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#51
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:38:10 GMT, Lobby Dosser
wrote: Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote: As I've said, I have regretted selling it ever since. Even now there is a picture of it on the bulletin board above my desk that I look at an remember -- right down to the side exhausts and Kelsey-Hayes knockoff wheels. Sad. Very sad. Yeah -- I've owned some pretty neat cars in my life, but that's The One I regret having sold. Ah well -- I'm not the only former Corvette owners who tells that same story. Corvettes get girls. One of the girls becomes a wife. Wife knows that Corvettes get girls and wants it gone. It's one of those Territorial Things, apparently. |
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#52
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:34:57 GMT, Lobby Dosser
wrote: Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote: Besides -- there's something pretty Cool about owning the same sports car for thirty years. I've got a knife I've had for more than fifty. If you say so. |
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
On Aug 15, 1:58 pm, Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote:
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:38:10 GMT, Lobby Dosser wrote: Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote: As I've said, I have regretted selling it ever since. Even now there is a picture of it on the bulletin board above my desk that I look at an remember -- right down to the side exhausts and Kelsey-Hayes knockoff wheels. Sad. Very sad. Yeah -- I've owned some pretty neat cars in my life, but that's The One I regret having sold. Ah well -- I'm not the only former Corvette owners who tells that same story. Corvettes get girls. One of the girls becomes a wife. Wife knows that Corvettes get girls and wants it gone. It's one of those Territorial Things, apparently. You should get a Harley, you could put a little Vietnam MIA flag on the handlebars. |
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:03:43 -0700, lein
wrote: You should get a Harley, I have considered a motorcycle, but it wouldn't be a H-D. Maybe a 1976-78 Honda GL-1000. ... you could put a little Vietnam MIA flag on the handlebars. I could. But wouldn't. |
#56
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
Lobby Dosser wrote:
Royal Dalton wrote: Don Homuth wrote: On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 20:04:39 GMT, Royal Dalton wrote: Don Homuth wrote: On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 19:44:21 GMT, Royal Dalton wrote: Don Homuth wrote: On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 18:57:05 GMT, Lobby Dosser wrote: Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote: On Tue, 14 Aug 2007 15:48:42 GMT, "steve" wrote: What is the point of these mass rides, anyway? It cant be good riding, and it obviously screws up traffic. Just for the sheer fun of doing it, apparently. My Datsun club does the same thing when it does a cruise or a tour. They disrupt regular traffic? Sometimes they have done exactly that, so I hear. A long column of a couple dozen Datsuns of various vintages can be pretty noticeable. Mine has been in the restoration shop long enough that I haven't gone on one of those, since I only actually Joined the club several months back. But if you check, you can even see pictures of the car pre-restoration. I like the blue one better. http://www.northwestz.org/members/ha...mberProfileVie wChanged&userId=3503C8E7-3048-2906-B43387A57222B78B&vehicleId=4B4176 05-3048-2906-B4AB17E14285BEF6 De gustibus, and all. Mine is still a work in progress. When it's done, I will like it. Whether or not someone else does will be immaterial. I still like the blue one. They're all Crap. Not saying I'd take one over a nice E type mind you, but the Zs were good for the day. |
#57
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
"John S." wrote in message ups.com... So according to you the solution to the congestion problem must be for everyone to register early and get early start times. That is correct. Sunrise is about 5 am, and on a Sunday morning in Portland the traffic is very light until about 10:30am when it starts getting busy. These biking rides have a good solid 5 hours of daylight that they can take place where they are not inconveniencing anyone. It is unfair to the drivers in the city for a bunch of lard-ass bikers to insist on waiting until 9am to get out of bed then amble on down to the ride and drag through the course. You don't seem to understand that some of these bridges do not have space at ALL for bicycles. In particular the Fremont bridge is an Interstate Highway bridge and it is illegal for bicycles to be on a federal Interstate to begin with. The Bridge Pedal takes place only by the consent of the DRIVERS and their CARS who are the only LEGALLY authorized vehicles on that bridge. Bikers DO NOT have the right to be on that bridge ONLY CARS, and they are there because WE LET THEM. Therefore it is extremely rude of them to try to drag the event out all day long, which is what a few whiner bikers seem to be trying to do. And I will point out that the dedicated bike riders UNDERSTAND THIS and they ARE NOT THE PROBLEM as they get out there, do their thing, then get the hell out. Don't forget that this is not a road race. Bike clubs provide plenty of that kind of competition. It is first a benefit ride and second a fun ride for all comers. It was not well planned however. It IS well planned, it is the participants who treat it like your saying, a "fun ride for all comers" who are out of line. This isn't a short ride it is long, it is not your 4 mile neighborhood parade where everyone moseys along. Bikers want car drivers to take them seriously - well the bikers on this ride that get in early understand this. This is a serious ride. New York has successfully run the much bigger and longer 5 Borough Bike Ride for decades so it can be done. And it is indeed possible to run a very large ride so that the riders have fun. The riders in 5BBB span a very wide range of ages and abilities and yet they are all able to enjoy a ride with 32,000 fellow cyclists. Portland could do the same if they were willing to plan the ride properly. New York has an extrordinairly extensive subway system that Portland lacks. New York is flat making it very easy for most people to take the subway and walk 10 blocks. Portland is on a hill and walking 10 blocks up the hill from the subway station would give a lot of folks a heart attack, if there was such a system which there isn't. The Light Rail in Portland all travels on surface streets and is shut down by these bike things the same as car traffic. Most east side streets in Portland are 2 way not 1 way making a street shutdown have a lot more logistical problems. And unlike New York there are only 3 major arterials into and out of the city and all of them use the same bridges as the bikers - if they get clogged (by bikers or by accidents) it shuts down all car and bus transportation in the city. I respectfully submit that as you clearly don't live here you don't have any idea what the hell your talking about. Ted |
#58
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
"John S." wrote in message oups.com... I understood that they were partially closed and riders had one lane. If that is the case then Portland has to decide whether they are going to manage this race properly or not. Full closure of the needed roads and bridges on a saturday is really the only way to move that many riders of widely verying skills. It takes place on Sunday not Saturday. Saturday would not work at all, too much commercial traffic. It may take a redesign of the course to encourage stretching out of the line as is done in NYC. Use of break points will also help stagger the load. Dedicated riders do this ride without having to stop at break points. They may stop to get a longer look at the view or more pictures but not because they have to. IMHO it is the greed of the organizers to maximize the funds raised that results in this chaos. It is clear to anyone who can think clearly that you must limit the number of riders especially as there are several choke points as the story described. At at least one you have to wait without moving for at an hour or more to get through. Since it is a benefit ride I doubt greed plays much into the decisions. Wrong. If greed wasn't involved then they would have refunded the money for the start fee to the people they didn't allow to start. Remember these people had been given late starting times then they got to the ride at the time and were told to go home, no refunds. That is greed. I suspect that it is more the results of a volunteer organization taking on a big challenge. It really is not all that difficult to think through how to control and minimize choke points. NYC manages to do it very well with 32,000 riders this year. This volunteer organization has been doing this ride for years and has plenty of experience with routing it. As the other poster said, they are being greedy. In actuality they are trying to play a game of chicken with the city. They are telling people they won't put a signup limit on the ride, then ****ing off people with reserved start times they have paid for by taking their money and denying them the ride, then they are blaming it on the city. The idea is to get enough people complaining to the city so that next year they can pressure the city into allowing the ride to go on until 1:00pm. Then more people will come and the year after that they will push for 2:00pm. And after 5-6 years they will have the bridges tied up for the entire day. Ted |
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote:
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:34:57 GMT, Lobby Dosser wrote: Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote: Besides -- there's something pretty Cool about owning the same sports car for thirty years. I've got a knife I've had for more than fifty. If you say so. I just did. |
#60
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Portland's Bridge Pedal Debacle
Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote:
On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:36:54 GMT, Lobby Dosser wrote: Don Homuth dhomuthoneatcomcast.net wrote: Not my call, at the time. When I bought the Datsun, we already had another Practical Car. And then, interestingly enough, my wife bought her own -- a 1976. So there we were with three cars. It was all Very strange. Not at all. There's even a name for it: 'Conspicuous Consumption'. Anything can fit a definition, if you wish it to do so and want to force it hard enough. But it seems that my First wife rather liked driving my '75, and when a '76 came up at a Really good price, she decided to buy it for her own use. That fits the definition. Smoothly. |
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