TABLE OF CONTENTS | FEAR FACTOR: The horrors of not wearing a helmet | BIKE GEEKS UNITE! Talking bikes with a former mayor, a messenger and a bicycle advocate | BIKE EVENTS CALENDAR: Bike events between May and September | AND THEN THERE WERE BIKES: History of Portland's bike movement | UNDER PRESSURE: A list of cool new bike gear | CAN'T WE ALL JUST RIDE ALONG? A ride-along with a bike cop | BIKE SCAVENGER HUNT Enter here | WWEEK.COM HOME

BIKE GEEKS UNITE!

SCOTT BRICKER

Bike advocate rides in style.

BY BYRON BECK bbeck at wweek.com

Scott Bricker stops traffic with his sharp bike look.

Scott Bricker is one smokin' cyclist.

That may have something to do with the fact that he's the education and policy director for the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, a nonprofit organization working to improve biking conditions throughout Oregon.

Even though he spends most of his days living, breathing and talking bikes, he's up to speed style-wise, too. Voted best-dressed in high school, this 31-year-old JFK Jr.-style hunk has no problem riding around town in a vintage wool suit and tie. He has to. It's part of his job. That's why we wanted to talk to him about being an advocate for bike riding. He's not only a bike geek--he's chic.

WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO RIDE AROUND PORTLAND?

Alameda Ridge in Northeast Portland. It has great views of downtown, low traffic, few stops--and it's where my girlfriend lives.

WHAT KIND OF BIKE IS YOUR MAIN RIDE?

A 1994 Bianchi Eros. It has mustache handlebars and an old-school leather saddle.

FIRST BIKE? WHEN?

It was a Huffy with a square banana seat. I was 7 years old. I wrecked it pretty early. Speaking of wrecks, I got hit by a car when I was 12 years old. I didn't ride again until I was 20.

HOW MANY BIKES DO YOU HAVE?

Four bikes total: a Bridgestone RB1, a single-speed, a cruiser and my Bianchi. I am also assembling a cargo bike and have a Burley trailer.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF BIKE GEAR?

Wool clothing. I didn't wear a rain jacket all winter. But I just got a cool White Stag wool jacket with about a billion pockets, even one in the back. When it rains super-hard, I wear wool trousers.

DO YOU TRY TO INFLUENCE OTHERS TO RIDE?

Yes. My work and activism are one and the same. I've been at the BTA for almost six years. My primary focus has been increasing safety and ridership with youth [including] safe routes to schools.

DO YOU WAVE AT OTHER CYCLISTS?

I wave at other cyclists all the time. It's awesome. It just shows that everybody loves [riding] and having a good time.

WHY DO YOU RIDE BIKES?

My main purpose is to get around the city. I first started riding because of economic reasons but continued because I truly enjoy it. Besides, sometimes riding is the only way I get exercise. I don't belong to a gym.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU RIDE?

Every day, at least 40 minutes is my minimum.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A BIKE GEEK?

Unfortunately, yes. I'm a bike geek because I can identify all my friends by their bikes.

ANY CLOSE CALLS OR ACCIDENTS?

Like I said, when I was 12 I flipped onto the hood of a car. Now I am an expert cycling instructor. I train the people who teach people how to ride bikes.

WHAT IS YOUR BIKE PHILOSOPHY?

Bicycling is more than an inexpensive and efficient way to travel. It's my workout, my meditation and outdoor therapy wrapped in one. bicycling with my friends is the best way to travel. I've had more fun biking to parties than at them.

BUD CLARK

Former mayor weighs in on pedal politics.

BY JOEL SMITH joelsmith at wweek.com

Bud Clark, left, shows just how much he loves biking."Whoop, whoop!" That was Bud Clark's mayoral rallying cry from 1985 to 1992. And a fitting one, too, for a city official so seemingly unconcerned with his own public image. Who swapped police chiefs like playing cards. Who colored his speech freely and once suggested "I must be a born-again pagan"--to the great delight of the press. And who conducted the entirety of the following interview with a WW reporter in his bathrobe at home on Easter morning.

But perhaps the whoop was most often heard as the mayor blew past the peasants on his trusty Univega. Clark was famous for riding to work at City Hall "every day that I didn't need the car" and helped heighten awareness of bicycles at a time when Portland's bike culture was beginning to bubble. As mayor, he also pushed for the extension of the Springwater Trail to Gresham and put a squad of cops on two wheels.

Clark is back on the trail today, towing a trailer full of mayoral campaign signs for an old friend, Tom Potter, who served as his fifth chief of police.

FIRST BIKE? WHEN?

I got my first bicycle when I was 13 years old. I think it was an Ace. It was a hand-me-down from my aunt.

WHAT KIND OF A BIKE DO YOU RIDE NOW?

It's a Specialized, what they call a hybrid. Best bike I've ever had.

WHERE'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO RIDE?

I went through the mile-long tunnel once. That goes underneath St. Johns, you know. And I was going through in the dark. A train came through and scared the shit out of me. I hugged the wall, got down low. It'd be funny if they found a dead mayor in there.

WERE YOU MAKING A STATEMENT BY RIDING TO CITY HALL AS MAYOR?

Well, it was practical and it was making a statement. And when you're a mayor in office, you don't get any exercise to speak of. Also, people always want to talk to you; on a bike, you can wave and just keep on going and say "whoop, whoop."

EVER GET THE "WHOOP, WHOOP" BACK?

Sometimes, yeah.

DO YOU SEE PROBLEMS WITH THE PORTLAND BIKE SCENE?

Education is the biggest thing that needs to happen, so that drivers respect bicyclists, bicyclists respect motorists, and pedestrians, too. Otherwise I think it might reach a point where everybody just gets upset and they won't want to have bicyclists around.

WHAT DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE?

I would like to see more streets devoted strictly to bicycles and no automobiles to speak of. I went to Amsterdam and there were just traffic jams in the morning, people going to work on bicycles.

DO YOU ALWAYS ACKNOWLEDGE OTHER RIDERS?

Oh, yeah. I believe in acknowledgment, whether you're walking or whatever. [Otherwise] you're gonna be living in New York City. Everybody becomes an island and you don't know anybody. I would like us to be a city but still be a town. I don't mind being a town.

CARLY MICK

Bike messenger delivers the goods.

BY DENISE LOZANO 243-2122

Carly Mack delivers the goods as a local bike messenger.

With every breath Carly Mick takes, she makes a statement: So what if it's a man's world--she can still ride with the best of them.

Mick is a modern-day cowgirl, a member of today's urban Pony Express. And her job, climbing on her trusty steed every day and delivering messages for Transerv Package Express all over the city, may be one of the most dangerous jobs on the market. But some people do what they do just because they love it. Some people are lucky enough to do a job that they say makes them feel more free. Sound impossible? Not if you ask Mick, a 21-year-old Portland native.

WHERE IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO RIDE AROUND PORTLAND?

I love going through neighborhoods, especially in the Southeast.

WHAT KIND OF BIKE IS YOUR MAIN RIDE?

I have an old Fuji. I got tired of paying other people to fix my bike, so I learned how to do it myself. It's probably from the early '80s. I got it for 25 bucks at a thrift store. It's the bike I use for work.

FIRST BIKE? WHEN?

I've always been around and used bikes. My mother was epileptic. We didn't have a car while I was growing up.

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF BIKE GEAR?

A good pair of shoes. Or fenders, depending on the weather.

DO YOU TRY TO INFLUENCE OTHERS TO RIDE?

I guess I've influenced a few people. I've built quite a few bikes for friends who weren't into bikes.

DO YOU WAVE AT OTHER CYCLISTS?

Yes. A lot of the messengers hang out together, so we know each other and wave. But in general, I wave at other bikes, too.

WHY DO YOU RIDE BIKES?

There are so many rules and guidelines for pedestrians and cars. Bicycling undermines both of those. It's freedom, and it feels really good to have the freedom that riding offers.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU RIDE?

It's my main source of transportation. You get used to the rain, especially if you have the right gear.

DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A BIKE GEEK?

No. I enjoy bikes, but there are people who are more into them than I am. Some people read nothing but cycling mags, they don't even look at other people of the opposite sex. They just look at their bikes.

ANY CLOSE CALLS OR ACCIDENTS?

I've never had to go to the hospital or anything. Once I was riding, and I looked away for a few seconds and I clipped a car. I flipped over it and was lying in the street. People called the paramedics, but I just went home and nursed myself. Daily, however, people in cars are really oblivious. Pedestrians are even more oblivious. So we [bikers] are just more aware.

WHAT IS YOUR BIKE PHILOSOPHY?

More people should be riding bikes. It saves gas, mental energy, money on insurance, parking, time. People would be happier and healthier if they rode bikes--although the downside of that is that we'd end up like Amsterdam, where everyone rides bikes. Then there'd be more rules and less freedom for bikers.

DO YOU OWN A CAR?

Well, I bought a car a while back. Now I refuse to drive it. When it rains, my bike gets coated with this black filth from what cars put out. It's really disgusting to think about it.