We made a brief visit to Portland and were lucky to be able to join in some Pedalpalooza rides! We rented Biketown e-bikes and joined the Fancy Mondays Pedalpalooza Ride. Riding across the Blumenauer Bridge Our Fancy Mondays ride took use from Colonel Summers Park to Irving Park. We rode across the new Blumenauer Bridge that had just opened on July 31st, 2022. It’s named after Congressman Earl Blumenauer and connects the Kerns neighborhood with the Lloyd District over Interstate 84. The bridge has room for 2-way bicycle traffic and pedestrian traffic. It has a bit of new landscaping at either end and provides a nice view over the highway. It was renamed the Blumenauer Bridge from Sullivan’s Crossing to honor Mr. Blumenauer’s advocacy for cycling and pedestrian issues. It was a hot day, so the breeze in the early […]
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Fantastic Berkeley Bike Lanes: Riding on Milvia Street on a Sunny Day
Protected Berkeley Bike Lanes on Milvia Street We rode the new Milvia Street protected bike lanes in Berkeley again a few days ago. These lanes are protected from automotive traffic in a few different ways. There are concrete islands with metal rails in some sections (by Berkeley High School, for example) and then simply concrete barriers in other parts. There are a few unprotected paint-buffered areas. In general, the lanes allowed us to feel more comfortable riding around Berkeley with a physical barrier between us and moving automobiles. We were on our way home from getting lunch. Our route took us south on Milvia Street from near the Cal campus in order to get back to Oakland. It was a short but enjoyable stretch. A few students were milling about and the vibe was nice and calm – perfect for […]
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Is this bike lane safe? (Riding to Creston Park was kind of scary)
I took my child to Creston Park by bike during our last visit to Portland. Aside from a few issues (it was hot! and my kid wasn’t used to their borrowed bike!) the ride there was mostly pleasant. We took some of the calm neighborhood streets and Greenways. Our general path was along SE 34th, Clinton and SE 45th Avenue. I knew we’d have to cross SE Powell at some point, but I guess I had hoped that there’d be a decent way to bike across it. Especially since Portland has relatively (for the USA) good bike infrastructure. I also hoped that since there’s a park with Creston Elementary school nearby, the city might have provisions for easier biking to school and play. We saw another adult and children riding, presumably headed to the same destination. We stopped […]
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Bicycle infrastructure and riding with children
If you’ve been riding your bike for a while, you’ve probably heard some variant of “Get off the road!” coming from an irate driver more than a few times. (There are a lot of links out there that try to answer the question, “Why do people shout at cyclists?”) Though it can be at best unpleasant to hear, I do wish that it was easier to ride on a dedicated path that’s not shared by automobiles. Reducing the idea of bicycling to solely a recreational activity has made it harder for people to safely ride as a mode of transportation. And without a network of routes to reach areas where people can ride bikes for recreation, people often need to put their bikes in or on their cars, and drive to a destination. I think that many people want to […]
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Riding bikes with children: Talking about cars
In the USA, at least, I found that talking to kids about bike safety meant talking a lot about cars. Dedicated bike paths (in the USA) don’t always take you where you need to go When our child started riding with us on their own bike, I realized that 90% of our communication was about riding safely with cars on the road. It wasn’t about kids bike safety gear, helmets, proper clothing or anything else like that. Dedicated bike paths to the library, the playground, to school or wherever else for running errands usually don’t exist in the States. So, we had to ride in the street, and this meant sharing the road with cars. This is a little scary when riding with a young child. Though there are bike lanes near me, a layer of paint doesn’t feel like […]
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