Frame / Size / Year:
Lotus Eclair / 58 / 198x

Just another sign of life on N. Williams Ave.
(Photo © J. Maus)

Bike-oriented development on N. Williams Avenue isn’t reserved for bricks and mortar businesses. Yesterday while biking home I met Dan Sloan, a man who is offering free bike repairs and advice to anyone that stops by. His business consists of a hand-painted sandwich board sign, a bike repair stand, and some tools.

Do you work for tips? I asked. “No, although I took some Skittles one time.” Sloan says he’s written off the workaday world and just wants to do something good for people — perhaps in exchange for something good in return. “Everyone’s time is worth the same as everyone else’s… If everyone just did something they were good at for others… I mean, $15 to adjust a headset, that’s like two hours of work at a job you hate for a lot of people.”

Dan Sloan, happy to help.

Besides his sign, which reads, “Free Bike Help and Advice,” Sloan’s main marketing tool is the big smile he flashes at the steady stream of bikes rolling by. In the few minutes I was there, he got a lot of thumbs-ups and appreciative yells.

Sloan says he plans to stay at that spot, adjacent to a vacant lot just north of Cook Street, during the evening commutes. “This is a good location,” he says, “lots of traffic.”

This week’s questions comes from reader Joe W.

Joe has a problem. His friend is a “car addict” and Joe wants to help him quit, but it’s a sensitive subject. Can you help? Here’s Joe’s question:

“I’m trying to figure out how to help a car addict quit, or at least use responsibly. I’ve found, at least with this person, that conversations around this topic quickly get personal, and end up accomplishing nothing. A lifetime of using has intertwined mode of transportation with self, much like with diet choices (or lack thereof) in many people.

Question(s):

What are some well written, tasteful books, literature, movies, etc. that might help this person? I’m especially interested in things that are less “bike are the best” heavy, and focus more on the overall picture of an un-balanced transportation system. I feel like those would be best received.

I really care about this person, and don’t want to make them feel that they must change; but they’re so addicted it’s sad.

Do you have any tips on how to help someone make that first step towards getting the blinders off? What has worked for you? What hasn’t worked?”

Great question Joe. If your friend likes to read, choose something from the Cars and Alternatives bookshelf in the BikePortland Bookstore. Specifically, you might try How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breathe Easier, and Get More Mileage Out of Life by Chris Balish.

For educational and inspirational videos about cars, bikes and their respective impacts on our lives, browse around the Streetfilms collection. They just posted a great profile of a regular NYC celebrity who’s been biking around on a old used bike for over 20 years.

Another great first step might be to accompany your friend on a ride. Check the Shift calendar for regularly scheduled, free and fun rides.

I’ve found that just leading by example tends to work. If your friend sees you riding, having fun, staying fit, and enjoying all the benefits of biking, chances are they’ll eventually join you.

What other tips do you have for Joe’s friend? Have you ever tried to wean a friend off car overuse? What works? What doesn’t?

— Learn more in the Ask BikePortland archives and submit your burning bike question to jonathan[at]bikeportland[dot]org.

Frame / Size / Year:
Motobecane Grand Sport

Larger version on jump

When I first started riding a bicycle as an adult back in the late 1970s in Maryland, one of the first things I did was to buy a guidebook of bicycle rides in the region that encompassed Maryland, Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Looking back, I think I primarily needed that book because I really didn't know what made a good or bad bicycle route. That sounds funny now, but I didn't have a sixth sense about finding good roads for bicycling.

There's been such a guidebook of bike rides available for western Washington for a few years now. It's written by ardent local bicyclist and author Bill Thorness. He shares his wisdom gleaned from 20 years of bicycling in "Biking Puget Sound: 50 rides from Olympia to the San Juans."

Although I'm long past needing to know what makes a good bike route, I'll have to admit that my ride choices tend to get stale. .....

See this outside of bars all over Austin.

Uploaded by Hugger Industries | more from the Bike Hugger Photostream.

Hugger Industries posted a photo:

I’m talking today with @livestrongCEO Doug Ulman @SXSW about Changing the World and Lives with Bikes:

This core conversation will talk about how cycling, the bike, and social media are changing the world and lives. You’ll learn about Livestrong’s community and Bike Hugger’s blog, events like the Mobile Social, and the millions who follow Lance Armstrong on Twitter. It’s a discussion of bike and pop culture and socializing the good with these Interweb tools.

A core conversation is just Doug and no audio/visuals discussing the topic with the audience. It’s at 11:00 AM in Room 7. We’re both looking forward to it and seeing you there.

Last night Doug and I met, over a few beers, at the Livestrong party

also met Chris Sacca who told me a very funny fat-boy rides bike story — fat boy being him.

We’ll post on that one soon.

Frame / Size / Year:
2009 Volume Cutter V4 50cm

Frame / Size / Year:
Mercier Kilo TT/57cm/2010

Frame / Size / Year:
Trek T1 58cm

Frame / Size / Year:
Mongoose

Frame / Size / Year:
FBM Sword/51cm

Frame / Size / Year:
Bianchi Pista Concept

Photo credit : Steve of Cool Breeze Cyclery

Last week was the National Bike Summit in Washington D.C. .  Due to being in rainy Florida, I couldn’t attend.  I’ve tried to list the best round up from across the web that I could find for all of you that may not have been keeping up with minute by minute happenings.

Round up across the blogosphere

Bike Portland had one of the most comprehensive list of articles, they were there in sponsorship by Planet Bike. Make sure to check out both sites.

Voices from the National Bike Summit on Streetfilms

WashCycle didn’t attend but has a good review for all

Mark your calendars and buy your tickets, because Bike to Blazers is going to be awesome this year. On April 14th, the bike and basketball worlds will collide, resulting in a fun community event that will (hopefully) become an annual Portland tradition.

Why bikes and Blazers? Why not? Both are a major force for good in our city and by tying them together, great things can happen. The Blazers want to be the “greenest” team in the NBA and a big part of their effort is to encourage more biking to games. From an advocacy perspective, putting bikes front and center at the Rose Garden, and tying biking more closely to the Blazers organization, is a great way to reach a lot of folks who don’t usually hear about how fun and useful bikes can be.

Here we go Bla-zers!

At the event, we’ll kick things off with a rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Then, we’ll retrace Bill Walton’s bike commute to practice (for the uninitiated, Walton led the Blazers to a championship in 1977 and he was known for his love of bicycling). Once we get to the Rose Garden, we’ll join a mini bike expo at the commons area near the arena’s main entrance. As fans enter the game, they’ll get a healthy dose of biking: free maps and other goodies, custom bikes to gawk at, and more. We’ll make signs (gotta be ready for our big moment on the jumbotron!) and hang out before filing into the game where 100 lucky people will sit together and cheer on the Blazers from the official Bike Section. Whew!

We’re planning a bunch more stuff for this event, but those are the basics. This is a family-friendly event and the great folks at the Bicycle Transportation Alliance are on board to help make sure the little ones on bikes have a great time too.

This is their last home game of the regular season and it’s against the Golden State Warriors.

If you’d like to join us in the Bike Section, visit our Bike to Blazers event page for ticket buying information (or, cut to the chase and visit this Blazers link and enter promo code “bikeblazers”). Stay tuned for more details (did I mention one lucky person will win a Bill Walton autographed helmet!?).

Bike to Blazers
April 14th
Pioneer Courthouse at 5:30, ride at 6:00, game at 7:30
Tickets: $22
Full details at BiketoBlazers.com

USA Cycling is offering a FREE webinar to explain the rule changes in effect for the 2010 racing season. The webinar will take place March 18 at 6:00 p.m. EDT. Led by USA Cycling Technical Director Shawn Farrell, the event will be open to anyone who is interested in attending. To register, visit USA Cyclingandrsquo;s webinar webpage. Once you register, youandrsquo;ll receive an email confirming your registration with instructions on how to join the webinar.

Portland resident Daniel Fleischer will
host a slideshow and video presentation
of his 2,900+ mile mountain bike ride at
The Mountain Shop tonight.
(Photos: Daniel Fleischer)

Portland realtor Daniel Fleischer turned the big 4-0 last May, “So, instead of buying a red Camaro,” he told me recently, “I thought I’d take a bike ride.” But not just any ride. Fleischer set out to conquer the Great Divide Mountain Bike Route. And conquer it he did.

Over the course of 48 days, he rode 2,934 miles from Mexico to Canada with an estimated 200,000 feet in elevation gain. Tonight, Fleischer will share a video and slideshow presentation of his journey that will let you “live the trail through images and sounds.”

By the numbers:

• Total Distance: 2934.4 miles
• Total Riding Days: 41.5
• Avg Distance/Riding Day:
  70.7 miles
• Longest Distance In
  One Day: 103.5 miles
• Avg. Speed:10.9 miles/hr
• Highest Speed: 42 miles/hr
• Total Time Spinning:
  276.8 hours
• Total Elevation Gain:
  ~200,000 vertical feet
• Average Elevation Gain/Riding
  Day: ~4810 ft

Fleischer is no stranger to epic trips: In 1994 he through-hiked the Pacific Crest Trail; in 1996 he hiked around Asia; in 1998 he biked coast-to-coast; and in 2000 he hiked the entire Continental Divide Trail.

After that, Fleischer took a break: “I had two children and put my adventuring on pause for a few years.”

So, why start up again? What motivates him to ride 70-plus miles a day for 41 days over rocky, hilly terrain on his mountain bike? I asked Fleischer this and a few other questions via email:

“This trip, like the others, was a great way for me to re-establish priorities in my life. It allows me to breathe in a way that I am unable to in my daily urban life. When on the trail, moments seem like days, days like months, and months like lifetimes. Most long distance adventurers would agree that you have to experience it to truly appreciate it.”

Not a bad place to camp for the night.

What was the most unexpected part of the trip?

“I don’t think I went with a ton of expectations, so I wasn’t too surprised. I guess I expected it to be more difficult than it was (I trained really hard and hit the dirt rolling). Also, as lovely as much of the area is, I feel like i am absolutely blessed to live and bike in Portland every day. There is no place like it in the U.S. for cyclists.”

What was the most difficult part of the ride?

“The hardest part undoubtedly was the mud. Last June was the wettest in 30 years for the Rockies. I got rained on every day in Colorado. The rain itself isn’t the issue. It’s what happens to the dirt roads and trails. Many of them become un-passable by bike, so I ended up hauling my 75 pound, mud-laden bike up and down muddy mountains on foot. I threw my back out really badly on one such episode and had to take four days off to heal. The mud also wreaked havoc on my drive train.”

With summer approaching, I know many of you have epic journeys planned. Check out Fleischer’s presentation tonight to stoke your fire, or get inspired to take that trip you’ve been dreaming about. Read Fleischer’s blog for updates from the trail.

The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route Slide/Video Show
Monday, March 15th
The Mountain Shop (Corner of NE 7th and Broadway in Portland)
7pm
Free snacks to those who ride a bike or take public transportation.