Great "new" blog in Salem: The Upright Cyclist

OK, I'm probably the last to know . . . this "new" blog is only new to me maybe, having started last November (nobody tells me anything!).

A great addition to the Salem blogroll, a blog about living a richer, maybe a slightly slower one (but not always), with a sly pun in the title. 

As LOVESalem has been saying for over five years now:

“Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.” 

—H. G. Wells, 1904

Two and three weeks out -- a great great ride and a great party benefiting a great place

Third Annual Hoedown & Silent Auction

Saturday: June 30, 2012

Join The Pagan Jug Band and Special Guests for the third Annual Farm Benefit with Silent Auction & Hoedown! Come out to the farm and camp for the weekend, bring your family, Bring An Instrument For Jams, definitely bring your dancin' feet ... biggest bonfire in town, camping under the stars, and of course music, music, music!!!

Local food and beverages will be available for purchase.

In the historic and (incredibly) scenic Waldo Hills!

• $5 -$20 donation per person, kids 12 and under free, camping available - (see below)
• Optional Sunday Brunch - (see below)
• Sorry, No Dogs Allowed

Schedule:

• 2:00 pm Gates open to campers - (see below)
• 3:00 pm Gates open to public, games and activities begin
• 4:00 pm Live music begins with WhistlePig, Route 41, and The Pagan Jug Band
• 5:00 pm Silent Auction begins
• 9:00 pm Silent Auction ends
• Bonfire begins at dusk.

Camping:
$20.00 - Camping (tent)Please register your camping space in advance. Space is limited, and we cannot guarantee room will be available on the day of the event. To reserve a camping spot, please email us or call us at: 503-873-3406.

Note: We reserve the right to refuse campers that do not accommodate our family atmosphere.

• $20 camping fee (tent)
  

• $30 camping fee (trailer)

Sunday Brunch:

Brunch will be available between 9:00am - noon, and is a full menu, buffet-style brunch including beverages. Tickets for brunch must be purchased by Saturday before 9pm.

• $10 adults (13 and up)
  
• $6 kids aged 4-12
• FREE ages 3 and under

Call us at 503-873-3406 for more information, or email us by clicking here:

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Petal Pedal
Saturday June 23, 2012

Cycle the Summer Solstice!

• A gourmet distance ride in the Willamette Valley.
• Blooming fields of flowers along serene, low traffic routes.
• Free Hopworks beer & gourmet dinner at the finish line.
• World class support from start to finish.
• On site boutique hotel amidst 80 acres of gardens.
• Campout under the stars at Historic GeerCrest farm!

Explore the Willamette Valley's Roads Less Traveled.

Petal Pedal is a gourmet distance "Century" bike ride like no other. You'll journey along scenic, quiet roads along mostly flat routes (with a hilly option to visit Silver Falls) as you drift away to another world.

Description: The ride starts and ends at The Oregon Garden, Oregon's premier botanical garden with over 80 acres of specialty areas. Your ride pass includes

• breakfast
• lunch
• gourmet dinner
• free beer
• full support
• access to the garden.
  
  Petal Pedal is a fully supported ride with three distances to choose from 100, 60 or 30 miles. You will enjoy riding on quiet rural roads, passing waterfalls and wineries, with friendly rest stops every 15 miles.
  
  Plan to stay all weekend and explore Silverton, the friendliest town in Oregon, and the surrounding area.

Camping facilities available at GeerCrest Farm! Pitch your tent, or sleep under the stars on this historic Century Farm! Then join us Sunday morning for a farm-fresh brunch!

Just $10 a night for camping or only $15 for both Friday & Saturday nights. Add $10 for Sunday Brunch ($5 for kids up through 12). Register via PayPal here.

Doubly Great Recycling ... Turn unused/outgrown bikes into better futures!

http://youry.org/news/recycle-your-bike-at-the-salem-y/

Click here to download/view the complete Bicycle Recycling Program Flyer

2^nd Chance Bicycle Recycling Program!

We have partnered with the Oregon Youth Authority to recycle unwanted, broken, or damaged bicycles back into the community for a nominal fee. These bikes will be repaired by the OYA youth residing in enclosed youth facilities. The youth will be learning bicycle repair skills and in turn will be giving back to the community.

Our bike donation will be held 10am-2pm, June 2^nd, in the Salem YMCA back parking lot! If you have any bikes that you would like to donate please bring them by on June 2^nd! We will be glad to take them off your hands and give you a donation receipt.

We are also in need of tools, a list can be found in the brochure (see link above this article).

You may also know of a child in the community or in your program that is in need of a bicycle. We would like to know their story and why they deserve a bicycle, we will have a limited amount of bicycles to donate back to the community. We plan to have repaired bicycles ready for purchase and donation by mid July.

It is our ultimate vision that the 2^nd Chance Bicycle Recycling initiative be self sustaining.  This initiative has a variety of positive outcomes associated with it.  Focusing on adding another educational component for OYA, providing bikes to children of low income households, encouraging and promoting physical activity, community responsibility, and sustainable transportation; all while recycling and reusing unwanted bikes.

Another look at getting around

From the wonderful folks at Straub Environmental Learning Center:

Tuesday, March 29, 2011, 6:30-8:00pm
Sustainability Workshop

Transportation: The Alternatives!

We’re kicking off this year’s workshop series with a lesson on alternative transportation. With the price of gas continually climbing, the need for other, more sustainable modes of transportation is becoming exceedingly important.

This workshop will highlight some available modes of transportation in Salem: biking, busing, walking and carpooling. Representatives from the Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA), the City of Salem and Cherriots will be present to give some helpful tips on sustainable commuting. The Sustainability Workshop series is open to the public.

Classes are free, but registration is required due to limited space. RSVP to Alexandra at 503-391-4145 or email fselc@fselc.org.

All workshops will be held at Straub Environmental Learning Center, 6:30-8:00 pm, unless otherwise noted. For a schedule of the entire series, click here.

Clean out the garage, get a tax break, help a young adult

h/t to Breakfast on Bikes and all the sponsoring agencies and businesses.

Sharrows: The inferior non-solution

Cycle-tracks -- putting bikes at the curb, protected from traffic by parked cars -- are much better. Why should bikes be put between the cars moving at speed and doors flying open on the drivers' side of parked cars?

Sharrows are a sham solution for bike lanes

These faux-lanes for bikes are ambiguous and do little more than enable politicians to claim more bike miles. Here's a better solution.

Copenhagen Wheel

I'm always skeptical of high-tech solutions as they assume a lot more years of business as usual . . . but still, you have to admire this effort. It would sure be better for the Salem to put money into this than into electric vehicle charging stations.

And one more thing. Let's be careful out there.

Image by Clover_1 via Flickr

A comment on a Portland-area blog is a timely reminder:

My brother was riding his bicycle in Salem this weekend, and was hit by a car that right-turned into him across the bike lane.

He's alive today because of his helmet. It cracked in half with the impact, but absorbed the kinetic energy in doing so. The bike is a total loss, as well as basically everything he was wearing - but all he's got is some road rash and a horrifying memory of riding » car hood » windshield » A-pillar » pavement.

The insurance settlement will buy back the lost possessions, and he'll be perfectly healthy again in a week or two.

Anyone who rides a bicycle without a helmet is a Grade-AA idiot.

The ones that kill me -- and who I see far too often around Salem -- are the parents who carefully put the helmets on the kids whilst they themselves ride without one. I always want to ask them:

1. Do you not know anything about how kids learn?
   
   
2. Do you think that your kid will have a better life when you're dead or a quadriplegic than if you canceled the cable TV or cell phone and used the money to buy yourself a helmet too?
   

Get ready to roll on May 15! Union St. Bike/Ped Bridge Reopening

A real improvement and a giant step towards getting Salem ready for the inevitable return to a car-free city. Image via Wikipedia

Salem’s Union Street Railroad Bridge Re-Opens May 15

Residents are invited to participate in a family-friendly “Passport Adventure” May 15
and “Bridge to Work” Day May 18.

Sat., May 15, 2010 – Salem, Ore. – After a brief [!?] closure, Salem’s historic Union Street Railroad Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge will officially re-open to the public on Sat., May 15. The Friends of Two Bridges, a local non-profit organization, has planned a special Passport Adventure for Salem residents in celebration of the re-opening.

On May 15, residents are encouraged to join the fun between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. in Salem’s Riverfront Park and Wallace Marine Park. Passport participants will begin by picking up event “passports” at any of the passport stops and then wander throughout the parks and across the Union Street Railroad Bridge collecting stamps in their “passports.” Passport stops include:

• A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village,
  
• the Tom McCall statue,
  
• the boat dock,
  
• the Eco Earth,
  
• the future site of Minto Bridge,
  
• Salem’s Riverfront Carousel,
  
• the Pavilion/Spray Fountain,
  
• the Union Street Railroad Bridge historical signage, and
  
• the new trails at Wallace Marine Park.
  

When “passports” are full of stamps, they are good for FREE one day admission to A.C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village over the weekend of May 15 and 16. Event attendees may park at Riverfront Park or Wallace Marine Park to participate in the festivities. [OR, BETTER YET, RIDE YOUR BIKE OR WALK TO THE PARK.]

The new pedestrian and bicycle bridge provides a critical half-mile link in the bicycle and pedestrian circulation systems for the community, the region, and the state. Two urban-area parks: Wallace Marine (114 acres) and Riverfront (23 acres), book-end this bridge and the conversion connects their trail systems into a single, safe, and family-friendly network. The project improves bicycle and pedestrian safety and accessibility in Salem, encourages the use of alternative transportation modes, and promotes healthy forms of exercise (like running, cycling, skating, and wheelchairing) for both local and out-of-town users.

The Union Street Railroad Bridge was built across the Willamette River in 1912-13 by Southern Pacific Railway to connect Salem to the West Willamette Valley. The bridge was acquired by Union Pacific Railroad in 1996 and was purchased by the City of Salem for one dollar in 2004. The bridge was put on the National Register of Historic Places in January of 2006.

During the recent six month closure, lead-based paint abatement and repair of the upper portion of the bridge was completed thanks to a generous contribution from ODOT’s Transportation Enhancement Program. The Oregon Transportation Commission approved $3.5 million of economic stimulus funding, the City of Salem’s first stimulus funds, for the repainting of the bridge. This final phase is being completed by S & K Painting.

As a follow up to the event, the City will also be hosting a Bridge to Work Day on Tuesday, May 18 from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. Salem workers and residents are encouraged to bicycle or walk to work utilizing the re-opened bridge.

For more information on the Union Street Railroad Bridge, the Friends of Two Bridges, or bridge related events, please refer to www.cityofsalem.net/unionbridge.

Silly rabbit

Image by VickyvS via Flickr

Breakfast on Bikes asks a great question: Why has the SKATS "Alternate" mode study only posited an 8% reduction in single-occupant-vehicle trips over the Willamette in Salem?

Silly rabbit, you should know, if the planners had any thought of allowing "alternate" modes to reach their potential, there'd be no case for a $600 million bridge!

And for the Road Gang pushing this fantasy, that's all that matters --- justifying the fat construction contracts and years of consulting fees all aimed at demolishing even more of Salem's heart to serve the automobile. The Road Gang is in a race against time - they know that the Carburban Era is drawing to a close and that if they don't force commitments to a third Salem auto bridge soon, it will never happen because (a) auto usage is declining; (b) there won't even be enough traffic to justify two bridges pretty soon thanks to $4 and then $5 and then $6/gallon gas.

Yay! An elected official actually looking further than a car-length ahead

Bob Krebs of the Cherriots (um, "Salem-Keizer Transit") board sends the encouraging word that the Cherriots board is thinking about the future and about providing some transportation options that don't demand liquid fuel.

Modern streetcars are again being considered as a means to upgrade transportation options in the Salem-Keizer area. A new citizens’ committee is being organized to look into how streetcars might best serve our community. The committee is a working group that will report to the Salem-Keizer Transit Board.

You are being contacted because you have served on an earlier Salem streetcar committee or have expressed an interest in streetcars. This new group will meet, 60 to 90 minutes, once or twice a month to work on this project. If you still have an interest in this concept and would like to participate, you would be welcomed as a member of this new committee.

Committee members will develop a work plan and goals for the project. We will be researching technology and costs to find what might work best in Salem-Keizer. Our focus will be on corridors where there already is travel demand and where the streetcar can provide needed additional capacity and increased transit usage. Creative ways to keep construction and operation costs affordable will be considered. One of our goals might be to develop a new streetcar system model that can be used for medium size American cities.

Many things have changed since the Central Salem Streetcar Feasibility Study was completed. There are now federal grants available to fund new streetcar systems. This could bring new dollars into our region without jeopardizing current transportation programs. A few months ago the first modern streetcar manufactured in the U.S. rolled out of the factory in Clackamas, Oregon.

I hope you find this proposal as exciting as I do. A streetcar system will end up producing many jobs for our community and the State of Oregon. It would give Salem-Keizer a more positive image for attracting new businesses and providing more employment opportunities. There would be a surge in transit oriented development and mobility improvements that support a viable local economy.

I invite you to join me as a member of this new Salem-Keizer Rapid Transit Streetcar Committee, planning for our future. There will be a lot of work, but lots of fun too.
To participate, just send me an e-mail (krebsr@cherriots.org) or call 503-588-2424 ext. 2328 to advise us that you would like to serve.

Streetcars tend to get oversold and caught up in developers' schemes, but the basic concept is outstanding for a place like Salem, where we have sprawled into a low-density place that makes us terribly vulnerable to the coming waves of oil-price peaks. An electric streetcar system, particularly one designed to integrate smoothly with bicycles, would be ideal.

How to integrate streetcars with bikes? Easy -- a separate "bike car" on each run with wide side-doors on both sides to allow people with bikes easy-on/easy-off so that they can continue their trips by bike, operating on car-free rights of way where possible (bikes, peds, streetcars, and emergency vehicles only).

An enlightening nascent blog from Doug Parrow

Image by kk+ via Flickr

Doug Parrow is one of our unsung Salem advocates for a saner, better transportation system. He has a blog that he describes as "nascent" and he comments on that thusly:

One definition of nascent is "just coming into existence and beginning to display signs of future potential." Certainly the blog is consistent with the first part of that definition. Time will tell whether that also is the case with respect to the second part of the definition.

If a few of the posts are up to the standard he sets here then it's already shown and delivered on some great potential.

If this isn't April Fool's Day come early than it's Fan-Fricking-Tastic

A sign usually noted only in passing, at high speed, while pedestrians dodge out of the way. Image via Wikipedia

Amazing news from US Department of Highways and occasionally other things, if forced, a/k/a USDOT.

Secretary LaHood has made the following announcement via his blog:

"Today, I want to announce a sea change. People across America who value bicycling should have a voice when it comes to transportation planning. This is the end of favoring motorized transportation at the expense of non-motorized.

"We are integrating the needs of bicyclists in federally-funded road projects. We are discouraging transportation investments that negatively affect cyclists and pedestrians. And we are encouraging investments that go beyond the minimum requirements and provide facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities.

"To set this approach in motion, we have formulated key recommendations for state DOTs and communities:

• Treat walking and bicycling as equals with other transportation modes.
• Ensure convenient access for people of all ages and abilities.
• Go beyond minimum design standards.
• Collect data on walking and biking trips.
• Set a mode share target for walking and bicycling.
• Protect sidewalks and shared-use paths the same way roadways are protected (for example, snow removal)
• Improve nonmotorized facilities during maintenance projects."

One for Every Block Please!

Very nice.

Great idea!

Until the cars stop running, we'll have to share most roads with them. Here's a very nice urban detail that will make that wait much nicer.

(h/t Progressive Review)

Best bike

Bamboosero Bikes:

Substitute bicycles for fish and you've got the idea behind Bamboosero.

Craig Calfee, a frame designer who has built bikes for Greg Lemond and other professional racers, started Bamboosero with the idea that teaching a man (or woman) to build bikes is a long-term solution that can have a lasting impact.

Using bamboo makes this possible. It grows in most of the developing world and makes it far easier to supply a bike builder with raw materials. And it makes a common resource more valuable. Much better than mining or cutting down the forest. Oh. . . and it rides like a dream!

The Bamboosero idea is simple: connect bike builders in developing countries with bike buyers like you. Buying a Bamboosero Bike doesn't just get you a great bike, it:

• helps working families support themselves
• injects badly needed foreign currency into struggling economies
• creates the production capacity for an incredibly efficient local transport - bicycles!

You can choose from road, city or mountain bike models. You get a great bike. And Bamboosero gets to help entrepreneurs build businesses that will have an enormous economic impact for years to come.

Why Bikes?

Bikes are reliable and efficient. They can bring a better life within reach: access to safer drinking water, improved medical care, and more nutritious food.

Bikes can make jobs, markets, and schools more accessible.

And since bikes are easier to maintain than cars or buses, particularly in areas where parts and mechanical skills are scarce, the improvements they create can be counted on day after day, season after season.

While donations of food or medicine can help in extreme situations, bicycles enable villages to build their own economies and connect with resources beyond their own area. Donations to help get Bamboosero programs started will go further than most charity efforts because the model is truly sustainable.

Don't be in the dark on bike safety (via Recumbent Blog)

This is a person greatly increasing the risk of being killed or crippled by a car -- no lights and no helmet, a deadly duo. Image by ItzaFineDay via Flickr

This quote from WashCycle makes you stop and think…

"While only three percent of bike rides happen at night, over half of all cyclists killed are hit while riding at night without lights. . . .

Hopeful sign: work bikes on the rise

Image by Cheryl & Rich via Flickr

Nice.

"Clearly it wasn't going to be profitable if we were continuing to drive around town," . . . . [T]he company credits the bike fleet with keeping its operating costs down and helping to attract clients who support environmentally friendly business practices. They also help find workers.

"Janitorial work is not very glamorous, but the letters I get from interested applicants, it makes you feel like people are applying for Nike or something like that," said Hannah Sandmeyer, Q19's manager. . . .

Large distributors that don't like taking their big trucks into the center of the city for a number of small drop-offs contract with B-Line to do their deliveries in the urban core.

"Trucks are often double parked where someone is wheeling five or six cases of something into a cafe, so the size of the vehicle is completely mismatched to the job," said Kathryn Racine-Jones, co-owner with her husband, Franklin, of B-Line.

The company's largest client is Organically Grown, a produce distributor. Since March, B-Line has hauled 100,000 pounds of produce, Racine-Jones said, and they have contracted to have a third delivery bike built locally.

Well observed

A ghost bike, a monument to yet another rider killed by a car. Image by drburtoni via Flickr

The very good "Breakfast on Bikes" blog has a good piece on the unfortunately situated Kroc Center.

Things everyone should know

Image by mandiberg via Flickr

In a country where we are constantly bombarded with "news" about psuedo-celebrities, where the inability to use math to make informed decisions is treated as an endearing quirk, and the ability to look reality in the eye and deny it is treated as an electoral qualification, here's something that every person in America actually should know

The bicycle requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.4 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers, and the freight train requires the equivalent energy of approximately 0.6 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers (per ton). That’s darned good gas mileage. As a comparison, a modern hybrid automobile requires approximately 5.0-5.5 liters of gasoline to travel 100 kilometers.