Bike Rack Installation
Volunteers (and $$$!) from the Portland Bicycling Club have done a LOT of work on the Banks-Vernonia State Trail this year. We didn’t have as many workdays on the potholes this year as we did last year, but we did patch two on the stretch between the Manning Trailhead (milepost 3.9 from Banks), and we spent two days in that same stretch patching long longitudinal cracks in the trail by shoveling, heating, and compacting several hundred pounds of Cold Patch (an asphalt patching product).
Meanwhile, L. L. Stub Stewart Park personnel and their contractors completely repaved more than half a mile of the bike path ending at Pongratz Road. They also repaired ALL the bridge approaches between Banks and Stub Stewart Park. Aaron Raines, the park manager, told our work crew that people have noticed the improvements and have sent MANY favorable comments. ✎
On August 29, PBC members Mike Schulte, Jim Harness, Ron Stein, and I, together with two park rangers, Jeremy Williams and Yvonne Schalager, got a site ready for the installation of a bike rack that PBC has donated. By the time you read this, it WILL have been installed. You might have seen the Facebook post from Jan Oestereich last month.
Jeremy had done some preliminary grading to remove most of the soil and rock from the site. We went after the ground with picks, shovels, and rakes to do the final leveling for the bike rack. Then we dug a couple of holes about two feet square and a foot deep so we could place the footings for the bike rack. We worked hard to line up the two holes, align the molds for the footings, and make them both level. Not just make each of them level but make them both level with each other. Then we mixed the concrete and poured it in the holes, smoothing and leveling the tops.
After that, we placed a template on top of the footings while the concrete was still wet. The template assured that the bolts we placed in the concrete would line up with the mounting holes in the base of the bike rack.
Next, and very carefully so as not to disturb the footings, we covered the surrounding area with landscape cloth (an underlayment to keep weeds from growing up through the gravel) and then unloaded and spread out about three yards of gravel.
After cleanup, we marked off the area to keep people from wandering in (we hope) and disturbing our handiwork! We let the concrete set up completely and after Labor Day we put the bike rack in place and bolted it down!
The bike rack was manufactured many years (maybe 15-20?) ago, so of course it has PORTLAND WHEELMEN 🚴 emblazoned across the top. The park manager thinks maybe, without too much trouble, their shop could cover over or somehow replace that wording with PORTLAND BICYCLING CLUB, and possibly include our logo.
Dave McQuery, Membership Secretary