On October 24 the United Bicycle Institute’s (UBI) celebrated with an open house at their new Portland location. Originally hailing from Ashland, Oregon, UBI has now brought their expertise, diverse training and advanced facilities to the Rose City. More...

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-Sally Bell, Advertising Manager

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance’s September Bike Commuter Challenge was an all-out success. Thousands of Oregonians made first-time commutes and some committed themselves to more consistent ridership, for the sake of healthy competition, the wonders of bike commuting and good old-fashioned fun. This year’s Brian Reynold’s distance award winner happens to also be my husband, Chris Bell. 

Chris is the most modest super commuter you’ll ever meet and he logged well over 1800 miles in the month of September, making the trek from our home in SE Portland to Salem, every day and back. More...

This morning, I took a train to Seattle to teach at a conference. It is one of the joys in life. I bike to the train station, work on a crossword as the scenery passes by, and then bike around Seattle which, by the way, seems to be made entirely out of hills.

Today, I entertained myself with a new distraction, the subtle art of the roll up. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a “roll up” is when a cyclist folds, or in some way “rolls” up, his or her pant leg to avoid it getting caught in the chain. Roll means fold. It’s so clear. A thoughtfully folded pant leg is a style I don’t often sport because my bakfiets has a chain guard. However, today I took a commuter bike on my trip to Seattle, and with 3 hours to kill on the train, I mastered some pretty awesome roll ups. Check them out. Let me know what you think.
 
TRADITIONAL: Nothing fancy. Textbook functionality for keeping the pant leg out of the chain assembly. The style most often used. More...

This Sunday, July 19th, Sunday Parkways will close roads in Northeast Portland from 9am to 4pm, featuring attractions ranging from a petting zoo to an orchestra. Full map here.

The last Sundays Parkways happened on Father’s Day, when Portland closed off 7.5 miles of roadway in North Portland. I would like to thank Portland for doing so specifically for me, Daddy-Travis. The route was great, joining together several neighborhoods with events and sights along the way. Families on bikes were most notably seen, however, Sunday Parkways drew a wide audience of cyclists, walkers, and runners.   

As a family, we rode the loop that included Peninsula and Arbor Lodge parks. We pedaled past Peninsula, knowing that we would hit it on the way back so on we went. Throughout the route we rode over chalk drawings and statements of celebration for the day. More...

Have you ever wondered what your neighborhood is doing to reduce its environmental impact? How about using a scavenger hunt to find out? We were surprised to find a home with solar panels that we'd never noticed right around the corner, but couldn't uncover a single rain barrel. Think you can photograph everything on this list? More...

Cirque du Cycling, the Portland bike parade, came and went like…well…a parade. People lined up and down Mississippi Avenue to witness the spectacle of collected bike groups. Our family rode with a group of cargo/utility bike users. Aside from all being larger bikes, this group shares the belief that bikes are superb vehicles for moving large objects from place to place. James--seen in the photo below with his dog Louie who sits in a custom made box atop his Xtracycle--made our banner, which pretty much summed up our group’s thinking: WeGO Cargo! More...

If you haven't participated in Pedalpalooza, a month of exploring Portland by bicycle, start by bringing your bike tomorrow for the City Green Building Ride hosted by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. I'm still reading through the draft Climate Action Plan from the City of Portland, and looking forward to this ride to shed some light on the details. See you there!

From Shift2Bikes:
CITY GREEN BUILDING RIDE
Ecotrust, 721 NW 9th Avenue (3rd floor deck)
3:00pm - 5:00pm

Waterfront tour of green buildings starting at Ecotrust and ending at South Waterfront.  Visit a mix of new and existing certified green buildings while visualizing a carbon-neutral future through the lens of the City's proposed High Performance Green Building Policy and Climate Action Plan.

Vinh Mason, Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, 503-823-3246 More...