Local man about town on two wheels, Eric Lundgren, fires off his ever informative update for what’s going on in and around the Salem area in the bike world. Thanks Eric! (Be sure to visit The Salem Breakfast on Bikes blog if you don’t already read it!)

——————————————————————————-

It’s cold!  But it’s beautiful, and if you’re dressed right it feels great!

Not so many date-bound events this time of year…but lots of bits of news!

Breakfast on Bikes – Friday, Dec 11th
We’ll be at Mission and Winter.  Thanks to Cascade Baking, Coffee
House Cafe, LifeSource Natural Foods, Salem Bicycle Club, Willamette
University!  For complete details see -
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/12/breakfast-on-bikes-december-11th.html

Parade – Saturday, Dec 12th
The PGE Festival of Lights Holiday Parade is this Saturday!  All
riders are invited to join in the bike float!  For more information
see -
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/12/why-watch-you-can-bicycle-in-holiday.html

Kidical Mass
Kat’s planning Kidical Mass rides for Salem!  These are short rides
for families and kids, not more than 5 miles with stops at parks and
for ice cream and fun stuff!  To learn more or to volunteer to help
with planning see -
http://kidicalmasssalem.blogspot.com/

Salem Bike Taxi
Have you seen the new pedicab downtown?  Check it out!  Michelle’s
also looking for help with maternity leave…let her know if you can
take a shift or two!
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/10/salem-bike-taxi-joins-mix-of-downtown.html
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/12/3-great-ways-to-help-bicycling-this.html

Commercial Restriping Plan
Council passed the plan to put sharrows downtown on Commercial!
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/11/council-approves-restriping-plan.html

Bike Friendly Business Apps
The deadline for the LAB Bicycle Friendly Business award is January
15, 2010.  Who will be Salem’s first?
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/11/do-you-know-bicycle-friendly-business.html

Union & Front Video Camera
Video traffic light controllers have been installed for traffic on
Union at the eastern bridgehead of the Union Street RR Bridge!  Now
bicyclists don’t have to use the crosswalk.
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/11/traffic-lights-at-union-and-front.html

Cyclocross
Lots of local racers participated in the fall cyclocross season.
Check out Paul’s great coverage of the races and local riders at
Pacific Pedaling!
http://pacificpedaling.com/

Salem Bicycle Club
If you haven’t tried club rides, consider the introductory High
Wheeler Rides every Sunday afternoon at 1:30pm.  For more information
see -
http://salembicycleclub.org/calendar.plx?id=1

Whimsy
Want a bit of whimsy in the cold?  Here’s some sweet bike propaganda!
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/12/whimsy-for-cold-copenhagen-errol-morris.html

Join the BTA
Need a gift for a bicyclist you know?  Consider a BTA membership!
It’ll help with legislation and advocacy statewide.
http://www.bta4bikes.org/btablog/2009/12/01/donate-to-the-bta-by-december-15-and-win-tickets-to-cirque-de-soleil/

I heard about AuctionPDX.com on the radio the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see a few bikes in their list of items. They currently have 5 items in their Bikes category, with retail values ranging from $400 to $1150. The highest bid (at the time of this posting) is currently under $300 on any of the items, with some of them ending this afternoon. If you’re looking to pick up a new bike for someone for Christmas, or just for yourself, it’s work taking a peek. These are provided by Portland area businesses, such as River City Bikes, and winning bidders will pick up bikes at the location specified. There are also some other items in the auction list that may be of interest to you.

My Dominators the way I've been used to riding them this year.

Guess I’m gonna have to get used to riding with these babies. Looks like rain on Saturday for the Heiser Farms race…my first real cross race.

And the Dominators with the new spikes in them. Always something new to learn....

Three days left….off to pick up my bike today….

Today marks the halfway mark of the September Bike Commute Challenge, so time for some updates to how our office challenge is going. We will not break any world records with a small office of 5 people, and 2 of whom live out of town (Silverton and Tualatin,) and 2 of the 3 doing the challenge don’t work in the office every day of the week. Also, the three of us riding all live fairly close to work, 5-8 miles round trip. That being said, we are still doing a great job of knocking down some commutes. Here are some numbers for you since the start of the challenge….

3 out of 5 office folks riding as many days as they can.
18 team commutes so far the first 14 days of the challenge.
128 miles logged commuting so far.
75 – 100% commuting ratio for each participant.
3 flat tires last week alone commuting!
5000+ calories burned.
100 lbs CO2 saved.
3-4 bikes in the office on any given day!

I’m sure there are tons of other numbers we could squeeze out of the statistics so far, but the great thing is that we’ve got people riding to work, feeling good, and having fun! I think I figured out my flat issue last week. I had one legitimate flat from road hazards, and then discovered that the spare tubes I was sold in Arizona on my cross country trip, were the wrong size for my Bike Friday funky tire size. Just barely, but enough to cause two bursts after only a day or so of riding. I found the right tube size, and now have my spares a-plenty!

An illustration from the Oregon DMV Bike Manual....worth a read if you haven't ever looked at it, or haven't looked at it lately.

My commute to work is fairly short…about 5 miles round trip, and mostly through residential until a short section which I call the gauntlet, but that’s fodder for another post. Yesterday I had to head just South of town to Bush Park, and realized I would have to cross a section of Commercial street I hate, down at Mission Street. There are 3-4 lanes down there, leading to a blind spot hill with a stop light right over the hill. In addition to the blind spot hill just before the light, the road bends a bit, and then traffic can go straight, left, or right at that intersection. It’s nasty and if you ask other cyclists, has a reputation for being dangerous.

As I headed up Commercial I decided I would turn left one street earlier, on Leslie, so I checked traffic, which was clear and started crossing lanes. Before you get to Leslie, a left turn lane appears and 3 lanes become 4, and I was just about to move into that last lane from the 3 lane on the left hand side, when a car came along side me in the lane and went by at a slower speed and gave me some helpful advice.

The gentleman in the sedan slowed down so he could squeeze by me on the right (I had already started shifting left in my lane and was on the left edge, so I could get one more lane over) and as he went by, and a little close for comfort I might add, he shot his arm out and pointed over the roof of his car as if to say “get over on the right side of the road buddy.” I wanted to yell out something, even a sarcastic “thank you” or something, but then for a minute questioned my own understanding of bicycle rules of the road. So I got home and looked it up. Turns out, I was doing everything fine.

Take a look at the photo above…that’s me in the illustration above, well not really me, but that’s what I was doing. Now, it might have seemed, because I was moving over yet one more lane, that I was hanging to the left of the lane I was in, but I was actually headed toward the last lane in the road. At any rate, I’ll be sure to ‘take the lane’ more obviously next time, and yet, I’m sure I’ll still have plenty of folks trying to help me understand my place in the world as a bike commuter.

Need the skinny on the rules of the road? Download the Oregon DMV Bike manual from their site.

Since Monday was a holiday, yesterday kicked off Week #2 of the Bike Commute Challenge. I had multiple meetings during the day, so I was looking forward to logging some good miles for work. Since my wife calls my Bike Friday folding bike my “Little Clown Bike,” I figured I’d wear my shoes that always feel a little like clown shoes for a perfect match. Still figuring out this whole iPhone video formatting, so this is a little funky with the vertical format.

Clown Shoes On My Clown Bike from nwduffer on Vimeo.

I headed out for a meeting with a business over in the Industrial Parkway area (which is only a couple miles from my office) and all the way in I kept thinking “if I make it out of this without a flat, it will be a miracle.” But, make it there without a flat, I did. Two hours later I was headed back to the office, and just got off Industrial and turned onto Cherry Ave, when I heard that nasty pop and hiss that no cyclist likes to hear, and went flat instantly.

Back at the office, the Bike Friday with it's first flat.

It was at this moment that I realized I had broken one of my own rules for the month, and I was not prepared. I had seen my spare tube sitting on my desk at home and thought “I need to put that in my bag,” but of course didn’t. No patch kit on hand, and it wouldn’t have mattered, I didn’t have a pump or Co2 with me, so I started walking. Only about 1.5 miles back to the office, so no big deal…call it cross training. On the way I texted a couple co-workers just in case they happened to be heading to lunch and wanted to swing by my way, but didn’t hear back from either until after lunch, so I just hoofed it back.

I’ve had one of the Torelli’s sitting in my office for months, with a pump attached to the frame, so I pumped up the tires on it, and rode it to my next errand. Snagged a late lunch, grabbed my spare tube, and headed back to the office. If you can’t have a spare tube handy, the next best thing is a spare bike I guess! Of course, as it turns out my Bike Friday wheels are 18″ and my spare tube is 20″! I went ahead and stuffed it in anyway, pumped it up and just kept the pressure to about 65 lbs instead of cranking it up to 100, and made it home fine.

I’m still batting 1000 in the bike commute challenge for the month. I know we’re about to get some rain soon, but I’m determined to make it the whole month, and possibly beyond!

Sue and her little dog, who did a great job all the way through the parade!

I know, I need to wrap up the Short Track Series, and I will, but before the last race, we had a great time at the Bike Parade. Most of our family hustled down to the Oregon State Fairgrounds Pavillion to meet up with the many other riders who would ride down the State Capitol and back, as a bike and family friendly way to kick off the Oregon State Fair.

Bike parade participants getting signed in and ready to ride!

We met up at the central location where BMX and Mountain Bike Short track would register and enter the race the following day. Many riders were in costume, or had their bikes dressed up and many kids were in tow or on their own bikes as well! It was great to see the kids out enjoying the ride.

Mother and son getting ready to ride. (OK, that's my son and wife...but had to put them in!)

Earlier in the day the rain dumped down and we wondered how miserable the ride would be for the parade, however, we caught the sunbreak and had really nice weather for the ride.

Kurt telling Martha and Ellen where they could stock up on pig squeaky horns.

Many thanks to the local law enforcement for providing a police escort along the way, giving us a safe path all the way to the Capitol building and back. We even had a few folks who came out to cheer on the riders.

The bike parade moving out from the fairgrounds.

All in all a great little 4 mile jaunt to celebrate bikes and riding in Salem. I only wish we’d have stopped for a picture at the Capitol! A few more photos on my Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37571505@N06/ – and be sure to check out Eric’s photos from the event as well! – http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/08/scenes-from-fair-parade.html

It is HOT out this week. Could be 109 today, make sure you're drinking plenty of water if you are out and about!

I love getting my monthly update from the Man Who Know Everything About Bikes in Salem, Eric Lundgren. Not only does it inform and remind me of what’s going on, but it allows me to pass along his nuggets of knowledge to everyone out there visiting PacificPedaling.com From Eric’s latest email:

The big story in July is the Commercial Street Restriping Plan. The
plan offers the prospect of substantial progress on making downtown
more bike-friendly.   It’s scheduled to go to City Council in August.
Make sure August 10th is on your calendar!

(It’s hot, too – so stay hydrated & cool!)

Breakfast on Bikes – Friday, July 31
Commercial Street Striping – Monday, August 10th
Short Track Racing at Fairgrounds – Mondays
Bike Commute Challenge Kick-off – Thursday, August 27th
Kick-off Bike Parade for State Fair – Friday, August 28th
Road Work
Bike Counts
Free Bike Parking at Salem Saturday Market
Salem Bicycle Club introductory Rides

Breakfast on Bikes – Friday, July 31
We’ll be at Mission & Winter, just north of Bush Park, between 7am and
9am.  Thanks to Cascade Baking, Coffee House Cafe, and LifeSource
Natural Foods!
For map and full details, see -
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/07/breakfast-on-bikes-this-friday-mission.html

City Council considers Commercial Street Striping – Monday, August 10th
At 6:30 City Council will meet and consider endorsing the staff plan
to restripe Commercial Street downtown.  Part of the plan is a bike
lane and sharrows to accomodate bicycle traffic.  See a summary of
progress, road blocks, and debate here -
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/07/council-discussion-of-commercial-street.html

Short Track Racing at Fairgrounds – Mondays, August 10th, 17th, 24th, 31st
Buy Local Racing is organizing the Salem Short Track Series at the
Fairgrounds.  Check out the note at Pacific Pedaling -
http://pacificpedaling.com/2009/07/14/salem-short-track-racing-in-august/

Bike Commute Challenge Kick-off – Thursday, August 27th
Save the Date!  Don’t have all the details confirmed yet, but we plan
on having beer and pizza for bicyclists.  Get the BCC posters, other
workplace materials, and meet your fellow commuters!  Look for
information on the Breakfast blog and for a special email later in
August.

Kick-off Bike Parade for State Fair – Friday, August 28th
Free parade!  Costumes and decoration encouraged.  Meet at the State
Fairgrounds in front of the Pavilion off of Sunnyview Rd. at 5:30,
parade starts at 6.  The bike drill team will be participating.
Additional practices to be announced.  Here’s a brief bit about their
first outing, the Monmouth-Independence Fourth of July Parade -
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/07/fourth-of-july-parade.html

Road Work – on-going
Between the ARRA/Stimulus package, the “Keep Salem Moving” road bond,
and other improvement projects, there’s lots of construction that
impacts bikes.  Here’s some of the stories.
Windsor Island Road -
http://pacificpedaling.com/2009/07/27/seriously-what-happened-to-windsor-island-road/
Keizer Rapids Park -
http://pacificpedaling.com/2009/07/21/oh-no-they-paved-paraside-and-put-up-a-parking-lot/
Commercial bike lanes -
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/07/amputated-bike-lanes-cuts-big-and-small.html
In August, look for bike lane delays on Lancaster.

The summer bike counts are going strong, and some counts are already
in. If you are interested in volunteering, please let me know!  There
are still some sites available, and in doing counts we’ve identified
some needs for additional counts.  Here’s a story on one count at
Liberty S and Commercial SE, where we learned the intersection was
even more difficult than we thought.  If you have a work-around you
particularly like, drop it in the comments!
http://breakfastonbikes.blogspot.com/2009/07/liberty-s-and-commercial-se-dysfunction.html

Free Bike Parking at Salem Saturday Market – Every Saturday
Don’t forget about biking to the market!  Friends of Salem Saturday
Market offer free, secure, and monitored bike parking.  Consider
biking instead of driving!
http://friendsofsalemsaturdaymarket.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/bike-valet-service-boys-and-girls-club/

Salem Bicycle Club introductory Rides – Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons
The Keizer Family Ride leaves Cummings Elementary School at 6:30 pm on
Thursday evenings, and the Sunday afternoon High Wheeler ride leaves
the red lot at 1:30pm on Sunday afternoons.  For more information see
- http://salembicycleclub.org/calendar.plx?id=1

Tucson, AZ - A Bike Friendly town, with the signs to prove it.

On the 5th day of our Epic Journey family road trip adventure, before heading off to Van Horn, Texas, I unfolded the Bike Friday and knocked out about 20 miles in Tucson, Arizona. I know from much internet reading that Tucson actually has some great cycling, but with just under 2 hours available, I knew I wouldn’t be able to go in search of much, so I simply headed out the door from our hotel to see what I could see.

Having pulled in late the night before, I really had no idea where we were. Turns out we were just a few blocks from the University of Arizona. In fact, as I was headed out, someone in the parking lot said, “you’ll want to head towards the University for your ride, and not the other direction. It’s a safer neighborhood for your ride.” And so I pointed my wheels that direction and headed out.

As expected, I saw many homes and buildings in typical southwestern flair — in fact, our hotel was just a couple blocks down from the Steinfeld Mansion, which is famous for some Mission Revival style architecture. I only rode by the mansion, but could see the courtyard that is on the “must see” list if you go, and it pretty much looked like a courtyard.

The some-what famous Steinfeld Mansion in Tuscon.

Before long I was in the downtown area, pretty much unsure of where to go, so I just kept riding and found myself on some pretty major thoroughfares. In fact, I spent quite a few miles on one road (pictured above at top of article) that ended up reminding me of Lancaster Drive, here in Salem, where I would never consider riding my bike. But being comforted by the Bike Friendly signs, I knew I could carry on without worry of incident. My first hour or so of riding in Tucson was basically sweating in the just-under 90 degree temps, sucking down morning commute exhaust. The highlight of the ride at that point was when an elderly lady with a dog met me at a corner where I was stopped for a red light and said, “that’s one of them folding bikes, isn’t it.”

A school along the ride...not too shabby, I'd dig going to school there. Well, I'd like the building anyway.

I reached a turning point and started heading back down the same road I have been on for a while, and finally cut across to what I assumed would eventually lead me to the college and then back to the hotel. On one of the roads I saw a sign that said “3rd Street Bike Crossing,” and when I looked over I saw a big sign that said DO NOT ENTER, with another under it that said BICYCLES EXEMPTED. Apparently this WAS a Bike Friendly town after all, and as if to prove it yet again, there was another Bike Friendly sign across from it.

The 3rd Street Bike Crossing road.

And so I was excited to ride on my first Bike-Only road in Tucson, the land where they really did care about cyclists. Where they closed off entire roads to cars and rolled out the red carpet for those on self-propelled two wheeled devices. I turned around on the main road I was on, scooted back to the cross walk, and pushed the magical button that would halt traffic and allow me to cross the road and enter the promised land.

Check it out...are you on a bike? Press here to stop cars and let yourself across!

And what did I find once I rolled out onto the bicycle road? It sucked. And not just a little, it sucked a lot. Bumpy, broken, and in need of repair. In fact, I’m wondering if the road got so bad for cars, that rather than fix it, they decided to close it, call it a bike route, and get some brownie points. I wanted to take a picture, but I honestly was not sure if I could control the bike if I let go with one hand.  I really thought it was kind of a joke, but then before long I was pulling right up to the University of Arizona, and it never got any better.

Along the bone rattling road I came upon a guy on a longboard being pulled behind a gal on a bike, obviously both on their way to class. I said, “dude this kind of sucks for a longboard, doesn’t it?” To which he said, “it totally sucks.” And there you have it, I rest my case.

The rest of the ride back to the hotel was uneventful, but hot, and before long we were loaded up in the ‘Burb and headed to Van Horn. I stopped in at a local shop and picked up a pump, spare tube, Co2 and inflator. I know Tucson has some good riding, and someday, maybe I’ll get back to actually experience it.

The Suburban with the Stowaway2 on the back.

Many of you know I was out for three weeks on a cross country trip our family dubbed The Epic Journey. I still have some posts to get up about riding in different states across and back, but I’ve had a bunch of folks ask about traveling with a bike, and wondering how and where the bike was, because they never saw it in the photos we posted. So for everyone who was curious, here’s what I took, and how I took it with me.

In the photo above you can see our Suburban with a large StowAway2 box on the back that our kids lovingly dubbed “the fanny pack.” There were six of us on the trip – 2 adults, 4 kids, (two teenage girls and two younger boys) and each of us were allowed ONE duffel bag, one toiletry bag, and a “carry on bag” of sorts…something you basically kept with you in your seat. In addition, we had some general bags of medical/health stuff, snacks, and pillows and blankets for everyone…all of which filled out the cargo space behind the third row with just enough room to see safely out the back window. We picked up the Stowaway to be able to haul anything additional, which ended up being some auto gear, an additional car seat for our youngest, and then all my bike stuff.

The "fanny pack" with bag of bike gear, additional car seat, assorted big gear, a folded Bike Friday, and some stuff for the Suburban.

I considered just throwing a rack on top, and putting one of the bikes up on top, but I didn’t want to be concerned with weather for 22 days, or theft or vandalism everytime we were in a new city, or even forget that I had it up on top and shave it off at some parking garage. The fanny pack seemed like an easier, fairly secure method of being able to take something with me, and it proved to be perfect for our trip.

The Stowaway model we selected had 16 cubic feet of storage, which fit everything you see easily, and could have taken more if I needed to get creative with packing. The swing-away arm allows the entire box to move out of the way of the rear-access to the Suburban with a quick release and lock down mechanism that keep it securely attached during normal operation. It was easy enough for anyone to use, and we got in and out of the back of the Suburban multiple times a day.

For anyone who hasn’t read a previous post about the bike, or seen it folded up, the Bike Friday packs up nicely into a bag that’s not much bigger than a suitcase. Having it ready to go in the fanny pack was much easier than if I’d had it tucked in with all our stuff in the Suburban. Plus, there wouldn’t have been enough room with all our other stuff.

The Bike Friday, folded up in it's carrying case.

Folded up, and out of the case.

I carried one bag that had 2 jerseys, 1 pair of shorts, 1 bibshorts, 1 pair of gloves, 3 layers (1 long sleeve, 2 short sleeve,) 3 pairs of socks, 1 pair of shoes, 1 lightweight jacket, 1 rain jacket, 1 front light, 1 blinky light. When I got on the road I realized I had forgotten a pump of any kind! I rode without a pump for the first couple times and finally picked up a full sized pump in Tucson, a spare tube for the BF, and some CO2 and a attachment. Fortunately for me, no problems with flats before then, and nothing afterwards either.

The Bike Friday Sport, assembled and ready for a ride outside of our hotel.

Overall, I really liked having the BF with me as a riding option. It allowed me to keep my legs spinning on a three week trip, rather than return cold after all that time. It was a decent replacement for my normal road bikes, and the bigger tires made it easy to get off of pavement and take a path or gravel road here and there. Halfway through the trip I started picking up some ghost shifting issue that I never really resolved. I tried a few tweaks, but I think I’m just going to let the fellas at Bike Friday give it a look over. Will the BF replace any of my day to day riders? Probably not. Will I take it with me on future camping or vacation trips? Without a doubt, it’s perfect for that.