Kenneth C. Martin Blogs: 2016 Bridge Pedal open thread

Sunday, August 14, 2016

2016 Bridge Pedal open thread

Portland from the Marquam Bridge. Great views of downtown on a pretty day. Picture by Jeremy Kitchen.

Did you ride Bridge Pedal? The weather was perfect, and I saw lots of families having a great time riding and enjoying the views.

Girl on unicycle at 2016 Bridge Pedal; picture by Sara Elcano.

Things I noticed:

They used a new identification system this year, spoke cards and a helmet sticker. The helmet sticker seemed to be very successful (some on shirts, but easy to use), but the spoke cards were less successful- many people (including me) zip-tied them to handlebars, some people zip-tied them to their spokes, so you’d hear the zip-ties or spoke card flapping against the fork.
Some pinch-points were carried over from last year- notably, the Eastbank Esplanade under Hawthorne, past OMSI, and under Tilikum.
Car traffic was heavily impacted. Many confused drivers. The Bridge Pedal crew has tons of volunteers at intersections, with police directing traffic and observing intersections too. That probably helps (though there were a few confused/angry drivers on St. Helens Road; I hope this didn’t lead to any crashes).

“Advisory speed” signs are set at 25mph. I’m taking that as a nod from ODOT to cyclists. (the signs appear ‘broken’ because cameras don’t have persistence of vision). Pic by Ted Timmons.

My highlights included:

Riding over the top of Fremont Bridge. Always my favorite part of Bridge Pedal.
Seeing a girl riding a tall unicycle. I didn’t get a picture, but @SaraElcano did.
Friend Jeremy Kitchen replaced someone’s tire and delivered pizza to two surprised and thankful Trimet employees.

What did you notice? What were your highlights? Here’s some more photos, then it’d be great to hear from you in the comments.