Cycling News & Blog Articles

My necessities for a recent housing search in Portland… and the front rack bag I crammed it all into. (Photos: Erin Bailie)

Hi! I’m Erin Bailie, and I’ll be moving from Seattle to Portland (Sullivan’s Gulch neighborhood) in February. By day I work a tech job in product/research, and I love using bicycles as my primary means of transportation. In my 30-something years I’ve lived a lot of bike lives: I’ve been bike commuting since second grade, sometimes I do track racing or go bikepacking, and I love Pedalpalooza. Reading BikePortland has been part of my morning routine for years, and I can’t wait to chronicle some of my thoughts as a newcomer to town. 

Though my husband Jonathan and I will be new to Portland, Portland won’t be new to us. Over the past few years, we’ve found any excuse we can to visit for the weekend. We’ve driven, taken Amtrak, and once we even rode the whole way to Portland (thanks, STP!). When the opportunity knocked for Jonathan to take a job in Portland, we couldn’t say “yes!” fast enough. 

The month before our move, we spent a week in Portland with the sole purpose of finding housing. Each day played out in a chaotic frenzy: I crammed my necessities and laptop into a front rack bag and rode from our lodging in Richmond, to rental showings across northeast and southeast, to co-working spaces to dial into meetings — and tried to find a gluten-free lunch somewhere along the way.

A trail near Boiler Bay on the Oregon Coast. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

A law that was created to shield land managers and property owners from liability claims is under fire and public trail access — including bike trails — across Oregon could be in jeopardy. That’s the state-of-play due to a decision in July 2023 by the Oregon Court of Appeals in a case that hinged on the legal concept of, “recreational immunity.”

Oregon’s recreational immunity law (ORS 105.682) states, “an owner of land is not liable in contract or tort for any personal injury, death or property damage that arises out of the use of the land for recreational purposes.” The idea behind this law is to encourage landowners (government entities or private companies/individuals) to keep trails open to the public without fear of being sued if someone is hurt using them.

Challenges to this law have happened before, but one if its biggest tests yet began when a woman slipped on a trail and broke her leg while walking near Agate Beach on the Oregon Coast in 2019 and sued the City of Newport for damages, saying the law shouldn’t apply because she wasn’t recreating at the time of her fall. Nicole Fields claimed the city was negligent because they failed to maintain a footbridge on a trail that led to the beach. Her lawyers argued their client was using the trail as an access route to her recreation — and was not technically recreating —  when she fell. A local judge didn’t accept that argument and ruled in favor of the City of Newport. But last summer, the decision was reversed by the Court of Appeals. When the Oregon Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal to the case in October, it raised questions about how to apply this important law.

Some cities and land managers are confused and worried that they will no longer be shielded from lawsuits if they keep trails open. According to the Salem Statesman Journal, several coastal cities have already closed trails and paused trail projects already. The Journal also reports that some legal experts feel closures are an overreaction, spurred by insurance industry scare tactics.

(Photo of a 2023 WLF ride by Dylan Evanston.)

After several days holed up at home and frozen, the thought of biking through the city with friends, gazing at creative light displays, and being entertained by people holding fire sounds mighty fine right about now.

If that sounds cool, you’ll be happy to know that the program for the annual Portland Winter Light Festival (PDXWLF) was announced today. What is PDXWLF? The nonprofit Willamette Light Brigade, the organization that hosts the event, puts it like this:

“PDXWLF brings art, technology, and inclusivity together, invigorating Portland in the winter. With free admission, the festival fosters community and showcases captivating light installations, projections, and interactive displays, creating an immersive experience for all attendees.”

The event is a collection of over 200 illuminated art displays throughout the city — and a bicycle is the best way to see them all! In fact, cycling is such a good match for this festival that organizers have released seven routes curated specifically for riders, put together by ride leader and BikePortland contributor Tom Howe.

Slide shown by PBOT right-of-way manager at City Council this morning.

“This will increase the walkability of the Central City Plan District and decrease the need for auto-oriented transportation.”

Portland City Council voted unanimously at their meeting this morning to green light a new pilot program that will bring more mobile food trucks to the the central city. The program is expected to help revitalize downtown, the Lloyd, and the Central Eastside, by allowing food truck operators to park adjacent to sidewalks and do business in the public right-of-way — a practice current city code prohibits.

The program will be operated by the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) as an expansion of their Healthy Business permit program that was launched during the pandemic as a way to help businesses expand operations into the street. That program also began as a pilot and was recently made permanent.

The ordinance means PBOT receives a nearly two-year waiver from having to comply with existing city code 14A.50.040 which states, “It shall be unlawful for any person to sell or attempt to sell any merchandise or services in or upon any sidewalk, street, alley, lane, public right of way, or under any bridgeway or viaduct within the Central City Plan District.”

Jason’s bike in a photo taken on the Smith and Bybee path, April 2023. (Right) Jason and his dog, Eddie Spaghetti. (Photos via Jason’s Facebook page)

Four months after 43-year-old Rose City Park neighborhood resident Jason Ruhmshottel was killed in a traffic collision, his family is still searching for closure and answers. 

According to his sister, Christina Cuanalo, Jason spent his free time playing video games, collecting Funko Pops, and reading. He loved 80’s horror villains such as Freddy Kruger and his favorite author was Stephen King. He ate healthy, but had a weakness for See’s Candy and ice cream. He loved coffee and would rave about a new ground he tried. 

Jason lived in Portland his entire life. He attended Jefferson High School and moved to an apartment near NE 53rd and I-84 in 2016. With a degree in Criminal Justice from Portland Community College, Ruhmshottel worked for the Transportation Security Administration at the Portland Airport before switching jobs in to work as a security officer at the Columbia Sportswear warehouse off of North Marine Drive. 

Jason worked the graveyard shift at the warehouse, which is located adjacent to the Smith and Bybee Wetlands Natural Area. When he began that job, he commuted via TriMet bus and walking — a journey Google Maps says takes one hour and 37 minutes. But four years ago, a close family friend gave Jason a bicycle and he began to ride it every day.

A bike bus crosses Calle Cesar Chavez in Portland. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

A university based in Barcelona, Spain has released the first-ever report on bike bus efforts around the globe.

The report, from the City Lab Barcelona research group at Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), summarizes key findings from interviews with 22 bike bus leaders in eight countries. 

Bike buses took off in 2021 when a Barcelona effort went viral online. But, according to this new report, the organized bike bus took place in Brecht, Belgium in 1998. “Today, Bike Bus has evolved from a set of isolated initiatives into a global movement that aspires to influence city policy and participate in the global conversation about building child-friendly cities.”

Timeline graphic from the report.

Readers Emily (left) Bradley (center) and Josh are making the most of the snow.

How are you doing with this wild weather?

What started as a dusting of snow, high winds, and record-setting cold temps Saturday has turned into a major weather event in Portland. There have been several deaths, lots of damaged property, school and business closures, and thousands are still without power. Folks who rely on TriMet have had a rough go as closures of the light rail system have wreaked havoc on some commutes.

As I type this Tuesday morning a possible ice storm is due to bear down on our city before the day is done. 

I’ve seen many posts of people bicycling and most roads are relatively rideable; but I haven’t been out much since Sunday morning. The photos I’ve seen of Mt. Tabor are heartbreaking! So many beautiful trees are gone, but even worse is the destruction of the big, covered picnic area near the start/finish of the Mt. Tabor series races. 

Nothing stings like satire. Writing in response to our StreetsPDX and southest Portland’s sidewalk problem post, “Young SW Advocate-in-Training” brought some comic relief, and maybe even thrust a dagger or two into the heart of some zombie tropes about southwest that just won’t die. In training as an advocate? I’d say sitting on the knee of Jonathan Swift.

Here’s what Young SW Advocate-in-Training had to say:

As a parent and a resident of SW Portland, I was heartened to read about PBOT’s new Safer In Cars Initiative. Formerly the Safe Streets Initiative, this new direction will be better aligned with our existing infrastructure, our current transportation investments, and our society’s values.

Let’s face it, in SW Portland, it’s not safe to have your children walk or bike anywhere. Our kids belong in the back seat of our car. The benefits are immense. First, driving in a car is a much healthier option than walking or biking once you consider SW Portland’s lack of sidewalks and the inertial difference between a four-year old and an Amazon delivery truck. Second, sidewalk infill projects that encourage active transportation are not good for the environment due to the negative impacts of increased storm water. Third, the future is digital, getting kids outside could mean an awkward face to face social interaction. This only slows their progress in developing digital relationships from the safety of their own homes (or back seats of our cars!). And finally, reducing or altogether eliminating sidewalk infill projects can help bridge the $500M funding gap for critical and more beneficial projects like the I-5 Rose Quarter project so we can get people back to their Southwest Washington tax havens 5 minutes quicker.

Welcome to the week.

Here are the most notable stories our community came across in the past seven days…

This week’s must-read: Just about everything you need to know about the current state of dysfunction in America’s traffic culture is included in this stellar article. Now, if only everyone who read it would change their behavior and/or tell others they should — we might actually make the situation a bit better! (NY Times)

MLK’s transportation dream: “His advocacy extended to various forms of transportation from buses to trains and his speeches and interviews helped to raise awareness of how transportation equity was a substantial part of the civil rights movement.” (Forbes)

Man walks dog on an unimproved shoulder of SW Sunset Blvd (Photo: Lisa Caballero/BikePortland)

In Wednesday’s StreetsPDX post, I covered the features of its new website, its flow, tools, and the information about city code and policies it brings together in one location. StreetsPDX project manager Mathew Berkow presented the project last month to the transportation committee of southwest Portland’s soon-to-be-defunct coalition of neighborhood associations, SWNI (Southwest Neighborhoods Inc).

Today, I want to follow up on that post and share a bit of the conversation that happened after Berkow’s presentation, between Kurt Kruger, Portland’s new public works permitting czar, and a few experienced transportation advocates. Kruger’s group decides what public works, like sidewalks or bike lanes, the city will require a new development to build in the right-of-way.

Why is this exchange important? Because it got to the heart of what I’m hearing from every transportation advocate in the region, including most BikePortland commenters. Folks do not want same ol’ same ol’. The status quo is not acceptable. And the SWNI committee was no different, it seemed like they were expecting something more or different from StreetsPDX.

One participant asked, “I know that your goal is to create this comprehensive thing that makes decision-making clear and transparent for people. But, what’s the larger goal, is the larger goal to make the city better? Is there not a larger goal?”

Brentwood-Darlington resident Meesa Long lobbied for this project at Metro in 2016. (Photo: Metro)

Maria Schur loves the Brentwood-Darlington neighborhood just fine the way it is; but even she was excited last week when the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) announced they’d finally break ground on a project that’s been eight years in the making.

“I’m biased. I think it’s a very special neighborhood. That’s maybe because I’ve lived here for 20 years,” Schur shared in a phone call Thursday. “But yes, I’m thrilled.”

Schur said walking to the store on SE Flavel and having to choose between mud and overgrown blackberries, or the street, makes the area feel like “The wild west… err, the wild south!”

The Brentwood-Darlington Multimodal Improvements project will spend $7.8 million ($4.6 from a federal grant awarded by Metro in 2017 and $3.2 from local Transportation System Development Charge funds) to fill gaps in sidewalks on both sides of SE Duke and SE Flavel streets between 52nd and 82nd avenues. The project will also build a new neighborhood greenway on SE Knapp and SE Ogden between 52nd and 87th, including a new signalized crossing of SE 82nd Avenue at SE Knapp and an enhanced crossing of 72nd Avenue at SE Ogden. According to a PBOT map of improvements coming to this neighborhood on Portland’s southern border that’s cradled by the Springwater Corridor path, a total of nine new crosswalks will complement the new greenway and sidewalks.

Wake Gregg, owner of The E-Bike Store in north Portland, rides a Specialized Haul e-bike. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

A bill set to make its way into the short session of the Oregon Legislature that begins next month would create a new statewide task force on electric bikes, scooters, and other small, motorized vehicles.

Currently in draft form as LC 164 (“LC” stands for legislative council, where bills go for final edits and drafting before being given an official bill number), the bill was shared with advocates in Portland this week and was the topic of discussion at the monthly meeting of Electric Bikes For All, a coalition of e-bike advocates that meets monthly via Zoom.

According to minutes from that meeting, this bill will be sponsored by Rep. Hoa Nguyen, a Democrat who represents District 48 (outer southeast). You might remember Rep. Nguyen as the force behind the successful “Bike Bus Bill” that was signed into law last session.

LC 164 is considered a bill that will help lay educational and political groundwork for a more substantive electric bicycle bill that will be floated in the 2025 session. That bill will likely be some version of Eugene House Rep. Emerson Levy’s “Trenton’s Law” that we covered late last year. I’ve reached to both Nguyen and Levy for more background and comment on LC 164 but haven’t heard back.

We got hammered with the fluffy white stuff in 2021. (Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

They say we might be in for some wild weather the next few days, so get your bikes ready for interesting times. If you head out in snow, lower your tire pressure a bit, watch those turns, and try to stay toasty! We’ve shared loads of wintry weather riding tips over the years and this post is a good place to start.

If you’re looking for community support and inspiration, and don’t feel like heading out on your own, check out the rides below.

But wait: Did you know Portland-based Bike Tires Direct has a huge warehouse sale coming up January 20th?! It’s true. And you can save up to 70% on hundreds of items. There will be doorbuster deals, an e-bike sweepstakes, and more. Get the info here.