Dirty fun for all ages: Disptach from the Short Track MTB series finale

Kids love short track.
(Photos by J. Maus/BikePortland)

Last night was the end to another great season of “Short Track” mountain bike racing out at PIR (Portland International Raceway, adjacent to Delta Park and north of the Kenton neighborhood). About 300 people of all ages and abilities found their way to the venue for some good, old-fashioned, elbow-to-elbow racing action.

This series has been a mainstay on the local racing calendar for 12 years now. It’s owned and operated by Kris Schamp of Portland Racing, who also puts on the Kruger’s Kermesse on Sauvie Island. Schamp shared with me last night that he thinks stifling congestion on nearby freeways and a drop-off in racing participation in general has eaten into his field sizes of late. But he also said many new Portland residents bought series passes this year, eager to participate in a fun weekday race series so close to home.

What I’ve always loved about this event — besides the racing itself which features tight turns, fast competition, and thrilling course layouts — is the approachable vibe. In my transportation advocacy world we talk about “8-80” streets, meaning we should design streets to be safe for everyone 8-80 years old. Short track is like 8-80 bike racing.

Similar to cyclocross in the fall, short track is a place where everyone’s welcome. It’s definitely a “run what you ‘brung,” type of place. Last night there was everything from a kids race to elite-level competition. And out on the course I saw fat bikes, cyclocross bikes, mountain bikes, singlespeeds, and even a guy on a longtail cargo bike!

Speaking of action on the course, I got to see two great battles: Carter Hagedorn and Jacob Smith (both from the DEVO youth development team) dueled for the win in the Category 3, 10-14 year old race. And perennial fast men Ryan Weaver (Giro/River City Bicycles) and Seth Patla (PDX TI/HUB/RCB) treated us all to a show at the front of singlespeed race.

I captured a bit of that action as well as a few other scenes in the photos below…

Carter Hagedorn and Jacob Smith battled in the 10-14 year-old category until the last lap when Smith pulled away for good. Hagedorn took home the overall series title.

The voice of short track, and dedicated supporter of local racing, Luciano Bailey.

Seth Patla on the wheel of Ryan Weaver in the singlespeed race.
These two were sooo fast, and so fun to watch.

Which line would you choose?

Learn more about our local racing scene at the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association’s website and check out PortlandRacing.com to get this series on your calendar for next summer.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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A Roundup of 10 (Great) Loveseats for Under $600

For those of us with pint-sized living rooms, or roomier bedrooms in need of extra seating, a loveseat might be just the thing you need to cozy up to your mate. We’ve rounded up 10 great loveseats under $600 to help make the perfect small-space statement. (How pretty is that watercolor-y one, huh?  We love a good loveseat because it’s the perfect place to go bold with pattern without overwhelming a room. Pair any of these with patternful pillows  and anchor the loveseat with a euphorbia or a lacey tree philodendron and you’ll be on your way to some serious jungaliciousness, yes? Yes!

Boho

1. Quality Rattan Loveseat
2. Vintage Rattan Settee
3. The Zest Around Pillow

Mid Century Modern

1. FINN JUHL Style NV-45 Loveseat
2. Kenway Upholstered Loveseat
3. Corrigan Studio Saginaw Loveseat

Patterned

1. Black and White Tribal Jacquard Jaxton Love Seat
2. Custom Upholstered Armless Loveseat – Skyline Furniture
3. Billie Sofa

Classic Contemporary

1. Emerald Green Velvet Marian Loveseat
2. Elton Settee

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From the scene of tragedy: A dispatch from 82nd and Flavel

A friend of Lydia Johnson’s pays her respects at the corner of Flavel and 82nd in Southeast Portland.
(Photos: J. Maus/BikePortland)

I spent the morning at Southeast 82nd and Flavel, where just 48 hours earlier a woman was killed in a traffic collision while riding her bike.

The woman was Lydia Johnson, a 25-year-old Portland native who went to Cleveland High School and worked downtown at Café Yumm! on Southwest 3rd and Morrison. Johnson studied esthetics at the Aveda Institute and also worked as an esthetician at Be Smooth French Skincare in the Pearl District. Her Facebook page features photos of her at the Oregon Country Fair and doing aerial acrobatics Night Fligh Aerial, a circus arts training school.

On Saturday morning Johnson was riding eastbound on Flavel Street, perhaps on her way to the Springwater Corridor just a few blocks away. As she approached 82nd Avenue she was involved in a collision with what police describe as a “box truck.” From the police statement so far, both Johnson and the truck driver Joel Silva where going in the same direction. When Silva steered his truck right (south on 82nd) he came in contact with Johnson and her bike.

Judging from the markings I saw on 82nd today Silva’s truck stopped about 50 feet east of Flavel.

Here are a few more photos from the intersection…

On Flavel going eastbound toward 82nd.

Looking back at the bike lane from the other side of the street.

Another view of the bike lane Johnson was riding in.

This is the corner (on the left) where the collision occurred.

It appears to be a classic right-hook although we don’t yet know any other details such as whether the light was green or red or where either of the vehicles where prior to the collision. Those details likely won’t be made available until after the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office has completed their investigation of the case. As is standard practice, the police have given the case to the DA to determine whether or not Silva bears any criminal responsibility.

This section of Flavel is a 35 mph zone and according to City of Portland traffic data the average person goes about 38 mph and about 37 percent of all auto users go over the speed limit. Flavel as it crosses 82nd is classified as a neighborhood collector street and has moderate traffic.

Here’s video of Flavel with 82nd in the background:

Video of intersection where Lydia Johnson was right-hooked (SE Flavel eastbound at 82nd) http://pic.twitter.com/LGw8pmBdCO

— BikePortland (@BikePortland) August 1, 2016

While it’s nowhere near streets like Powell or Division in terms of traffic volume or sheer size, Flavel and 82nd is definitely still a very auto-centric place. Three of the four corners at the intersection have two very wide driveways. There are two mini-marts, a bar, and a Mexican food restaurant (which is really good by the way).

Flavel has three standard vehicle lanes west of 82nd — two for through travel and one left-turn only lane. It also has bike lanes striped on both sides. The eastbound bike lane — where Johnson was likely riding or stopped — is very narrow. It can’t be more than three or four feet wide.

Of the two dozen or so people I saw on bikes in the two hours I watched the intersection this morning, only two or three of them were in the roadway. Even though Flavel is listed as the bike street in this area, and the entrance to the Springwater Corridor bike path is just a few blocks east, almost everyone bikes on the sidewalk.

We know how dangerous the roads are in east Portland – especially on and around 82nd Avenue. That’s why the city has designated it as one of their 10 “High Crash Corridors,” and the Portland Bureau of Transportation launched its Vision Zero Task Force just a few miles north of where Johnson died. At a PBOT crosswalk enforcement action held this past April five blocks north of here at SE Cooper Street, the police handed out 36 citations and eight warnings in just a few hours.

Even with this knowledge and with all our wisdom and rhetoric about how to make streets safer, here we are. Another tragic loss of life. And another right-hook. And another truck making a turning movement. I’ve been reporting on this type of collision for a decade now. I’m not sure what else can be said.

This isn’t a technical problem, this is a cultural problem.

This isn’t just a tragedy for people who knew and loved Lydia Johnson. This is a tragedy for all of us.

I’ve been emailing with some of Johnson’s friends today. They’re connecting with her family to make memorial plans and they’ve just placed a ghost bike for her on the corner.

She was only 25.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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Bike Theft Task Force officers host ride-along on the Springwater Corridor

PPB Officers Dave Sanders (right) and Ben Labasan on the Springwater Path Saturday.
(Photos: Portland Police Bureau)

Leaders of the Portland Police Bureau’s Bike Theft Task Force did a ride-along on the Springwater Corridor path on Saturday.

The ride was a spontaneous event that founder of the Task Force, PPB Officer Dave Sanders, posted to Twitter just a few hours before he set out. He was joined by fellow Officer Ben Labasan and the two of them were joined by a handful of citizens who showed up to ride with them. It was all part of the Bike Theft Task Force’s ongoing effort to involve the community in the work they are doing to prevent bike theft and recover stolen bikes.

Why the Springwater? “I’ve been wanting to see the issues along the Springwater firsthand and have been wanting to address some of the ongoing tips and complaints that we have received regarding bike theft in this area,” Ofcr Sanders said via email this morning.

Here’s more from Sanders:

My hope was to allow the community to be involved in navigating some of their concerns/problems that present themselves along the corridor. I wanted to be able to listen to these concerns on a deeper level and to allow the community see first-hand how we follow up on these bike-theft related complaints and the challenges that we are sometimes faced with. Some folks who offer up these bike theft tips/complaints sometimes feel that these go into a black hole and are not addressed, so I wanted to encourage the public that we do take these seriously and address them as we are able. I believe that the community’s involvement in stopping bike theft is crucial and we are never going to get a handle on it if we can’t come together on this as a larger community.

Recovered bike found along the Springwater path.

The officers found lots of parts, but didn’t see any high-end, complete bikes.

Beyond the community-building, the ride led to results. Within a few hours the officers recovered a nice new Public road bike. Sanders and Labasan were excited to recover that bike, but wish they could have run serial numbers on the “hundreds” of other bikes that looked suspicious. “We weren’t able to address many of the bikes we saw,” he wrote, “but tried to follow up on the ones that we thought may be reported/registered and were in decent condition.” Sanders said there was one trove of bikes in particular that he wanted to check out but was unable to due to a “very aggressive dog” that was guarding the area.

While he was dismayed at the conditions he saw along the path, Sanders was encouraged to see so many people out riding. “We received dozens of positive comments on Saturday and many expressed appreciation for being out on the trail,” he wrote. “I wish we could be out there riding every day. I can say, after riding the trail, I understand more deeply the legitimate concerns that are presented by the community around the corridor, and hope that we can continue to address those better.”

Stay tuned for future opportunities to join Sanders and other Portland Police officers on a bike ride. Learn more about the Bike Theft Task Force by following them on Twitter @PPBBikeTheft and on the web at PortlandOregon.gov.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

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BBQ Chicken Burrito Bowls

Weeknight dinners can be the most difficult to cook. After a long day of work, I don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen figuring out what to make for dinner.

That’s why Sunday meal prepping can be a beautiful thing, and these easy BBQ Chicken Burrito Bowls are a perfect example.

Continue reading "BBQ Chicken Burrito Bowls" »

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The Monday Roundup: Bad bike lane, Segway ban, tack justice and more

Come on Boston. You can do better than this.
(Photo: Boston Globe)

This week’s Monday Roundup is sponsored by The Portland Century, coming this weekend August 6th and 7th!

Happy Monday everyone. Here are the stories that caught our eye this past week.

Safety city: Portland is a national leader in teaching kids to ride bikes. So when are we going to build an entire play city for them to learn in?

Mobility panic in NYC: 18-month shutdown of major New York City subway line will be, “one of the largest transportation shifts in New York history.” Hope CitiBike is ready for the extra 200,000 trips per day.

What’s a few MPGs? Oh look, the U.S. auto fleet isn’t meeting its fuel-efficiency targets. Turns out the mandates from the Obama administration were really only “projections.”

Fatal collision in Battle Ground: A man died after someone drove into the back of him on Highway 503 about 20 miles north of Portland.

Boston’s bad bike lane: City crews in Boston have cut a new bike lane in half to avoid a concrete block they say would be too hard to move. Of course the standard vehicle lane next to the bike lane retains a consistent width.

Sick of Segways: Two cities in Europe that are major tourist destinations have had enough with Segways.

Still riding: A 90-year old man is riding the famous Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) because, “It’s just an enjoyable thing to do.”

Victim of success: A Washington DC program that gave seniors and riders with disabilities a simpler way to get around will be shut down — because people loved it too much.

Porsche tower: Given how common it is for people to crash their cars into homes, we’re not so sure it’s such a good idea to encourage folks to steer into their “personal sky garage”

Leg motors only: Turns out that the scandal over motorized bicycles in the pro road cycling peloton was a bit overblown.

Less accountable, less safe: A new study (funded by auto insurers) found that crashes went up 30 percent after red-light cameras were turned off.

Parking policy podcast: Here’s an easy way to take a crash-course in progressive parking policy: Listen to this great interview between urban policy expert Aaron Renn and parking guru Donald Shoup.

Seriously ODOT? Our state transportation department hired a major insider to audit itself — and was then forced to call it all off after The Portland Tribune pointed out the absurdity.

Tack justice: It’s relatively common for bike haters to spread tacks on popular routes; but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of someone actually being caught for it.

Car culture clash: Guess what happens when a journalist and daily bike rider from Berlin is given the assignment to test-drive one of those behemoth Ford pickup trucks?

If you come across a noteworthy story and want to see it included here, feel free to send it to us.

— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org

Our work is supported by subscribers. Please become one today.

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Plant Magic

Photo Via @HousePlantJournal

If you’re into plants, and you’re on Instagram, you may already know Darryl Cheng, aka House Plant Journal. His feed is full of plants- and not just photos of plants, but tips on taking care of plants, interesting facts about plants, and more. Darryl is always happy to answer questions in the comments, and even encourages people to send photos of plants that are having problems- he’s basically an Instagram plant therapist. Ha!

One of our favorite things from his feed though, are the time lapse videos of his plants that he shares. Seeing plants do their thing, like following the sun, perking up after watering, or drying out after a bath, in these short videos kind of feels like magic. Darryl sent us a few so we could share the plant magic!

Houseplant-Journal-Tillandsia-Tectorum Houseplant-Journal-Plant-Movement Houseplant-Journal-Watering-Marble-Queen-Pothos

For more of Darryl and his plant magic, find him on Instagram, his blog, or check out his Tumblr, where he also answers plant questions.

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