Pedal Bike Tours Blog

Last Saturday we did the first ride in our Safe Routes To Work series. Starting at the Little Red Bike Cafe in North Portland a group of intrepid riders headed out into the wilds of Portland’s back streets with one mission in mind, get downtown safely. Now, of course, Portland being the most bike friendly large city in the US, this isn’t difficult. However, even here there are lots of people who are still a little leery of cars and would appreciate a little help figuring out just what is the best way to get where they’re going. With the help of the official city of Portland bike map the Pedal bike gang was able to outline a super quiet and safe way to get to our destination, The Portland Farmer’s Market, mostly on bicycle boulevards or quiet streets marked on the map in green. Although many in the group were accomplished commuters, we still were able to show them some streets and back ways they hadn’t previously known about. Along the way we saw lots of beautiful houses and greeted friendly neighbors and cats. Once we got to the market, it was packed, as usual. Also as usual the line for Cafe Velo was a mile long.

Cafe Velo- so good it

. After buying supplies for a small picnic back at the shop we continued on, leaving downtown by a completely different route than we came. Back at Pedal hq we dined on the season’s first strawberries and apple cider from Wandering Aengus ciderworks before rolling along back to Red Bike Cafe. Thanks to everyone who took part in the first Safe Routes To Work.  Join us tomorrow for the second installment starting from Delphina’s Bakery in Northeast Portland.  Happy Commuting!

Super commuters Stacy and Kristen

Wow, had a great day riding on the Banks-Vernonia State Trail on Friday.  It’s a project of the Rails to Trails Conservancy, a truly awesome non-profit organization dedicated to turning our nation’s unused railroad tracks to non-motorized multi-use paths.  The Banks-Vernonia trail is only 30 miles outside of Portland and over its 21 miles goes from the farmland of the valley to the thick undergrowth of the coastal mountains.  The highlight is definitely the 600′ long Buxton trestle, 80 feet above the valley floor.  It’s sheer joy to roll across this bridge, marveling at the wide open views of the thick forest all around and the grassy valley beneath.

We stayed the night in a cute little one room cabin in Stub Stewart State Park which the trail runs right through.  This placed us perfectly for hitting the trail first thing the next morning (after driving to the nearest town for a serious logger’s breakfast of course!)

One thing I didn’t realize was that the trail runs almost exclusively downhill in one direction.  We hardly pedaled all one direction.  Thankfully, it was a gentle grade, which is exactly why railroads make great bike trails. 

Check out this Google Earth map of Portland’s bike infrastructure.  It’s like flying, only cheaper.

Bike There!

It’s put out by Metro, An elected regional government, serving more than 1.4 million residents in Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington counties and the 25 cities in the Portland region.

According to a 2007 study on rainfall, Portland is no where near the top of rainiest places in the country.  In fact, with 36.4″ it’s just a couple of inches over the US average (34.5″).

Our reward for this spot?  A lush green place to live and just enough rain to enjoy a fresh, clean storm while biking around town, sitting over a hot latte with Cellar Door roast in a cafe or curled up on the sofa.

See the study here.

It turns out Mobile, Alabama takes first prize with almost twice as much rain as Portland (66.9″!).

I want to share a site I’ve been in love with for a long time and watched from need, to idea, to conception, to phenomenon.  It’s called Walk Score.  It uses Google, US Census data, and Zillow to measure how walkable a given address is, based on its proximity to places people go to daily.  Each address is given a walkscore which you can then compare to any other address in the US.  I like it so much because it strikes right at the heart of my personal belief that only through walkable neighborhoods will US cities defeat the scourge of global warming, air and noise pollution, traffic congestion, automobile accidents, social alienation and obesity among others.

The site has also compiled lots of great lists of the best (and worst) places to walk in the country.  Portland ranks no. 10, primarily because we have a relatively low population density and a high number of single family houses, however not bad for the 23rd largest metropolitan area.  It’s fun to poke around and see what neighborhoods really have it figured out.

It measures an address’ proximity to neighborhood assets such as grocery stores, restaurants, coffee shops, bars, movie theaters, schools parks, libraries, fitness studios, drug stores, hardware stores, and clothing.  Of course it isn’t perfect, it lists the porn shop near my house as a bookstore and the beer, cigarettes and junk food minimart on the corner as a grocery store, but it’s a start!

If we rewarded people, neighborhoods and governments for their walkscores, I believe our cities would become much more livable much more quickly.

Give it a try!

Every day it gets easier and more enjoyable to ride a bike in Portland, Oregon!

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/04/adams_promises_to_sacrifice_a.html