Come Ride wtih us TONIGHT!

We at npGREENWAY are very excited about the Ride through North Portland tonight and wanted to share with you the text from the back of the map for tonights ride:

Brief Description
This 4th Bicycle Master Plan Ride will explore some of the bicycle lanes and off-street paths in
North Portland. On the way, we’ll:

• tour the Eastbank Esplanade
• use the Scramble Signal at Oregon & Interstate
• look at the desired connection for cyclists at the Rose Quarter Transit Center

North Portland has a number of relatively low volume roadways with bicycle lanes. North Portland also has a great pathway system with more than 15 miles of off-street path. We’ll tour a bit of them and will cross the city’s first bicycle- and pedestrian-only bridge.

As an added bonus at the beginning of this ride we’ll tour a bit of the Park Blocks. One of the goals of these rides is to create the feeling one gets when riding in a world-class cycling city— even if only for a little while and in a limited area. Portland’s Park Blocks are reminiscent of many European streets: mixed land uses, compact development, narrow streets. All that’s missing are the cyclists. We’ll provide that element as we take a loop through the Park Blocks before heading back across the Hawthorne Bridge to the Esplanade.

Logistics
Spread out. The idea of these rides is to not necessarily travel in one large group, but to space ourselves out a bit. There are two reasons for this. 1) It’s easier to experience true cycling conditions in Portland in smaller groups; motorists behave quite differently around larger groups of cyclists than around smaller groups and a goal of these rides is to experience Portland cycling conditions as they are today. 2) Spreading out just a little creates more of a presence for the ride and helps with the idea of creating a little bit of Amsterdam in Portland during the ride. Depending on the size of the ride, we’ll either assemble in a North Portland Park at the 11.5-mile or 15 mile mark, or, depending on time and desire of the group, or we’ll meet indoors at a location to be determined.

Rules
There are only two rules for this ride, and they are based on the idea that when riding our bikes we are doing quite a bit to represent cycling and cyclists to the non-cycling public. What we do as individuals or as a group reflects on all cyclists and influences what we’re working to attain in Portland. With that in mind:

• Rule #1: Conduct yourself with utmost courtesy to everyone with whom you come into contact on this ride. This means yielding to all pedestrians, riding slowly around pedestrians, following traffic laws, etc. I mean, what’s the rush, anyhow?
• Rule#2: Enjoy the ride. Shouldn’t be too hard to do, should it? Bicycling is fun and enjoyable. That’s a good thing to project. As I said, what’s the rush, anyhow?