Whether you’re a seasoned rider or just starting out, finding new routes can refresh your cycling routine and bring new challenges. In this blog, we’ll explore some effective ways to plan new cycling routes that are both enjoyable and safe. Here are 10 top tips to consider! 1. Define Your Ride Objectives Before you start […]

The post Discovering New Cycling Routes: How to Plan Your Next Ride! appeared first on Merlin Cycles Blog.

What are TPU Lightweight inner tubes?

A TPU inner tube refers to an inner tube made from Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU). TPU is a type of plastic that features the characteristics of rubber and plastic, making it flexible, durable, and resistant to abrasion, oil, and chemicals. Why you should consider TPU inner Tubes: Examples of TPU Inner Tubes: Pirelli P Zero Smart […]

The post What are TPU Lightweight inner tubes? appeared first on Merlin Cycles Blog.

After survey and study, bike friendly speed bumps get a thumbs-up

(Portland Bureau of Transportation)

Bike-friendly speed bumps have felt like something of an underdog since they burst onto the scene in 2017. But that would change if Portland’s head bike planner has any say in the matter.

Speed bumps with channels cut through them to ease the way for bicycle riders have elicited a variety of opinions over the years. Some say they make biking more comfortable and attractive, while others find them annoying and worry about costs given other priorities. For the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT), the jury had been out — even after years of use in the field.

Now results are in from a PBOT survey conducted over the summer: “PBOT recommends that bicycle-friendly speed bumps be the preferred speed bump used for neighborhood greenways,” reads a 10-page report authored by PBOT Bicycle Coordinator Roger Geller published Thursday ahead of a meeting of the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee on Tuesday (March 12th).

The first mention of bike-friendly speed bumps on BikePortland was January 2017 when we got wind that PBOT would test them on the SE Clinton Street neighborhood greenway. Since then, PBOT has rolled them out on 10 greenways citywide: N Kilpatrick, Michigan and Wabash; NE Alameda, Davis and Everett; SE Ankeny, Clinton and Woodward, and SW 60th. When they came to a greenway in my neighborhood, I was eager to sing their praises.




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Video: Bike parking policy update with Chris Smith

Few people in Portland know more about our city’s bicycle parking policy than Chris Smith. During my chat with him yesterday he shared a history of the issue and we talked about recent efforts by the City of Portland and State of Oregon to roll back code requirements that encourage more bicycle parking. You can watch our conversation above (along with helpful graphics spliced-in along the way), or find it wherever you get your podcasts.

Smith is the consummate transportation reform activist who’s been involved with numerous efforts and projects over the years. I first knew him as creator of the excellent blog Portland Transport (first mentioned on BikePortland in 2005!) which still serves our community as a repository of KBOO Bike Show episodes. He’s also the inventor of the “Transit Appliance” — a wonderful device that posts transit arrival times and can be found at bus and MAX stations citywide. Smith has also been a candidate for Portland City Council and Metro Council. Smith has fought freeway expansions for nearly two decades and was a major voice against the Columbia River Crossing project and a co-founder of the group No More Freeways. And those are just some of his bona fides!

Smith was pulled into bicycle parking specifically for his expertise in how bikes mix with transit gleaned from his long-time position on the board (and as vice-chair) of Portland Streetcar Inc. (the private nonprofit contracted by the City of Portland to help plan and manage the streetcar). After the City’s Bicycle Plan for 2030 passed in 2010 and ridership skyrocketed, Smith was tapped to help update the code so that the hordes of local riders would have a proper place to park their bikes. BikePortland worked with Smith to host two events (one in 2013 and another in 2018) to garner input on the bike parking code and that effort led to a major update that passed Portland City Council in 2019.

Then Portland lost its bicycling mojo, the housing shortage became a crisis, and the politics shifted. As we reported here in detail over the past year or so, Portland’s vaunted bike parking code was put on the chopping block by Bureau of Planning & Sustainability Commissioner Carmen Rubio as part of a “housing regulatory reform” package. In my conversation with Smith, you’ll hear how and why this all went down, as well as the lessons he’s learned along the way.

We also talk about Oregon Governor Tina Kotek’s big housing bill passed just this week by the Oregon Legislature. One of them, Senate Bill 1537, included a relatively unknown provision that gives cities the ability to adjust their bike parking requirements to spur housing production.

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Weekend Event Guide: Singing, bikepacking, art of Foster, and more

Bikepacking curious? (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

Here are some fun things to do for bike lovers this weekend…

Singing Through the Gorge – 12:00 noon at Ankeny Rainbow Road Plaza (SE)
Join Bike Happy Hour regular and musician Steve “Chezz” Cheseborough on a ride to the Gorge to attend the annual retreat of the Portland Folkmusic Society. (More info here)

Art of Foster Ride – 2:00 pm at Portland Mercado (SE)
Local filmmaker Amit Zinman is making videos of Portland’s classic loop rides and wants you to help make his scenes more beautiful. This is the first in a series so stay tuned for future versions. (More info here)

Midnight Mystery Ride – 11:45 pm at Apex (SE)
Should be a clear and brisk night — perfect for riding to a mystery spot with friends old and new. (More info here)

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Let’s talk about running on neighborhood greenways

(Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

A few days ago a reader emailed to share that a person riding a bike shouted at them for running on Southeast Clinton Street. “I was yelled at by a cyclist to run on the sidewalk,” the person (who also rides bikes) shared. “I responded that no, I would not run on the sidewalk because it was a neighborhood greenway.” After this random argument with a stranger, the person got home and took stock: “Was I the a**hole here?” she asked me. “Is it legal to run in the road on a neighborhood greenway?”

I figured it’d be a great question for the Ask BikePortland column. But as I got the post together, I realized I’d actually already answered that exact question in 2012 (there are 17,882 posts on here, so yes, I will often forget what I’ve already written!). But what I didn’t have in 2012 was the ability to make a video and share it on social media. So I made a video instead and shared it on Instagram and TikTok this morning. Watch it below:

So what’s the answer? Turns out Oregon law (ORS 814.070) says if you are a “pedestrian” (or runner) you must use the sidewalk if one is available. And if there’s no sidewalk, you must stay as far to the right “as practicable.” Since SE Clinton has a sidewalk, technically the cyclist in the above situation was right. It’s similar to the mandatory bike lane law some of you might be familiar with — and just like how activists are working to erase that law, I’d love to see an effort to change this one so that pedestrians could have a bit more legal right to be on the road.

After all, sidewalks (similar to bike lanes) are often obstructed and unfit for running, and riding right next to parked cars is stressful and dangerous. Not only that, but as I point out in the video, City of Portland policy is to create greenways so they prioritize not just cyclists, but everyone who isn’t inside a car.

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ODOT will build protected intersection to boost bicycling safety in West Linn

ODOT concept drawing of the new intersection.

West Linn, a city about 20 miles south of Portland, will be one of the first places in the state where the Oregon Department of Transportation builds a protected intersection. Protected intersections are considered the gold standard of protection for bicycle riders and walkers because they come with raised corner curb islands, physical separation from other road users, better visibility at crossings, and other safety elements.

The Oregon Department of Transportation is in the final design stage of a protected intersection on Willamette Drive (OR 43) at Marylhurst Drive/Lazy River Dr. The $7 million project is part of a larger streetscape project that includes a continuous cycle track and other safety updates on Willamette Drive between Mary S. Young park and the city’s northern limit near Marylhurst University.

Here’s more about the project from a recent ODOT update:

Protected intersection designs are intended to extend the safe environment for bicyclists and pedestrians through use of raised corner islands, forward stop bars for bicyclists, and well defined marked crossings. These defenses make it clear to all users where bicyclists are, provide physical protection in the queuing area, and further increase bicyclist visibility by allowing them early entry into the intersection ahead of right turning vehicles.




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Bike path among newly released visuals of Interstate Bridge megaproject

New visualization released yesterday.

The folks working on a new Interstate Bridge and expansion of I-5 between Portland and Vancouver released new visualizations yesterday, including our best view yet of the potential new bike path.

The new drawings were released at a meeting of the Executive Steering Group, one of several committees formed to garner feedback on the (estimated) $6-7.5 billion Interstate Bridge Replacement Program. The ESG is made up of agency leaders and elected officials from Portland and southwest Washington. ESG members have already adopted a set of desired outcomes for the future bicycle and pedestrian facilities. Among them are that the new bikeway must “feel safe” and be “separated from moving vehicles” and that the path environment is “visible and connected.” They’ve also expressed a desire for bikeways to be “high quality,” “convenient,” and to “connect to important destinations.”

The ESG and IBRP team are currently finalizing their Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (Draft SEIS), which is due out later this spring.

IBRP Administrator Greg Johnson presented the visualizations at the meeting (where he also said they’re working on new videos that will explain how bicycle riders and walkers will make their way through the corridor). Johnson stressed that the drawings shown yesterday are not final and are, “Not for decision-making or narrowing options.”  “These are just to give perspective on the size of the bridge as related to, if you’re standing on the ground on Hayden Island or on the Vancouver Waterfront.”













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The Top 5 Road Cycling Shoes for Under £100…

Here are 5 solid options of Road Cycling shoes we have on our shelves at Merlin HQ, all for under £100. But be quick, because these won’t stick around for long! In price order, here is our top picks for Spring 2024… Starting with: Merlin RC1 Road Bike Shoes Priced at: £27.50 Our Merlin RC1 […]

The post The Top 5 Road Cycling Shoes for Under £100… appeared first on Merlin Cycles Blog.

Join me March 19th for a ‘Policy Talks’ panel on safe streets

Flyer by Portland for All

Hope everyone’s having a good Tuesday and enjoying a bit of sunshine and dry skies. This is just a quick post to share a thing I’m doing on March 19th with some great folks on an important topic. I’ll be on a three-person “Policy Talks” panel hosted by local nonprofit Portland for All. The title of the panel is, “Creating streets safe in every community.”

Portland for All is an all-volunteer group that is organizing around ideas. Their website says they were, “born out of conversations folks were having with friends and neighbors concerned about the challenges facing our City, and all of the negative rhetoric about this place we call home,” and that they believe, “there is a hopeful, positive, and inclusive future that’s possible for our City.” This is the third event in their Policy Talks series. The first two were about public safety and homelessness.

Joining me on the 19th at this virtual event will be two folks you’ve read about a lot on BikePortland over the years: former Oregon Walks executive director and current Metro Councilor Ashton Simpson, and veteran community advocate and current Portland City Council (D1) candidate Steph Routh. It just so happens I’ve already had both Ashton and Steph on our podcast. I spoke with Ashton in March 2022 during his run for Metro Council and I shared an interview with Steph from Bike Happy Hour back in November.

To give you a sense of the focus of our upcoming panel, here’s the blurb from Portland for All:

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Closer look at new carfree path through Rose City Golf Course

A runner takes advantage of the new path. View is looking north onto NE 72nd Drive from NE Tillamook. (Photos: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

PBOT graphic.

After its first iteration was destroyed by driving advocates, the newly hardened carfree path through Rose City Golf Course (built as a key section of the 70s Neighborhood Greenway project) has survived for a few weeks. Given that it’s now made of concrete poured onto the ground and in the form of multi-ton barriers, it would take a mighty effort to remove it.

I took a closer look at the project yesterday and experienced the anger some folks in the neighborhood feel about the project first-hand.

While I was standing in the golf course parking lot taking video and photos, a full-sized Chevy pickup rumbled toward me (you can see the truck in a photo in the gallery below). I ignored it at first, then a window came down and I heard yelling in my direction. I bent over and peered into the rolled-down passenger-side window to pay attention to what an older mas was saying to me. I felt his anger and hatred immediately — even though we exchanged no small talk. He didn’t ask me any questions or try to understand what I was doing out there. He just went right into tirade-mode: “You have nothing better to do with your time than film people going up this hill?!! You’re a bike Nazi! I bet you got beat up in high school!” It was all so random and strange, yet I understood exactly what was going on (I’m well-aware how our society has become tremendously tribalist and divided). I actually felt bad for the guy. I barely replied. Just looked at him with a shocked face. “I’m just documenting the infrastructure!” I replied. “The infrastructure? Yeah it’s really messing things up for everyone who lives up on the hill! I’m glad you got beat up in high school! You bike Nazi!!”















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Friend of ‘Dino’ shares what happened before he was run down by a driver

The homeless camp on SE Belmont where Bentley was hit. (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

A friend of David “Dino” Bentley, the man killed in a violent vehicular rampage on Southeast Belmont Street on February 25th, says the incident was the result of a disagreement between the driver and people who lived at a street encampment. According to a BikePortland commenter who says they once lived at the camp where Bentley was killed, the driver, 22-year-old Shane McKeever, wanted fentanyl and became aggressive when he couldn’t get it.

Someone named Belynda Wagner wrote a comment on our story about the crash Monday night sharing details of what she believes happened in those early hours of Sunday morning prior to McKeever running down Bentley and driving his car into the well-established encampment on SE Belmont between Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd and Grand Ave.

Wagner’s comment is a window into what might have happened that morning, the brutal nature of street life, and Portland’s ongoing struggle to take care of people who live here.

Read her comment below (edited for clarity):


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Podcast: In the Shed with housing researcher Michael Andersen

Michael and I outside the Shed.

The one and only Michael Andersen rolled over to The Shed on Friday and I’m excited to share our 50-minute conversation with you.

If things would have gone differently, Michael and I might have been working together here in my backyard. Seven years ago, Michael was BikePortland’s news editor, a position he held from 2013 to 2016. I’m typically pretty humble about what happens around here, but I have no problem saying that Michael and I were kicking ass. We had such a great complement of skills when it came to this weird type of community transportation journalism that we do. It just clicked. I loved working with him and — from the Real Estate Beat column, to his detailed coverage of “low-car life” (a phrase he popularized) and national cycling trends (he was working half-time for national nonprofit People for Bikes) — I loved what we produced together.

Why’d he leave BikePortland? He shared something during our chat Friday about that for the first time. “Because I couldn’t have two children simultaneously,” Michael said. “BikePortland was so all-encompassing that I felt like I couldn’t have done them both of them justice. So, I had to choose my son. Sorry about that.”

I still don’t forgive him, but I’ve learned to move on. Just kidding! And it feels great to know that Michael went on to much bigger things as a major part of Sightline, a well-respected think tank with nearly two dozen staff that research, develop policy, and write articles about stuff like housing, climate change, environmental economics, democracy, transportation, and so on.

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Comment of the Week: Living in the ‘dead zone’

This comment came in early last week, in response to the first of two BikePortland posts about a man killed by a driver on Southeast Belmont and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. The posts caused a whiplash of reaction as the details of the story emerged over several days. What had begun as another dangerous infrastructure story morphed into an intentional-act-of-violence story. Between them, they managed to touch upon all of our frustrations and hot-button issues. The constant was that people living on the streets are vulnerable.

This thoughtful comment by SD remained relevant even as the story changed. SD stepped back from the immediate incident to notice the cityscape that car infrastructure creates, specifically “dead zones,” and why those locations might appeal to someone living outside. It got me thinking about how a city takes its form, and how it forms the people who live in it.

Here’s what SD had to say:

An important point that may be missed here is that the interviews with the residents of this camp show that they are aware of how dangerous it is because of speeding cars, yet they choose to be here. Relative to other dangers or difficulties they face, the risk of cars, noise and exhaust are acceptable. I hope that people who read this story take a moment to consider how hard it is to be homeless. Homeless people are in many cases trying their best to be out of the way of society, but at the same time need to be close enough to meet basic needs and have the safety of being in a place where someone might hear you if you scream for help.

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Monday Roundup: Antifa superhighway, climate time bomb, a perfect bike, and more

Welcome to the week. It’s going to be a great! Let’s get started.

Here’s what our community has been talking about for the past seven days…

Move over, crime train: Joe Kent, a Republican candidate for U.S. Congress in southwest Washington opposes the project to replace the Interstate Bridge on grounds that it is an “Antifa superhighway” that would bring crime by Portland’s “drug addicts and criminals” into Vancouver. (The New York Times)

Perfect bike, Portland roots: Argonaut is now based in Bend, but Ben Farver started the company in Portland and it’s great to see him win high accolades for his carbon fiber bike in a major cycling publication. Congrats Ben! (Cycling News)

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New Arrivals at Merlin Cycles…

This month we have some exciting new bikes, frames and flashy components to hit the shelves at Merlin HQ. Lets check em’ out! Colnago G3-X GRX RX820 2x Carbon Gravel Bike This stunning Colnago G3-X carbon gravel bike has been designed for fast gravel riding. A true adventure all day bike to enjoy natural landscapes […]

The post New Arrivals at Merlin Cycles… appeared first on Merlin Cycles Blog.

Podcast: Crash survivor and safety advocate Sarah Risser

Sarah Risser with the family of Jason Ruhmshottel at a ghost bike installation earlier this month. (Jonathan Maus / BikePortland)

Imagine losing someone you love deeply in a traffic crash. Now imagine being seated next to them when it happened. That’s the tragic reality Portland road safety advocate Sarah Risser experienced in January 2019.

I talked to Risser this week to learn more about the work she’s doing to help families deal with grief and to help our community acknowledge the crushing toll of traffic deaths. But before I asked Risser anything else, I asked her to share the story of her son 18-year-old Henry Zietlow, who was driving their car on a snowy road when “a clearly negligent and reckless” driver coming the opposite direction crossed the centerline and slammed into them.

“It was just heartbreaking,” Risser recalled. “He was a beautiful beautiful young man. Just coming into his own.”

That crash radicalized Risser. “It didn’t have to happen. It was preventable,” she shared with me. And in a moving essay she published last fall, Risser wrote, “Once I began to see how much we’ve sacrificed to our auto-centric lifestyle, I couldn’t unsee it.”


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Jobs of the Week: Bike Clark County, WashCo Bikes, Castelli, Clever Cycles

Need a job? Want a better job? Just looking for a change? You are in the right place. Don’t miss these recent job announcements. Remember, you can always stay abreast of jobs as soon as they get listed by signing up for email updates.

For a complete list of available jobs, click here.

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