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considered such a great place for bikes? There have been many post alluding to Portland being cycle-friendly. What is the appeal? Great bike shops? Bike trails/lanes?
I'm not disputing any of this. I'm not looking for an argument. I've traveled through the Portland area several times many years ago. My recollection is that it was very hilly. Wrong? I realize many experienced riders cherish climbing hills . . . but not everyone does.
On another unrelated matter . . . why do some posts stretch waaaaay beyond the right margin of the 'window', while most posts 'wrap' around properly?
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When a large photo is dropped into a post, it will extend the right margin and thereby the text wrap.
Really, because it's got it all. Rolling hills to east and west, Skyline drive and big hills for training, a great downtown culture for cycling, good trails, and mostly the people. I have never been to a place more bike-crazy that PDX. From the plethora of shops and small builders to the usually friendly attitudes of other riders, and even the crazy fixie riders and team kit sporting roaides are entertaining. it's just a great vibe, all around.
Also there's just scads of events within driving distance. We did a group ride today to Multnomah falls that was just incredible, great climb, staggering scenery, wind, rain, cold...what's not to love?
Bike lanes everywhere. People in cars actually are friendly to cyclists. I think you can make your way around Portland without having to climb hills. A lot of people around here cruise around on fixies and single speeds. Kinda hard to climb hills all the time on those.
I have never been to a place more bike-crazy that PDX. From the plethora of shops and small builders to the usually friendly attitudes of other riders, and even the crazy fixie riders and team kit sporting roaides are entertaining. it's just a great vibe, all around.
And that will keep us going. Industry in the metro area. I'm beginning to seriously consider a career change, myself...
Did you hear about the display at the airport (http://bikeportland.org/2008/04/03/oregon-made-bike-exhibit-debuts-at-portland-airport/)?
Portland and Vancouver, WA (right across the river) make route maps for the whole of both cities available as downloads in PDF. The City's Department of Transportation sponsors a bicycling program on KBOO, one of the local radio stations. Do a web search and download them as Podcasts. There are two major Interstate highway bridges across the Columbia River between Vancouver and Portland, and both have a special place for bicycle commuters to ride protected from automobile traffic. Other than rain, both are in relatively mild temperatures year around. A lot of people in Portland want to be "green" and bikes proliferate. Still, there are plenty of bicycle/car collisions, several with fatalities each year.
Donna--We always fly in and out of the C concourse. I will be in PDX later this coming week. Thanks for the information on the bicycle display. Do you suppose the Made in Oregon stores could display one or two on a rotating basis and maybe take orders on all of them?
Do you suppose the Made in Oregon stores could display one or two on a rotating basis and maybe take orders on all of them?
You should suggest it. :)
This vid explains it all :
http://youtube.com/watch?v=2lp80ipraOk&feature=related
That's just bizarre.
Incidentally, that's the high school Matt Groening graduated from.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DlRVi_jYyXU
I like that one better. :)
Me too, it illustrates perfectly how a small minority of cyclists acting in a dangerous and illegal fashion can outrage motorists with their actions.
Not sure why you'd want to celebrate or publicize it though. Not exactly the type of thing I would want to be associated with as a Portland resident and cyclist.
Couldn't agree with you more. Piss people off and they then start voting down things that support cyclists.
Thanks, I am making it my mission to present the unpopular (herein) yet realistic alternative viewpoint regarding the antics of our less-than-mature bretheren every time I find them being lionized in BF posts. While it may be arguable that Darwin should be allowed to run his course, I hate the thought of readers thinking this sort of irresponsible conduct indicates a majority.
kkkilljoys
ZooBomb has a very good safety record vis a vis interactions with moving vehicles, and it's perfectly legal to ride your bicycle on Highway 26 west of the Jefferson Street exit.
maybe this (http://youtube.com/watch?v=Y7kkjfhHUzw&feature=related) is more your speed
:rolleyes:
Portland bike culture is not a bunch of weekend warriors in stupid lycra suits on expensive unobtainium bikes.
:roflmao:
Piss people off and they then start voting down things that support cyclists.
nobody was pissed off except one or two stupid cops
the bike commuters on the roads 7-9 and 4-6 each weekday piss more motorists off than zoobomb ever will. Maybe we should make commuting by bike illegal.
:rolleyes:
As long as zoobombers, commuters, racers, whatever doesn't start making life hard for the non-cyclists, then I could care less what we/they do. Where I moved from, they had a big issue with cyclists. They wanted to make every form of cycling on the road illegal. Why? Because big huge hords of lycra clad peletons would hold up traffic for miles for the hell of it. As long as people don't start doing crap like that, more power to them.
there you go, you said it yourself, huge hordes of lycra-clad pelotonoids = bad for cycling
:D
I don't disagree with that at all. ;-)
Weekend warriors? The group I ride with consists of responsible folks who know how to ride and train hard daily. We yield to single file to allow cars to pass, stop at stop signs, and follow the law. I know that's a difficult concept to understand, so much so that it must be easier to villify the police doing their job. The same police, by the way, that will willingly respond to your home at 2 AM when there's a man breaking in with a gun intending to rob, rape, or kill you. Why is it so easy to dismiss that thought for so many who have never served their country?
I could also respond that Portland cycling culture is more than out-of-shape poseurs in their tight jeans and trendy earth-friendly happy sheep wool sweaters riding their fixies through stop signs and running into pedestrians on the sidewalks (sidewalk riding being legal but stupid). But that would be immature and reactionary of me. Try racing each other UP to Skyline instead of down the hill, like maybe Cornell to Thomson or MacNamee.
Or keep acting like idiots, and maybe eventually we'll all be kicked off the roads.
actually, it's condescending attitudes like yours that guarantee that the 'cycling community' will remain fragmented and cyclists will be unable to unite politically and will continue to be viewed as a fringe minority. And the lycra crowd will continue to be a minority within that minority. so keep your smug superior attitude, and see how much good it does.
:rolleyes:
Try racing each other UP to Skyline instead of down the hill, like maybe Cornell to Thomson or MacNamee.
I'd love to see a fixie/SS race from PGE Park up to Council Crest.
Portland is a great cycling town because there are a lot of cyclists. IMO we're well on our way to that mythical "critical mass" where cyclists are ubiquitous enough to be a real & constant presence on the roads. It's certainly better here than most other cities of similar size. Plus, unless you live up in the hills it's a relatively flat city (unlike S.F. or Seattle for the most part).
Plus, unless you live up in the hills it's a relatively flat city (unlike S.F. or Seattle for the most part).
Thank heavens for that.
"The group I ride with consists of responsible folks who know how to ride and train hard daily."
What is your definition of "responsible"? Do you ride only for sport and training? What about the much larger number of us who use our bikes for transport? Are we not "responsible"?
"We yield to single file to allow cars to pass, stop at stop signs, and follow the law.I know that's a difficult concept to understand, so much so that it must be easier to villify the police doing their job."
You must know that bikes are different than cars. I obey traffic laws, but situationally. Yes, I will roll through a stop sign IF there is no traffic, same with a red light. Momentum is to be conserved. If I get caught I'll pay the ticket. In 43 years of riding I've had one run in with a cop. My old generator blew a lamp in Huntington Beach in 1987. I got a fix-it ticket.
"The same police, by the way, that will willingly respond to your home at 2 AM when there's a man breaking in with a gun intending to rob, rape, or kill you."
Police, minutes away when seconds count. How about being a little more self reliant? Buy a shotgun and defend yourself. (Now I've done it! I'm part of a really small fringe group: liberal, bike riding gun nuts.)
"I could also respond that Portland cycling culture is more than out-of-shape poseurs in their tight jeans and trendy earth-friendly happy sheep wool sweaters riding their fixies through stop signs and running into pedestrians on the sidewalks (sidewalk riding being legal but stupid). But that would be immature and reactionary of me. Try racing each other UP to Skyline instead of down the hill, like maybe Cornell to Thomson or MacNamee."
Guys like you make me crazy. I made my living building, fitting, and selling high end road bikes for many years. Condescending, fearful, insecure, fitness-obsessed, lycra-clad poseurs on bikes worth more than I could earn in a month, grinding me down on the price of an inner tube, while the BMW was idling in front of the store. Give me a break. As you can guess, I'm now in a different line of work.
considered such a great place for bikes? There have been many post alluding to Portland being cycle-friendly. What is the appeal? Great bike shops? Bike trails/lanes?More cultist fixed-gear track-bike-riding commuters per capita than any other American city?
"Oh, the farmer and the cowboy should be friends-Oh the farmer and the cowboy should be friends"
Seriously ! You guys know better.
Get a grip and start supporting each other .
All of us are vulnerable on the Road...
actually, it's condescending attitudes like yours that guarantee that the 'cycling community' will remain fragmented and cyclists will be unable to unite politically and will continue to be viewed as a fringe minority. And the lycra crowd will continue to be a minority within that minority. so keep your smug superior attitude, and see how much good it does.
:rolleyes:
It's neither smug, nor superior. It's simply disgust that the likes of you keep making me explain to my non-cycling friends why they get cut off by reckless morons who run lights, weave in through traffic, and break traffic laws with abandon. I assure you that I am much more of an effective ambassador of cycling to the larger community, from how I present myself off the bike to how I ride and share the road.
I would submit that your attitude is the one of smug superiority. Your posts are the ones that trot out the "lycra clad crowd" stereotypes, then complain when someone responds in kind regarding your chosen sub-set of cycling. I don't judge or harbor ill-will towards a fellow cyclist based on their clothing or their bicycle (the comment in my previous post was meant to make you realize how you had resorted to the stereotyping tactic...or did you not get that?). I judge people based on their actions. I have yelled at and held in disdain plenty of "lycra roadies" (what is your problem with lycra anyway?) who have either blown a light I was waiting at or otherwise acted the ass.
"unite politically"? Are you serious with that comment? You're suggesting we unite to do what, exactly? Propose that we as cyclists can get away with whatever conduct on the road we feel is appropriate? Any efforts by well-intentioned and politically active cyclists are ruined daily by the road conduct that you defend with such vigor. The first rule of influencing the body politic is to win the will of the voters...or don't you get that? You don't convince a citizen who doesn't ride a bike in the 1st place to vote for more bike lanes when you cut him off in traffic, weave to prevent his lawful passing, or make him slam on his brakes as you bomb through an intersection. I'm not on this forum to slam people's image, mode of dress, hairstyle, income level, choice of fabric, or any other exterior and immaterial issue. I comment on posts like yours because you encourage the very type of conduct that hurts cyclists and our joint cause of generating good will and understanding on the part of drivers. I am comfortable in asserting that a driver will be both pleased and surprised when you slow and pull into a turn out on a long downhill so that he can pass safely, and that type of riding will help our collective cause far more than bombing down 26, weaving in and out of the lanes, blowing stop signs, or whatever other publicly visible "critical mass-like" idiocy you might engage in.
So plan on me being here whenever I notice posts that encourage/promote/glorify the kind of conduct depicted in the video link you posted. Someone has to speak for the majority of us who don't pull that kind of crap.
Articulate, well-reasoned response....kudos.
I can see you're the kinda person that always has to have the last word, congrats on your persistence, I'm not going to argue with you anymore, so I guess you 'win' (still doesn't mean you are 'right', though)...
what we're doing isn't harming anyone, least of all you; it's just harmless fun that introduces lots of people to cycling in all of its forms (http://www.shifttobikes.org/). But your narrow-minded, paranoid, negative response speaks volumes about your self-righteous, elitist attitude.
considered such a great place for bikes? There have been many post alluding to Portland being cycle-friendly. What is the appeal?
This (http://bikeportland.org/2008/04/09/what-happens-during-a-bridge-lift-in-portland/). :)
That's just bizarre.
Incidentally, that's the high school Matt Groening graduated from.
i went to lincoln! then i left as soon as i could. (at about 9am every day.)
what we're doing isn't harming anyone, least of all you; it's just harmless fun that introduces lots of people to cycling in all of its forms (http://www.shifttobikes.org/). But your narrow-minded, paranoid, negative response speaks volumes about your self-righteous, elitist attitude.[/QUOTE]
I see you went back in and edited your post to include more accusations about my attitude but addressing none of the issues that I raised. Hurts no one? How about the cyclist that the angered driver cuts off 3 days later in retaliation for your actions? Narrow minded and paranoid? Maybe you don't ride on the roads that I do, but paranoia and cycling seem to go well thanks to riders like you. self-righteous and elitist? How is asking cyclists to follow the traffic code either self-righteous or elitist? Seeing yourself as above the law and beyond the requirements of civil society actually defines your elitist attitude.
My responses to your posts have been factual and argue a valid point...not sure how that equates to negativity. Congratulations on addressing my points with such intellectual clarity and clever turn of phrase though; I was afraid you might just stoop to name calling and emotional attacks instead of engaging in an actual exchange of ideas.
Again; kudos to you.
'Mr. Last Word' strikes again
:rolleyes:
I will repeat once again, that despite your protestations to the contrary, what we're doing isn't harming anyone, least of all you. But if it's not your cup of tea, feel free to not participate.
I was not going to respond until you had to change your previous post to add your emotional and vapid comments about my personality. Feel free to have "the last word" once you can respond in a manner that deserves it.
Continuously repeating your assertion doesn't explain how you draw a conclusion. What you and your ilk do on the road harms all of us indirectly. Actually, your inability to see the far-reaching consequences of your actions is somewhat surprising. You're obviously not incapable of logical thought and seem willing to write. Why not address my argument instead of just attacking me and repeating the same thing over and over?
I have no qualms about people exercising their rights and freedoms...to the contrary I have spent my adult life defending the document that assures you those rights. When you choose to impact and infringe negatively on others through your actions though, then I take issue.
Very simply, your belief that activities like ZooBomb annoys motorists and harms you or other cyclists has no basis in reality; your entire argument is based on false assumptions and is entirely emotional, not factual, and I see no reason to respond any further to it.
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