What Have YOU Done Today?

[K'Tesh]

Today I had an opportunity to do something. I found a problem with the bike lane on SW Canyon, Beaverton. Some GLASSHOLE had broken a bottle in the bike lane. This was at the point where the lane starts, and riding outside of the lane is kinda risky due to the width of the road, and all the traffic.

Glass in the path? What can YOU! do about it?

I rolled up to the Shell station that was right there, borrowed (with permission) their brooms and a dustpan, and swept up the bikelane.

To paraphrase John F. Kennedy,

And so, my fellow Cyclists: ask not what your community can do for you - ask what you can do for your communty.

Well??? Anybody up to the challenge?

Rubberside Down!
K'Tesh

[djasonpenney]

...usually there's no good place to put the glass if I were to collect it. Carrying it on a bike sounds like A Bad Idea

[biciclero]

Sorry for my shock and awe, but Ding Dong Dang, Dude! I don't think I've ever seen that much stuff on one handlebar before! You're gonna have to weld on an auxiliary rail pretty soon!

Seriously, though, thanks for all the clean-up you manage to get done around the bikeways! One of these days I'll have to stop ducking and swerving and bring my pruning nippers and whisk broom to work with me....

[wyeast]

Sorry, dude. I spent all afternoon in a wet crawlspace out in Gresham. No room for a bike or a broom.

[wsbob]

Because of the thread on the mainpage....'Are Fixies the new Rollerblades?', I got psyched to go skating (aka 'fruitbooting'...I always laugh when I read that term!) for a change. Glass is one thing that doesn't really bother skating.

There is if I remember correctly, a spot on Milikan after Hocken going west with some bad glass. Maybe I could carry a wisk broom with me the next time I ride by.

Incidently k'tesh....re; Kennedy....you paraphrased him, not quoted him. I'm sure never the less that no disrespect was intended and everyone got the point.

[tinaaj]

Originally Posted by biciclero

... Ding Dong Dang, Dude! I don't think I've ever seen that much stuff on one handlebar before!

I LOLed. The handlebar is definitely what I was looking at in those pics... very impressive.

[K'Tesh]

One thing I hate about square grates, unless they are manufactured with a pattern that prevents bikes from being eaten, the straps that they have (if they have) them can (and do) break off occasionally.

Last night after the BAC meeting, I found a couple of square grates in the parking lot of the new strip mall that is in front of the Beaverton City Hall. They were rotated in line with traffic, which could cause a cyclist to crash if the straps were to break off. I took a few minutes and rotated them.


Which way would you want to ride over that grate if the straps were missing?

Rubberside Down!
K'Tesh

[K'Tesh]

Called Beaverton's public works about the WES project again...

On the sidewalk near where the WES crosses the bikelane, there is a small sign (mounted what seems to be really high) that shows bikes crossing the tracks at a 90 degree angle just inches away from a lamp post. I can see that a blind person, using a cane, could sweep the cane past the lamp post and get it stuck by the sign post. I've asked that the sign be mounted (perhaps a bit lower) on the lamp post, and have the sign post removed.

Also where the crossing arm blocks Canyon Blvd (WB) there's another sign that is inconviently located close to the counterweights. I'm worried that should the arm come down, and someone is trying to use the sidewalk, they might be forced to collide with the sign post. Yes, I do ride on sidewalks against traffic when the need suits me, any discussion on that belongs in it's own thread.

Being that it's the all powerfull rail that we're dealing with, God knows if my observations will be acted upon. I really do wish that engineers would recruit cyclists for more of their projects, and listen a bit better to what we have to say. Perhaps I should get into civil engineering with a cycling bent to it... hmmm

Some good news though, I was told that they are trying a sealing compound in the expansion joints to try to fill most of the gaps that exist (currently only NB Lombard between Farmington and Broadway is done) I'll need to roll through there and check it out. Don't know if it will fix the problems with the joints but it has to be better than nothing at all.

Rubberside Down!
K'Tesh

[K'Tesh]

Well, I went out to the WES areas I reported yesterday. The filler is an improvement, but my narrow tire was still being influenced by it when I tried to roll in the crack (as if someone faster was passing on my left, and I was shifting over to allow).

They've found a way to prevent people from running into the sign/counterweight... they erected 4 bollards with chains to flank the RR crossing arm. problem is that the sidewalk was built with 90 degree turns in two spots, and it gets narrow right in there. Anybody in a power chair rolling in there is going to have to do two turns minimum to navigate that area. Cyclists that pass thru there are already cutting the corner, and a skidmark I spotted seemed to indicate that someone nearly bit it here. I'm sure that the silver color of the bollards is also going to be a problem, people are going to run right into them.

I am going to call and request that they see if they can connect the points of the cement sidewalk and create a slightly wider, sweeping curve to facilitate bike/ped/wheelchair access, and paint the bollards to add a visual warning to it's presence.

Now I need to upload the pictures and post them.

Rubberside Down!
K'Tesh

[lynnef]

Earlier this week actually... had a nice conversation with a gentleman from the Washington County Streets Program about undefined lane boundaries on a tight curve in my neighborhood. I'm expecting paint to show up someday soon.

Last week, "pruned" a hawthorn branch on SW Park Way, because it had been whacking me in the head for a few weeks. By hand.