Category Archives: History

E120 – Meeky Blizzard, Freeway Slayer

March 11, 2013Advocacy, Bicycling, Building, Communication, History, The Lawsprocketpodcast

Meeky Blizzard is responsible for leading the charge against an ugly freeway that was poised to be built through pristine farmland two decades back. She partnered with citizens and 1000 Friends of Oregon to help give a voice to sensible alternatives, which sounds remarkably similar to an issue Portland area residents face today. We talk with her about the story and her perspectives on transportation and activism.

Dr. Jeff & Michael Andersen joined us to tape next week’s episode, so they sat in on this week’s taping as well! Look for their discussion on our relatives and their perceptions of transit next week.

Headlines
Seattle Bike Blog: Washington politician Ed Orcutt claims bicyclists exhale pollution

Rep. Orcutt did recognize that his statements were absurd.

BikePortland: Highlights from the National Women’s Bicycling Forum

Mail
Steve in WY comments on our Women & The Cycling Industry feature, and Rigel clears up the Qualcomm question.

Fine Print
email us: thesprocketpodcast@gmail.com
twitter: @SprocketPodcast
phone in or SMS: 503-847-9774
web: http://thesprocketpodcast.com
music: Ryan J. Lane (intro & outro) & Hurtbird (headlines)

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E116 – Chris Smith: Comprehensive Plan

February 11, 2013Advocacy, Alternate Fuels, Bicycling, Brewing, Building, Business, Car Sharing, Cargo, Communication, History, Housing, Mountain Biking, Technology, The Law, Transit, Walkingsprocketpodcast

Chris Smith from PortlandTransport.com is a golden god of urban planning and transit. He would never claim that title himself, but there is no person in Portland, Oregon working harder to make active and sustainable transportation a reality for the city’s near future. We discuss the public process of crafting the city’s Comprehensive Plan, a document that guides the development and structure of citizen’s daily lives. We touch on equity, gentrification and displacement, sidewalks and neighbor relations, modal hierarchy and freight movement, civic corridors and neighborhood greenways, New York’s High Line, telecommuting, and The Transit Appliance.

We warn you: it will get wonky.

If you’re a Portland resident, please consider joining one of the open house events designed to maximize public input into the process. You can find more info on times and locations at this page: http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/58191

Also, Brock & Aaron chat about bike wear & tear, brewery quality, meeting up with Tammy & Logan, and some technical business.

BONUS: after the show closes, we present a short chat with our new webhost Colin, owner of The Podcast Host, and also a fan of mountain biking! We’re happy to have our show on his servers.

Headlines
Denver Post: Black Hawk, CO, famous for its bicycle ban, is corrected by the court

Mail
Dan in MN sends a picture of his new Raleigh folding bicycle.

JohnnyK mentions Burro Bags & Bar, and recommends Adventure Cycling andcyclocamping.com as travel resources.

Anthony says: “I too have been traumatized by growing up in a Florida suburban nightmare. Tampa was a hot mess of sprawl and mini malls.”

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E114 – Dan Christensen: Roll Easy

January 28, 2013Bicycling, Camping, Communication, Doin' It, History, Mountain Biking, Technology, The Law, Touring, Transitsprocketpodcast

Dan Christensen is a transit bus driver who shares his experiences by blog, twitter, and live storytelling. He was kind enough to drop in for a chat about being a driver, dealing with traffic and bicycles, and experiencing Mount Saint Helens’ eruption in 1980. Read his writing at rolleasyblog.com!

We also implore our listeners to drunk dial us (503-847-9774), Brock describes an amorous evening gone wrong over the last weekend, and we discuss bicycle touring as a near-future occurrence.

Headlines
New York Times: The Flight From Conversation
League of American Bicyclists: a compendium of bicycle laws in all 50 states!
BikePortland: Oregon City votes to build bike tourism “epicenter” in Amtrak station

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E113 – Tracy Gayton: Piscataquis Village

January 22, 2013Bicycling, Brewing, Building, Business, Cargo, Communication, Downsizing, History, Housing, Kitchen, Technology, Transit, Travel, Urban Design, Walkingsprocketpodcast

Piscataquis Village will be a European-styled, carless development in the US state of Maine, and the vision of Tracy Gayton who joins us for this show. Tracy envisions a city with six key elements: small plazas, really narrow streets, attached buildings, arcaded sidewalks, interior courtyards and streets free from car traffic. After it caught our attention, he was kind enough to supply us with a full rundown on how it might look. [piscataquisvillage.org] We also discuss comparisons to the Bicycle City idea, appealing to misanthropes, and how people might get to and from the village, as well as governmental red tape, bad weather, and Tracy’s own downsized life after retirement.

Mentioned resources:
Tracy’s TEDx talk
The Carfree Design Manual & carfree.com
The Small Streets blog, smallstreets.com

Brock & Aaron discuss ice on the roads, ice in Brock’s beard, the months-long soaking of socks, Aaron’s ditching of his cell phone, and Brock & Brandon’s utilization of the supertrailer.

Smartwool socks hold up to a six month soak, though the wool falls out

Brock grows an ice beard over a morning commute

Mail
JohnnyK asks us where to put a sticker on a bicycle, and says that in Jacksonville a fellow cyclist is like “finding water in a desert.” This makes the cycling traffic problems of Portland somewhat niche.

Darren says “thanks” for the song Brock wrote about his cycling journey, and adds:
“I have been meaning to update my blog, write a closing post and list the highs and lows of the journey, but more importantly, sharing what I learnt whilst in the road. I think the song has just inspired me to do so.”
If you’d like a copy of the song, you can find it here.

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E109 – Humanity On Wheels 2

December 24, 2012Bicycling, Communication, History, Train Travel, Transit, Travel, Walkingsprocketpodcast

The Sprocket Podcast is pleased to present a partial rebroadcast featuring the best bits from the most recent installment of the highly regaled Humanity On Wheels storytelling event! Many thanks to Kick Ass Oregon History and TriMet Diaries for hosting these amazingly entertaining forums for the unique parade of culture and experience that is found in the public transportation experience.

The roster for this event included:
Doug Kenck-Crispin, resident historian at ORhistory.com
William Reagan
Doctor Jeff
Dan Christensen, driver and author of Roll Easy Blog
Bill Lascher, Amtrak enthusiast and independent journalist
Portland’s Mark Russell
Ian Stude, “The Bike Guy”

We wish you the happiest of holiday seasons, and look forward to the new year! Yours truly,
Brock & Aaron.

P.S. if you’re interested in some Christmas music, here are Brock’s selections for your enjoyment.

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E102 – Steph Routh: Willamette Pedestrian Coalition (now Oregon Walks)

November 5, 2012Advocacy, Bicycling, Building, Communication, History, The Law, Transit, Walkingsprocketpodcast

This week Brock sat down with Steph Routh from the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition (now known as Oregon Walks) and the KBOO Bike Show (as well as many other projects & organizations) to discuss walking, bicycling, and relating to the “old guard” in our town about simpler transportation.

Aaron tells stories and gives tips on his experience with walking as a primary mode of transport.

Headline
BikePortland: pedal-powered phone charging for NYC’s public after disaster

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E100 – Brock & Brandon’s Transit Adventure

October 23, 2012Adventure, Alternate Fuels, Bicycling, Building, Business, Car Sharing, Communication, History, Technology, Transit, Walkingsprocketpodcast

Brock & Brandon celebrate 100 episodes of the Sprocket Podcast by traversing the city for hours using every mode of transport they can get into, including TriMet, the Portland Streetcar, the Portland Aerial Tram, and of course Car2Go. Here’s a “lite” version of the 5 hours of audio we taped during the adventure.

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E096 – Portland Afoot Crossover Episode!

September 24, 2012Bicycling, Business, Camping, Car Sharing, Cargo, Communication, Family, History, Housing, Technology, Transit, Walkingsprocketpodcast

Michael & Lily from Portland Afoot‘s monthly podcast join us to create a powerful new fusion of transportation goodness!

0:00-42:00 Portand Afoot segment

News
1) No auto parking at many new apartments
2) Portland Afoot’s sponsor this month: Streetcar Mobile Music Fest
Friday, Oct. 5 from 6-10 p.m. on the newly opened eastside (CL) loop. Afterparty at Union/Pine (6th and Pine) has food cart food & more live music.
3) Telecommuting rises in popularity with the younger set

Michael’s Transit Tip of the Month

Lily’s TriMet Tweets

Only On The Bus
Kali did not realize quite how green she appears to the outside world.

And of course, the Oakland Rap video mentioned can be found at http://pdx.be/OaklandRapVideo

42:00-1:04:00 The Sprocket Podcast segment

The Sprocket Podcast continues its Indiegogo fundraising campaign to underwrite the next season of the show during a year with thin budgets. We will be offering many personalized rewards to our backers! Thanks to this week’s donors, former show guests Darren and Logan. See the details here!

Headlines
• Taking the Lane: the internet explodes about Emily Finch’s radical de-motorization
• Bike Trailer Blog: Man tows 24 foot mast & boom to a 20 foot sailboat 30 miles away. By bike.
• DCist: a salute to the triathlete who rode a Capital Bikeshare bike 26.1 miles

Mailbag
Jack (@TriBikeCommuter) comments on the price of RVs and Brock’s tendency to take over shows he guests on.

Darren says: “My tour is over and cannot wait to hear a humorous song about it. Thanks for entertaining me whilst I was riding across NZ the UK and Europe guys!”

Keith reminisces about meeting Brock in Walla Walla, WA

Joe points out mymobilemedicine.com

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E079 – Kick Ass Oregon Bicycling History

May 29, 2012Bicycling, Building, Camping, Communication, History, Technology, Transit, Travelsprocketpodcast

Vincent Caldoni sits in for Brandon while he’s gone, and we are joined by resident historian of ORhistory.com Doug Kenck-Crispin to discuss Oregon’s early adoption of bicycles into many parts of life, and how the past informs the present.

Brock’s 30th birthday party is coming up at Cartlandia: Best Bands Ever 2012, a free music festival!

Bike Safe Portland wallet-sized accident reports are available now in Portland bicycle shops near you! Thanks to Josh Zisson from Bike Safe Boston and the Bike Safe Nation project.

The Sprocket Podcast is now available on Stitcher smart radio! If you use the service, you can add us to your programming roster.

A list of Brock’s sources for the history discussion:
Eric Lundgren on Governor Geer
Eric Lundgren on Bemer Pague & Portland’s early cycle paths
Sheldon Brown defines: Scorcher
Eric Lundgren’s detailed essay on early Portland bicycling
Stewart Holbrook’s “The Three Sirens of Portland”
Jonathan Maus reports on author Sue Macy’s presentation of early women bicyclists
her book: Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle To Freedom
Jonathan Maus compares 1890s & 2000s fixed gear riders

Headlines
RowdyKittens & The Path Less Pedaled on L.L. “Stubb” Stewart State Park
BikePortland celebrates the return of Portland OR to the #1 city for cycling

Mailbag
Anonymous: http://gutterparty.com/no-2/

Carl from CA: “Hey guys – just bumped into this on the inter webs on the FB… AN XTRACYCLE SIDE CAR! Imagine tour with this rig?.”

Blayne from BC: “Thanks for the re-tweets for my blog [http://thecynicalcyclist.blogspot.com/]. Summer can’t get here fast enough. I am preparing for my first solo trip, a four day trip on Northern Vancouver Island, later in August. If any Sprocket listeners are vacationing on Vancouver Island this summer I would love to hear from you. Contact me through my blog. Have a great summer and “Find Adventure.”

Dan in MN in response to the Disaster Relief Trials sponsored by TRANSPORTland: “When I worked in public health I had asked the EMS program if they would consider getting on bicycles. Getting them on bicycles to respond a first responder situation quicker and easier.”

Donations from Blayne in BC & JohnnyK in FL! Thanks! If you’d like to donate, you can do so using the donate button in the right-hand sidebar.

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E068 – Vincent Caldoni

March 12, 2012Communication, History, Housing, Transit, Travelsprocketpodcast

Vincent Caldoni, a professional actor, history buff, and fantastic storyteller joins us this week to discuss being in Portland as a generational resident, the Pig War, changes, Astoria talk, politics of sustainable economy, and other things as well!

Also: Humanity on Wheels: An Evening of Mass Transit Tales! March 20 at 7:30pm, The Jack London Bar, 529 SW 4th Ave PDX

Headlines
Path Less Pedaled: Russ & Laura post the complete Kiwi Chronicles, their touring video series!
Portland Afoot: there are at least 3 Good Things about TriMet’s proposed cuts
Oregonian: Amtrak is quietly serving Oregon City commuters on their trip into Portland

Mailbag
Listener Dan from Leech Lake Reservation, Minnesota writes in; he’s now listened to EVERY episode and shaves his scant beard with an old fashioned razor. He says of the cold in his state: “It does get cold, people say ‘you do not have bad rides but bad gear.’ In other words dress warm and you are fine.”

Patrick in Davis CA: “Hi guys, attending [The North American Handmade Bike Show] today in Sacto. The PDX contingent is very large. My personal favorites are the Metrofiets crew, Renovo wood bikes (beautiful). Seriously considering a Metrofiets bike over a car purchase, especially with the gas prices what they currently are. Wish Bike Friday was here to counterbalance the Bromptons. Have a good show.”

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