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.

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.

Tom "Johnny Sunset" Sherman wrote:
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:

On 14-Aug-2007, smacked up and reeling, (Paul
Berg)
blindly formulated
the following incoherence:

Bottlenecks not only forced cyclists to walk their bikes along
parts
of the course, but also meant as many as 1,500 of the estimated
record 19,000 cyclists in the event were unable to complete the
ride. Organizers barred them from crossing the Fremont Bridge and
other spans as authorities sought to reopen them to vehicle
traffic.
Other cyclists, frustrated, left the course on their own.
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.
http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/s...page=4&t=17399

Nope.

I like the blue one better.

http://www.northwestz.org/members/ha...AB17E14285BEF6


I want a B210 "Honey Bee".


Gawd, those were so awesomely UGLY!

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.

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.

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.

"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

"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

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.

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.