Tag Archives: eugene

Video: Winter Bicycle Ride

Posted on January 7, 2012 | Leave a comment

This abnormally warm winter has brought us some great days for bike rides all over town. Here is a video from one of those days, riding along the river bike paths.

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Posted in BIKE, Day Ride, Videos

Tagged bicycle, bike, eugene, GoPro, Linus, mixte, Oregon, REI, video

Travel Alder St Cycle Track in Minutes

Posted on January 4, 2012 | 6 comments

Have you ever needed to travel up and back on the new Alder Street Cycle Track, in under 5 minutes? Well I actually can’t help you with that, but you can view its entirety of the cycle track right now from your computer. The other day I rode North and South bound lanes of the Alder Street Cycle Track in Eugene, Oregon, recording it with my new camera so more people can see it who haven’t been able to make it to the street yet, just don’t ride in that area, or are not from Eugene and can see what this cycle track looks like. This is a great way to view it, or show it off and brag “my city has a cycle track and bicycle only traffic signals“. When I went out to film this ride; the streets were pretty empty due to students being home for the holidays, and because it was right before the 2012 Rose Bowl (the Ducks Won!) Normally this area is full of students riding, driving, and walking to and from the University of Oregon campus.

This is the first cycle track here in Eugene featuring: one way car traffic (South bound only), North and South bound bike lanes on one side of the road, painted buffer zone separating the car lane from the bikes, green painted intersections to denote “car and bike caution crossing zone”, green painted bike boxes for south bound lanes, bicycle only traffic signals, and center lane car parking between 12th and 13th.

Sorry for any added shakiness, speeding a 6min ride one way into about 2min adds some extra bumps along the way. Enjoy the videos and feel free to share them to show the new cycling infrastructure here in Eugene, OR.

North bound starting at Alder/19th ending at Alder/Franklin Blvd.

South bound tarting at Alder/Franklin Blvd ending at Alder/19th.

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Posted in BIKE, Day Ride, News, Videos

Tagged bicycle, bike, bike commute, eugene, GoPro, news, Oregon

New Bike & Cellphone Laws on the Books

Posted on January 3, 2012 | Leave a comment

Some new traffic laws have come into effect here in Oregon pertaining to both cyclists and car drivers. The law were put into effect on 1-1-2012.

As mentioned in Eugene’s First Bike Only Traffic Signal, Senate Bill 130 has now taken effect. The main thing is that the bill adds bike only traffic signal to Oregon’s list of traffic control devices that can be used. It also defines that bicycles must follow all traffic signals just like all other road vehicle. Most in Eugene might already realize we have these signals placed in on the Alder St. cycle track. Portland also has a couple of these signals around the city.

Here’s a biggy, House Bill 3186 amends ORS 811.507 which allowed cell phones to be used if “A person operating a motor vehicle in the scope of the person’s employment if operation of the motor vehicle is necessary for the person’s job“. With no way of knowing whether drivers were using their phone for work, there was basically no enforcement of the law. Anyone could use their phone if they just claimed it was for “work”. With HB3186 it removes this loophole, No drivers will be able to use a cellphone (with the exception of emergency vehicle drivers), and there is absolutely no texting by any drivers at all. Drivers can still use hands free devices while driving, but putting the phone on speakerphone doesn’t count.

These are 2 great laws that have taken effect, keeping all of the users of the roads safe for cars, bikes, and pedestrians.

For more about these and more about other traffic laws in effect read it here on Oregon Live.

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Posted in BIKE, News, News, PSA

Tagged bicycle, bike, bike commute, car, eugene, news, Oregon

REI Year-end Garage Sale

Posted on January 1, 2012 | 7 comments

Saturday December 31st, 2011 was the REI Year-end Garage Sale in Eugene. This is a big sale at REI, where they sell slightly used gear, returns, and display items. This was the first time I have been able to go to one myself, and let me just say it was well worth the short wait in line to get in. There was a lot of great gear to pick up there and I got myself some presents that I’m quite happy about.

ALPS Mountaineering Mystique 2.0 – MSRP $199.99 bought at $9.83
This is the first real tent I have ever bought, but it seems like it will be perfect for me: 3 season, fits 2 people, pretty light at 5lb 2oz total, packs pretty small. I’m quite excited, the only thing is the tent was not cleaned up before packing away after the last use, so it smells like the outdoors (Angel claims it smells like mossy earth and radishes). No visible mildew, but I should clean it as soon as possible. If anyone has any ideas on how to clean it in the middle of winter, indoors let me know. The biggest problem right now is all the rain we’re getting, so I can’t set it up outside to clean it out and hang. So I’ll need to do this inside maybe in stages. If I can’t get it cleaned out well enough it’s no big loss, it was $9.83.

Novara Arosa Bike Gloves – MSRP S29.50 bought at $9.83
These gloves fit very well and should be a great cool and dry weather glove, when my Novara Stratos Bike Gloves are just too warm. On the tag, the reason for return was “not warm enough”, but these will work well for me. They just needed a little stitching fix, and now they are perfect. I can’t wait to get to use them this coming spring.

Merrell Chameleon3 Stretch – MSRP $120 bought $19.83
The shoes are hardly broken in and all the tread is there, including the fine tread that wears off fast. They should be great for hiking and walking.

GoPro HD HERO Camera – MSRP $239.99 bought $99.83
It was a big surprise for me to find this, and it was a hard decision to get it but I did. Angel and I shoot lots of videos together and we have always talked about getting one. This price was too fair to pass up. I can only imagine no one got it before me because: A. They didn’t know what it was, or B. They don’t do video editing themselves. The camera is in perfect condition. The reason for return was “didn’t like product”, and I don’t really know why they didn’t like it, but I like it already. It has HD video up to 1080p at 30fps, with 127º wide viewing angle. 60fps at 720p and WVGA resolutions allowing smooth slow motion playback with 170º wide viewing angle. With a waterproof case allowing it to go to depths of 180ft (60m), my Fuji XP10 depth is only 10ft (3m). Comes with mounts, including a one for vented helmets. This should get a lot of good, fun video footage that we can use. Great for long bike rides, or trips to the coast. Can’t wait.

I’m excited to get to use these new items and after I will write reviews for them, so stay tuned. There will be new videos as well with the help of the GoPro Hero.

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Posted in BIKE, Events, Reviews, Trips

Tagged bicycle, bike, bike commute, bike tour, camera, eugene, GoPro, hike, Long Haul Trucker, Oregon, REI, review, video

Rainy Day Floods & Splash Cam Test

Posted on December 31, 2011 | Leave a comment

Yesterday after reading a blog post from Eugene Bicyclist about the Fern Ridge Bike Path flooding at the underpasses below the streets. (Read Here) I decided to I wanted to check this out for myself, being my first year in Eugene. Before the ride, I constructed something I’ve been meaning to try out. I mounted my Fuji Waterproof XP10 camera on the the end of some “bull-horn” handle bars I got from a friend. I used a camera mount from a cheap small tripod and attached them to the end of the bar. It seemed to work out alright for the first day. This should give us a new perspective to add to the videos Angel and I make.

Here are 2 short video of the first test with the camera mount.

Splash Through The Rain from Austin McKimmey on Vimeo.

Fern Ridge Bike Path Flood from Austin McKimmey on Vimeo.

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Posted in BIKE, Day Ride, News, Videos

Tagged bicycle, bike, bike commute, camera, DIY, eugene, LHT, Linus, Long Haul Trucker, mixte, news, Oregon, video

Winter Break with Family, Photos

Posted on December 25, 2011 | Leave a comment

Here are some photos from my Instagram over the past week with Angel’s sister and dad visiting. We spent lots of time in Portland with her sister walking around, hiking MacLeay City Park and Ecola State Park along the beach, as well as some other things through out the week.

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Posted in FOOD, OTHER, Trips

Tagged eugene, food, Instagram, iPhone, Oregon, photo, Portland, vegan, vegetarian

“Bikes Use Bike Signal Only”

Posted on December 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Eugene has added a temporary sign, the one that flashes words, saying “Bikes Use Bike Signal Only”. This is great for cyclists and motorists who have yet to realize there is a newly placed bike only traffic signal last Thursday located at 18th/Alder. I am not sure when the light was actually placed or when they will remove it. But I think this is a good idea to help bring awareness to the new signal. To read more about the newly placed bike only traffic signal, read my article here; Eugene’s First Bike Only Traffic Signal

I made a short video of the sign.

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Posted in BIKE, News, News, Videos

Tagged bicycle, bike, bike commute, eugene, Oregon, Portland

Review: Novara Stratos Bike Gloves

Posted on December 6, 2011 | 5 comments

Angel and I both picked up new gloves for this winter cycling season. We got the Novara Stratos Bike Gloves (Men’s and Women’s) from REI. I have normally just worn whatever gloves I could find around the house. In Illinois I wore the cheap knit gloves you can find at most all stores, with wool mittens on over them. It worked for the short rides I had to work, but didn’t block the wind at all. Mittens don’t really work well with drop bars. So I started using some Fox River Gripper Gloves. They worked well for gloves but just ended up being too loose after a while, and also didn’t stop the wind. After moving out here to Oregon, I ended up just using those rubber palmed winter garden gloves that I also used at work, working in the freezers. That style of garden gloves work well in fall and spring, they cut out some wind and kept my palms dry if my bars got wet, but didn’t cut it for really cold days and rides longer than 15 minutes. I would sometimes show up to school with completely numb hands.

So this year we decided to get some real winter cycling gloves, and we are happy we did so. We both got the Novara Stratos Bike Gloves (Men’s and Women’s) because we liked the idea of lobster style gloves, but having the index and middle finger separate allows for the dexterity needed for drop bar brake levers. These gloves have large cuffs with synches to go up around your jacket. The synch has nice set up, locking cord on one side and unlock on the other. They have synthetic palms with nice grip, and a small amount of padding, with added grip on the finger tips. They cut the wind, repel water, and are nicely breathable just like they say. There are reflective accents and a nice large amount of fleece on the outer part of the thumb for wiping your face. They fit nicely, I went with the XL, which might be slightly larger then I needed, but it allows for good movement and the ability to fit a glove liner with out being too bulky. I think these are great gloves and I am happy I got them.

*UPDATE: Review: Novara Arosa Bike Gloves

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Posted in BIKE, Reviews

Tagged bike, bike commute, eugene, Oregon, REI, review, winter

Sunny September Photos for Cold December Days

Posted on December 5, 2011 | 2 comments

It is not September anymore but I came across some photos I thought I had posted on here. I didn’t then so I will now, because I like these photos.

Angel took this photo, it shows how nice it was that day.

I hope these warm you up.

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Posted in BIKE, Day Ride

Tagged bike, bike commute, eugene, LHT, Linus, Long Haul Trucker, mixte, Oregon, photo, Surly

Eugene’s First Bike Only Traffic Signal

Posted on December 2, 2011 | 3 comments

On Thursday, Eugene got its first bike only traffic signal at the intersection of Alder crossing 18th. It looks like a standard traffic signal with green, yellow and red lights but in the shape of bicycles. The signal right now is considered temporary, only until they get a yellow housing for it, as well as its own mast. It’s a much needed addition for this intersection of the recently redesigned Alder. It allows cyclists to cross 18th safely without the worry of being cut off by cars. Alder is now a one way for cars going south, and 2 lanes for bikes going north and south on the other side of the road. This is an intersection with lots of traffic especially coming away from the university on Alder. I have encountered a couple times where cars would try and turn left in front of me, even with multiple cyclists waiting next to them in the bicycle lane. Hopefully Eugene starts adding more of these bike only traffic signals at other busy intersections. North of 13th of Alder could really use them and it seems like they plan on that from the looks of it.

Some background on the bike only traffic signal: In June the Governor signed SB130 into law which adds bike only signals to Oregon’s list of traffic control devices. (You can read more about the bill here: Bike Portland and Oregon Live) Portland was a big push behind this bill and is working to get its first couple bike only signals in. Portland has been a great help with the innovation of bicycle infrastructure in the US.