Seattle Bike Expo

THIS WEEKEND!
Seattle Bicycle Expo
Presented by Raleigh
Saturday, March 13 & Sunday, March 14
Spectacular new waterfront location:
Smith Cove Cruise Terminal 91 in Magnolia
The Seattle Bicycle Expo, presented by Raleigh, is coming up this weekend! Thanks to presenting sponsor Raleigh and all the sponsors who have helped make the 2010 show a success. The show is jam-packed with a slate of fantastic vendors, inspiring speakers, dynamic performers and interesting displays.
• More than 300 exhibits of bikes, gear, travel, health and fitness.
• The amazing World Champion Artistic Cyclist from Germany: UCI World Champion in women's singles, Corinna Hein, plus one of the world's best pairs in men's double, Stefan Musu and Lukas Matla
• Triathlon training with Olympic triathlon coach Gale Bernhardt
• A Dog in a Hat's Joe Parkin
• Mountain bike trials stunt rider Ryan Leech
• Kick back in the Universal Sports viewing lounge - with free popcorn!
• Adventure cyclist, Willie Weir
• The Metal Cowboy, Joe Kurmaskie
• Beautiful handmade bikes from the Oregon Bicycle Constructors Association
• Mobile social & pop culture panel with Bikehugger
• Frazz creator Jef Mallett
• Aerodynamics with Zipp Wheels
• Classic Bike Show featuring a Jack Taylor Bicycle exhibit
• Laurelhurst Juggling and Unicycle Team
• Two days of fun in the Kids Bike Zone
• Enter your photos in the Kenmore Camera Photo Contest
• Food court
• And much, much more!
Tickets
One-day tickets are $10. Two-day tickets are $12. Kids 15 and under are free! Here's a handy coupon to save on up to four tickets in your group.
CLIF Bar & REI Family Feud at Expo
Don't miss our fun family feud game on Saturday at 4:45. We need folks to take our survey to help populate the answers for the game... Be one of the 100 people surveyed by clicking on this link.
Thanks for participating and see you on Saturday evening to find out the most popular answers and chance to win some great free SWAG!

Google's 'starter set' on map for bicyclists

Brier Dudley / Seattle Times

Google engineers who built the company's new bicycle-route mapping service didn't need to look far for inspiration.

The team is based at the Fremont office right alongside the Burke-Gilman Trail.

Bike commuters at Google offices around the country helped the Seattle-based team build and refine the new feature for Google Maps, which is launching Wednesday. That coincides with the National Bike Summit cycling advocacy event this week in Washington, D.C.

The small team built the feature in just five months, adding a new map layer that provides suggested routes for bicyclists in 150 cities across the U.S. It joins the walking and transit directions already provided by Google.

It also comes as maps move to the forefront of the battle between Google and Microsoft. Mapping underpins new locally targeted advertising efforts that may provide the next wave of growth for the search giants, especially as more computing is done on mobile devices that transmit users' location.

Google's bike routes come as Microsoft has been raising the profile of Bing Maps with demonstrations of "spatial search" technology, which blends public photos of places with map imagery to give its maps even more dimension.

The "Bicycling" layer coming to Google Maps isn't a technological tour de force, but it looks like a fun and useful feature for cyclists, especially those visiting a new area and looking for places to ride. It's also been the most requested addition to Google Maps, with an online petition calling for bike routes drawing more than 50,000 signatures.

Google worked with the national Rails to Trails Conservancy to add the group's trail maps, combining them with publicly available bike-route information.

But the maps are still incomplete. Google hopes users will help fill in the gaps, suggest routes and make corrections using the "report a problem" feature.

"We really are thinking of all this data as a starter set," said Shannon Guymon, project manager for driving directions and lead on the bike routes.

Maps display three tiers of bike routes — bike trails such as the Burke Gilman, dedicated bike lanes on streets and roads, and roads without bike lanes that are appropriate for biking.

Routes aren't necessarily the most direct. The system factors in topography and the amount of energy a rider would need to reach the destination.

In other words, it has a built-in hill-avoidance system. Comments added to the code by Andy Schwerin, a former Google engineer who started the project before leaving for a startup, include formulas for calculating the energy used by cyclists.

Google tuned the system conservatively, to provide relatively easy routes for people. That's drawn some flak from hard-core cyclists at Google who tested the system.

"Sometimes we get feedback from Googlers who say, 'You should take this one, it's faster,' but they're more aggressive cyclists than the style we're targeting," Guymon said.

Users can adjust the suggested routes by clicking and dragging them to different roads or trails.

Google is still working on a mobile version. Later the company may incorporate information about services, such as bike shops along suggested routes.

"We are hoping by launching this feature we encourage more bike riding," Guymon said. "Giving this data on the maps makes it seem more accessible."

Tape Worm Time Trial #5

TTT #5 is a timed individual race full of technical challenges and navigation though a small coarse of approx. 6 miles. Bring a friend and get a great start to your mountain bike season. $15 entry Race, food & refreshments. Cash out to top Male/Female.

Date: Saturday, March 27, 2010
Time: 12:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: Renton WA

Get it.

Missing Bike

Hi there cycling cohorts -- Stolen Bike Report:

When: Thursday night in the U-District, right from under my eyes

What: Felt F55, 56 cm, black in color, with American Classic Sprint 350 wheels and a PowerTap hub! Durace Shifters, Fenders.

Who: Contact Josh Gerak at 206-300-0349

Thanks!

On Deck

Have you looked at the weather for this weekend??? Are you ready for some sun??? Sunday, February 21 is the first event in the Singletrack Cycles West Side Mountain Bike Series, at Dash Point State Park, in Federal Way. We will starting in the campground area, and there will be parking available in that section, however, make sure you do park appropriately. If you look on the event flier for Dash Point, I have a map from the park that indicates the trails. Please note that on Saturday a different event is going on at the park.

I do not have online registration available for each event, but do offer online registration for a season pass, which will close at midnight on 3/6/10). We will accept cash and checks on event morning. If you want speed up your registration, print the form from the event flier.

Here is the schedule for the series:

· Sunday, February 21
Dash Point State Park, Federal Way

· Sunday, March 7
Black Diamond

· Sunday, March 21
Soaring Eagle Park, Sammamish

· Sunday, March 28
Cookin’ in the Kettles, Whidbey Island

· Sunday, April 11
Fort Steilacoom, Lakewood

· Saturday, April 18
Soaring Eagle Park, Sammamish

Come on out and have some fun.

Again, we have great sponsors. Thanks to Singletrack Cycles, our title sponsor. Other sponsors include Oh Boy Oberto, Old Town Bicycle, Pedal Dynamics, Center Cycle, nuun and Black Diamond Bike,. The Cookin’ in the Kettles event also has local sponsors, Skagit Bicycle Club, Bicycles Northwest and Skagit Cycle.

Link to Seasons Pass - http://www.bikereg.com/events/register.asp?eventid=9949

See you soon!


Deanna Muller

BuDu Racing - Event Management

www.BuDuRacing.com

206/920-3983

President's Day

This is what it's all about.

Ahem....

Oregon Super D Series

Oregon has like 20 Super D's this year. Washington - 1. Here's a few more:

Oregon Super D Series

Experience the largest multi-race mountain bike Super D Series in the Pacific Northwest

Race 1: Hood River Super D
May 30th, 2010

Race 2: Willamette Pass Super D
June 20th, 2010

Race 3: Oakridge Super D
August 29th, 2010

Race 4: Sandy Ridge Super D
September 5th, 2010

Find out the rest of the story here.

SP SB is genius

Movie Review in the Seattle Times

In the final moments of "Awesome Land: Women of Dirt," two of the professional female cyclists championed by this unabashedly enthusiastic sports documentary go tearing down a winding, bumpy trail in a forest for the sheer pleasure of it. Afterward, in the waning afternoon light, they head to a beach where they disappear beneath a gathering wave because, well, it feels good.

Mountain-biking documentaries are hardly rare, yet rarely do they convey the kind of heightened experience of being alive that the women athletes in "Awesome Land" so clearly feel. Many of the cyclists shown engaging in their extreme sport are past and present champions of women's downhill racing and related competitions in dirt jumping and free riding. But, on film at least, they spend little time talking about their personal victories, preferring to celebrate their inclusion in an activity gradually gaining respect in a male-dominated field.

Names like Tammy Donahugh, Stephanie Nychka and Cierra Smith may not mean much outside of biking circles. But those athletes and other top-rated female cyclists get a lot of exposure in "Awesome Land," demonstrating considerable skills racing over tricky terrain in natural settings, as well as on synthetic courses. Most of the film is really just watching the riders go down or over course after course, which indeed gets visually monotonous but holds one's interest because of the racers' pluck and courage.

Even if one doesn't find racing particularly interesting, there is a lot to be said for watching people do what they do out of pure commitment and passion. Occasionally, one of the cyclists will talk about the future of women's mountain-bike sports, how respect and rewards will build over time as athletes push the envelope of what's possible. In the meantime, the racers aren't going to wait for that day — they're too busy enjoying their own rush.

Portland Bike Plan goes before City Council, but can the city afford it?

The 2030 Portland Bicycle Plan, envisioning a future when 25 percent of trips are made by bike, is expected to coast to approval when it goes before the City Council on Thursday.

It's easy to green-light America's most ambitious investment in bicycling when it would be funded down the road. But according to city transportation officials, the plan to build 681 miles of new bikeways over the next 20 years will eventually cost $613 million.

By comparison, the MAX Green Line cost $575 million, and all transportation projects in the metro area add up to about $630 million a year.

Portland Mayor Sam Adams doesn't flinch at the estimated cost. He talks of making neighborhoods more livable, transportation more affordable and reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

"Can we do those things without this bike plan?" Adams said. "I think it would be very difficult."

Critics think the mayor and cycling advocates are dreaming. For starters, the plan would require a new steady revenue stream.

"They want to make bicycling more attractive than driving for all trips of three miles or less," said John Charles, president of the libertarian Cascade Policy Institute. "Nothing they do is going to make that happen for most people."

The plan calls for an expansive interconneted bicycle network, new street designs and an array of education programs. It also mandates studying "funding concepts" in coming months.

Some ideas – licensing and registration fees for bicyclists, a citywide sales tax on new bikes and advertising in bike lanes – would target just cyclists. But a proposed "green transportation" bond would ask everyone to pay.

Even with the economy dragging, the bike plan is optimistic about property-tax increases because "Portland residents have repeatedly shown strong support for funding sustainable or green spaces initiatives."

With hope, some city officials point to Washington County. There, voters have repeatedly approved new property taxes to build 123 miles of bike lanes through the Major Streets Transportation Improvement Program. Of course, that 25-year-old road tax has always benefited more than one mode of commuting.

From the widening of Oleson Road to the Verboort roundabout, every improvement includes sidewalks for pedestrians and bike lanes (or at least wider shoulders) for cyclists. "Everyone chips in," said county spokeswoman Anne Madden, "and everyone benefits."

By 2012, the Washington County program's $555 million in property-tax revenue is expected to have completed 111 projects on what were narrow farming roads a century ago.

By contrast, the 2030 Portland Bike Plan for the most part calls for separate funding sources for two-wheeled commuters.

Portland's first Bicycle Master Plan was adopted in 1996. With only modest investment, the bicycle network has since doubled to more than 300 miles and bike commuting has boomed.

Last fall, the Census Bureau's annual American Community Survey data showed 6.4 percent of Portlanders reported bicycling to work in 2008, a big jump from 4 percent the year before.

The 2030 Bike Plan projects an uptick of 400 percent. To do that, the city is trying to appeal to Portlanders say they who want to commute by bike but don't think it's safe enough.

Through years of surveys and public outreach, PBOT has categorized 60 percent of residents as "interested but concerned" in bike commuting.

Where the 1996 plan emphasized bike lanes on busy streets, the 2030 plan proposes 314 miles of new separated bikeways and 256 miles of new bike boulevards with low automobile traffic that link to key destinations. It also calls for more bike parking and increased maintenance budgets.

The new plan offers a heavenly two-wheeled vision of Portland in 2030 – "a clean, thriving city where bicycling is a main pillar of the transportation system and more than a quarter of all trips are made on bicycles."

It also quotes H.G. Wells: "Cycle tracks will abound in Utopia."

But one might think of George Orwell after visiting the city's official bike plan web site, which encourages visitors to "click here to express your support."

Oppose the plan? Have legitimate concerns about it? Sorry. No link for you.

Since the public comment period opened in October, the Portland Bureau of Transportation city has received 202 comments. Only 17 have been "clearly against" the plan.

Still, given the city's shaky transportation budget and the fact that the so-called "Copenhagen on the Willamette" already is considered a world-class bicycling city, some wonder if the plan is even needed.

Charles wonders why, when technology and culture are changing at a rapid pace, Portland is planning 20 years into the future. He compared it to a business in 1980 committing to 20 years of IBM typewriter purchases, unaware that the computer revolution was on the horizon.

Near Charles' office in Raleigh Hills, Southwest Scholls Ferry Road turns treacherous once Washington County's bike lanes and wide shoulders stop at the Portland city limits.

Although a multimodal property tax such the one supported by Washington County voters isn't in the bike plan, one city official said Portland is exploring the possibility of "something similar."

At the same time, Geller said there will several opportunities for future federal funding. When Congress undertakes the reauthorization of the surface transportation bill, for example, the city is expected to ask for $25 million for a citywide bicycle boulevard program.

More than $600 million for bicycle improvements "is definitely a big number and I appreciate that," Geller said. "But in transportation dollars, it goes a long way." By contrast, he said, "It would build only about 12 miles of urban freeway."

Aside from the initial douchebaggery, the riding is amazing.