PDX

Biking around Portland the past few days. A bit of sun, a bit of rain, light jacket or no jacket is fine. Staying with post-surly Nick, visited with LFOAB and family, met Todd at Clever Cycles (beautiful and impressive shop), randomly encountered Joe Ahearne out on a photo shoot of a new cargo bike model, there were three out and about:


Back in the MPLS sooner than later, the snow is gone by now, right?

Oh, and the grab-and-go bicycle sound system sounds amazing, just a few finishing touches before it makes its MPLS debut.

unicyclist in stone, with reflection

1953 Hetchins

Check out the lugs on this frame and stem, beautiful indeed, not to mention the stays. Seen at Elliott Bay Bicycles. http://www.elliottbaybicycles.com/ quite a few high quality handbuilt frames at this shop.

nodak

View out the window, that's a road cutting the white.



Loaded down with a cooler of beer for company in this oasis on tracks.

annual ice beard photo, 2010 style

The beard-off is still going strong and the streets in MPLS are W-I-D-E for riding. Keep it going!

Note the helmet, took a fall a few nights ago on a hidden ice rut. How soon we forget...

The streets just got a lot wider

Perhaps another option would be for the plows to clear to the curb; that's what they do on the streets like Nicollet, anyway. Either way, it'll make it easier for biking down the residential streets, which have become harrowing since X-mas.

From the city of MPLS:

Winter Parking Restrictions begin Feb. 11

Odd-side parking will help with emergency vehicle access and traffic flow; Snow Emergency routes and parkways not affected

To ensure that fire trucks and other emergency vehicles can continue to navigate Minneapolis neighborhoods,Winter Parking Restrictions will take effect beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 11. This means parking will be banned on the even side of many city streets until April 1, unless conditions allow the City to lift the ban earlier. Streets designated as parkways and Snow Emergency routes are not affected by Winter Parking Restrictions and vehicles can park on both sides of these streets.

Winter parking restrictions are being put in place because Minneapolis has had about 30 inches of snow so far this winter, with very little melting in between snowfalls. This means snow, even when it’s plowed, has begun to encroach on residential streets. That leads to the narrowing of streets that can pose a safety hazard when emergency vehicles, such as fire trucks and ambulances, cannot navigate these streets to reach people who need assistance.

People parking in Minneapolis must follow these parking restrictions, or they could be ticketed and towed:

• Thursday, Feb. 11 – Winter Parking Restrictions begin
  Beginning at 8 a.m., parking is prohibited on the EVEN side of non-Snow-Emergency-routes. Parking isallowed on Snow Emergency routes, parkways and the ODD side of non-Snow Emergency-routes.

Feb. 10, 2010

The life of a dog in the MPLS winter

At the big dog park on Sunday.

New Urban Velo #17, now in Full Color!

So Brad is in MPLS this weekend for the Stupor Bowl XIII (that's 13 to you non-Romans) and dropped off a few issues of #17, which is now in full color! Go check it out, it's free after all.

Great photos, as usual. But then we recognize MPLS' own Kevin in the new Vetta ad riding the wooden planks downtown. Shout out.

Stupor Bowl XIII, a few images

Jeff of Philly; no pain, no gain for the men's stupor champ.


Carrie (L) took 1st place stupor female, while The Buzzard took 3rd in speed; two of the finest women riders in Minneapolis, we say:


Jeff gets 1st place speed, beating the runner-up by 18-minutes!


1st place women's speed race goes to Fiona; she will eat you up on the streets or trails alike:


Of course, everybody is a winner on Stupor Bowl!


The rest here.

The great thing about stupor bowl weekend of course is the people; friends and acquaintances coming together, some we haven't seen in a year or more.

Until next time, watch those ice ruts and keep several eyes out for the minefield of potholes - freaking deadly out there.

Minneapolis Chooses BIXI as Bike Share Equipment Vendor

MINNEAPOLIS (Feb. 2, 2010) - Nice Ride Minnesota, a new non-profit created to bring public bike sharing to Minneapolis, today announced that it has chosen Public Bike System Company (PBSC), developer of the Montreal BIXI™ bike-share system, to supply bikes and kiosks to Minneapolis. BIXI launched its 5,000-bike system in Montreal last year to rave reviews.

Advanced bike-share systems have been operating in cities like Paris and Barcelona for several years now. The engineers at BIXI learned from the successes in these cities and built a bike share system that is elegant, rugged, and simple to use. Time Magazine recognized BIXI as one of the top inventions of 2008, right behind the Mars Rover.

The BIXI system enables an annual subscriber to take a bike from any kiosk with the swipe of a card and return it to any kiosk by simply pushing it into a dock, which locks automatically. The solar-powered system creates accountability: subscribers sign a user agreement online and the system keeps track of who has each bike at all times. The bikes are designed for short trips in the city, such as across downtown for an appointment or a quick trip to a local market, which in turn reduces pollution and congestion. The bikes are designed to be ridden by people wearing regular clothes and include full fenders, lights and a cargo rack.

Nice Ride Minnesota’s Phase 1 plan calls for 1,000 bikes in 80 kiosks throughout downtown, the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus and surrounding commercial districts. Nice Ride expects to have at least 65 of these kiosks in place when it launches Minneapolis’ bike share in June 2010.

Minneapolis joins Boston and London in selecting the BIXI equipment as the best for an urban bike-share system. Nice Ride Minnesota expects to finalize a contract with the PBSC very soon.

The primary funding sources for this purchase come from a Bike Walk Twin Cities (BWTC) grant and a Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (Blue Cross) sponsorship using proceeds from its historic settlement with tobacco companies.

BWTC is a federally funded initiative to increase biking and walking and reduce driving in Minneapolis and neighboring communities. A program of Transit for Livable Communities, BWTC allocates funds to local governments for safer crosswalks, bike lanes, and other improvements, and works with organizations, businesses and residents on public education about biking and walking options.

Blue Cross’ commitment to promoting prevention and wellness is evident in its anti-smoking campaigns and efforts to fight obesity. The bike-share program will help people to be active and move more making it a strong complement to the Blue Cross do campaign, which encourages everyone to “groove your body every day.” Each bike will display the do message.

Nice Ride Minnesota has also received support from a diverse group of businesses. Target, Augsburg College, Grant Thornton, Abbott Northwestern Hospital, Dorsey & Whitney LLP, Seward Co-op, Wedge Co-op, Equal Exchange, Peace Coffee, Birchwood Cafe, DERO Bike Rack Co. and Aveda have all committed to sponsor Nice Ride bike-share kiosks.

For more information or to offer your support, contact Bill Dossett, Executive Director of Nice Ride Minnesota, at 612-747-4659.

We now return to the regular programming schedule.

Had to run south of the border to pick up a parcel; we're back now and are ready for some action.

Speaking of, check out the wheelie this guy was holding:


Had it going for a few hundred feet before jumping up a small set of stairs. Kewl.