The PDXebiker Retreat

The staff and I are taking a few days away from the blog for our annual retreat, so you may not see much activity for a few days. I know there have been other quiet periods, but at least I'm announcing this one ahead of time. In the meantime, keep your batteries charged and your eyes on the road!

Touring Portland with the Authors of "Carjacked" - on eBikes

I was lucky enough to get some time with Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez to ride around Portland recently.  The sisters are in town to promote their book "Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and its Effect on Our Lives", and wanted to see some of the sights, as well as try out some ebikes. I was happy to join them.

We met at Pedal Bike Tours and rented a mix of ebikes. After a quick orientation to the ebike's operation and riding in Portland traffic, we were off.  An easy warm-up through downtown led us over the Hawthorne Bridge to OMSI, to check out the new ebike charging station.  By this point, Anne was already sold on the ebike as an effective (and fun) transportation alternative. Dan Woodard of Woodard Cycles, local builder of custom ebikes, joined us, and we headed back into downtown, and checked out Kalkhoff USA.

Catherine and Anne dealt with bridge lifts, the Broadway Bridge closure, and the constantly shifting construction for the Streetcar extension like pros. We headed into NE Portland, fortuitously happening upon a Sprockettes show. Catherine, the consummate anthropologist, was fascinated. Eventually, we prised her away from what may be her newest research topic, and continued to The eBike Store. A short visit here, and we returned downtown.

I was surprised to discover that we'd been gone almost 4 hours. We covered about 12 miles, and returned the ebikes with plenty of charge remaining in the batteries.

Catherine and Anne are presenting tonight, August 5, at Powell's on Hawthorne, at 7:30. Several ebike riders are planning to meet at the pub in the Baghdad Theater at 6, prior to their presentation.

eBike Meetup for Carjacked presentation

Several ebikers are planning to see Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez speak about their new book, "Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives" at Powell's on Hawthorne and SE 37th, at 7:30pm.

Since we'll all be in the area, we decided we might grab a bite to eat or a beer at the pub in the Baghdad Theatre, starting around 6pm. Please feel free to join us!

Racing eBikes: At Least My Jacket was Yellow

A few weeks ago the professional bike racing world was aghast at the accusation that an elite racer used an electric motor to pull ahead and later win a stage of the Giro de Italia. In this context, electrifying your bike is clearly cheating - but what an interesting bit of technology the Gruber Assist is!

That weekend also saw the Oregon Human Powered Vehicle Association sponsored ePower Challenge. Held at Portland International Raceway, it's a great opportunity to check out other people's ebikes, talk about the latest in ebike technology, and meet new riders. Auto racing is a test bed of cutting edge automobile technology; from what I saw, the same holds true for ebikes.

I entered the race in the unmetered, upright unfaired category. The velomobile racers are an intense lot - I was lapped several times during my 7 lap race. Other than the occasional passing, I was largely riding by myself for the majority of the race. PIR's a great course; even if you're not competitive (and I wasn't), it's fun to ride. Years ago, my grandfather got to drive his Ford LTD around Indianapolis Motor Speedway; it's nice to carry on a family tradition of sorts. It would be great to see a bigger "upright unfaired" class next year, even if we're not very competitive.

ePedalpalooza - What are Your Plans?

Well, we're almost halfway through Pedalpalooza - the eBike Ride is over, and it might not rain. Rain much more, anyway. The eBike Ride was great; did it inspire you to go on other rides as well? It inspired me - I've been on the following other rides:

Tiny Home Tour
A fun jaunt around NE Portland to look at small houses and ADUs. There's a SE version this weekend; highly recommended.

Accupuncture Ride
I was just riding to a food cart when a group of people rode by. I caught up and inquired, turns out they were the Accupuncture Ride. I trailed for a couple of blocks.

Hidden Routes of NE Portland
A great tour of little-known shortcuts and alternative bike routes around N and NE Portland. Do you know about the shortcut from Commercial to Freemont?

Mrs. PDXebiker and I are also considering the following rides - we'll probably skip the World Naked Bike Ride, though.



Fort, Food, Fort

SMUG

Tandem Ride

Costco Run

Sunday Parkways (here's my preview of the route)

Saraveza's New Belgium Bike Party

What about you? What rides have you been on, and what are you thinking about going on?

Freebies at Pedalpalooza

OK, I'll admit it - I'm a sucker for free. Offer me something for free, I'll eagerly take you up on it. Local popsicle purveyor SolPops frequently tweet-offers free pops (though I had to do the "truffle shuffle" for one recently-I eagerly swapped dignity for mango-lime). Grand Central Bakery occasionally tweets offers for free loaves of bread; I'm a regular. In short, I get 'free'.

In reading this year's Pedalpalooza ride guide, I was struck at the number of events that involve something free. And I don't mean potluck, where sure, you don't HAVE to bring something, but poaching a potluck is seriously lame. Here's a rundown of Pedalpalooza events that, at least according to the description, purport to offer something free:

(Don't forget The eBike Ride Sat., June 12. And of course, with Pedalpalooza, the fun is always free.)

Thursday, June 10 (hey that's today!)
Bingo Masters Coffee - free coffee to people on bikes every Thursday during Pedalpalooza.
Splendid Cycles Grand Opening Bash "Food and beverages provided"

Friday, June 13
Breakfast on the Bridges - free donuts
Bicycle Film Fest - free "PeeWee's Big Adventure"

Saturday, June 14
More free PeeWee at the Portland Rock Gym. Maybe smores?

Sunday, June 15
Scrapper Ride - free bike decorating materials

Wednesday June 16
Lubador Libre - free chain lube! 8-9am, Broadway Bridge

Thursday, June 17
Crullers and Coffee
Free coffee at Bingo Masters

Friday, June 18
Breakfast on the Bridges - free donuts!

Saturday, June 19
Pedal-Balloon-za! Free balloons, courtesy The Lippman Co.

Tuesday, June 22
Mocktails and Hors D'oeurves Off the Bridges - free snacks

Wednesday, June 23
Coffee on Clay

Thursday, June 24
Free Food Ride (Or: What's Fun About Bike Fun)

Friday, June 25
Breakfast on the Bridges

Bike-In Movie at the Hawthorne Hostel - "The Wiz" Pre-movie live music and food

Saturday, June 25
St John's Bike-In Movie "Breaking Away"