B. Carfree

Spare_Wheel neglects to mention that while the population of this state is overwhelmingly living in the Portland/Salem/Eugene metro areas, the cyclists overwhelmingly live inside the city limits. For example, Portland has 6.1% of its commuters doing so by bike (2012 US Census ACS). In the same data set, Hillsboro, a suburb of Portand, has 0.6% bicycle commuters. The situation is even more stark outside the Portland Metro Area.

There are a few signs showing a bit of bike hate in the suburban parts of OR, but the folks who dislike bikes usually aren't so up front about it. Once you get outside the city limits, the passes get a lot tighter, the horns honk more freely and the beer cans have wings. In certain counties, like Clackamas, the odds of getting harassed on any given ride are right around 100%. Part of this seems to be caused by the fact that if someone is on a bike, they are likely to live inside the nearest city. This marks them out as "not local" and makes them an obvious target to people who are inclined that way. Such folks are a small fraction of the total, but even if they are 0.2%, you're going to see them on any ride of reasonable distance.

The odd thing is, folks who live in the counties surrounding Portland (and Eugene) generally depend on those cities for everything: employment, groceries, dry goods, road funds, law enforcement (mostly keeping the jail open), entertainment and so on. Maybe that's where the hate comes from; they hate being so dependent.

phoebeisis

Interesting! I was wondering about that.There is always a rural-urban- suburban-"not local" ill will-that probably doesn't HAVE to be.
Obvious anti-car anti-driver attitudes of many avid bike advocates-are stunningly counterproductive.

Spare wheel wrote-
" Given that the vast majority of Oregon's population lives in the Portland-Salem, or Eugene-Springfield metro areas. I don't see why a rural minority should have much say in transportation policy."

OK
"Given that the vast majority of transportation miles in UNITED STATED are by car.I don't see why bike riders should have much to say in transportation policy."

Corny and PC as it sounds-it is always better to actually include EVERYONE.Find common cause-
1)$$ is a good one- we buy your goods and will buy more
-2)health another- drive down your taxes from evil obamacare-
3)not giving oil money to evil "foreigners" to build NUKES (doesn't matter where oil come from-increased consumption supports high prices)-
there is usually a good angle-but if they sense you view them with distain(cager car head etc) forget it.
Thanks
Charlie

spare_wheel

while i've experience an occasional yob in ex-urban areas of clackamas county, i've had no problems with motorists when i bike to the clackamas town center (costoco) or to the bob's red mill in milwaukie. in my experience, even in rural oregon there is far more good will towards cyclists than in many other areas of the USA or the royal kingdom of canuckistan.

spare_wheel

For starters: cycling helps promote more sustainable and livable communities and a healthier population.

phoebeisis

Spare wheel-it was a bit of a joke-supposed to show you why cutting out the rural folks-just because they were in the minority-was a bad idea.
Fell flat I guess! Guess I better keep my day job.
Spare wheel wrote the below
" Given that the vast majority of Oregon's population lives in the Portland-Salem, or Eugene-Springfield metro areas. I don't see why a rural minority should have much say in transportation policy."

Phoebeisis rewrote it slight change.
"Given that the vast majority of transportation miles in UNITED STATED are by car.I don't see why bike riders should have much to say in transportation policy."

B. Carfree

It's interesting to me how one can experience incredible good will and intense hatred, with lots of harmless indifference in between, in the same exurb. The last time I was riding alone between PDX and EUG, I encountered several dozen people who were out for morning walks who smiled, waved and said good morning to me as we crossed paths in Clackamas County. In between them, I had numerous motorists casually pass me safely and just a couple of folks who were apparently incensed at the fact that I was riding on "their" road.

One JAM even pulled over after buzzing me (actual contact). He got out of his beat-up old imported pick-up apparently to engage in some up-close and personal contact, but realized the error of his ways when I got close enough for him to make an assessment of our relative sizes. I've never seen anyone get into a vehicle and drive away so quickly. (For the record, while I was irritated with his dangerous behavior, I wouldn't have laid a hand on him. I just don't roll that way.)

By the way, I usually roll out of PDX via Lake Oswego (ugh) and take the Canby ferry. Those would be the two most problematic communities along the way. I'm going to have to explore some better routing. If you've got something you like, please PM me. (I've taken Barbur to get to the so-called Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway. That works well in the wee hours when the cops seem to outnumber the drunks, but it's not an all-hours route.)

Dchiefransom

Groceries? Crops and farm animals are raised in the cities and suburbs? If not for those rural areas, the people in the cities would starve quickly. Your view of who is dependent on whom needs some adjustment.

phoebeisis

Whole point-they are interdependent-rural-urban-suburban.
And transportation infrastructure decisions-better get input for everyone.
Not so much because they use it a "LOT"
but because it annoys folks to be ignored.
Annoyed is just a baby step from angry.
Heck-road riders should go out of their way to make nice with the rural locals.
Unfortunately there probably aren't any little mom and pop stores along the routes-so it is tough to actually buy something from a local.

Big Aside-my wife lived in Eugene-1970 or so-claimed it drizzled much of the year?? Is that right-overcast drizzles-dreary weather??

CB HI

Seems pretty clear that B. Carfree was not talking about farmers and groceries (except for fruits and veg.) do not come directly from farms. So why the straw man chirp at B. Carfree?

B. Carfree

There is a difference between farm land (rural) and suburbs. If people are growing food on the land then it is clearly rural and is farm land. If the folks living on hundred acre plus lots are commuting into the city for their jobs and the land is basically growing grass and weeds, then it is a suburb. The change in land use can be rapid. I lived in the (L)east bay when Newark was just leaving its rural roots behind; I daresay there isn't much evidence of those roots anymore. I remember chicken farms in Castro Valley that are now, and have been for quite a while, subdivisions. Some suburbs look like that, some have McMansions, and some have shacks on hundreds of acres.

Would the residents of the cities in OR starve if everyone left the suburbs? Rather not. Our food mostly comes from the Central Valley of CA. The only "crops" grown in OR are grass seed (number one crop due to our poor soil), some berries, a bit of wine and the soon-to-be-gone filbert nut (phytophthora brings its doom). The grass seed folks are making their living from the land, and thus are living a rural lifestyle. Some of the folks growing the small amount of other crops are as well.

However, most of the land outside the city limits is not in any production at all and the folks who live there are living a suburban lifestyle (commuting into the city). Those are the people on our roadways; just check out the traffic patterns if you have any doubts. Yes, these folks are entirely dependent on the cities on a daily basis; even if they call their dwelling "rural", it's still a suburb.

enigmaT120

I live in the woods in the coast range, so that's pretty rural. I don't get much hassle from drivers -- maybe two close passes in 3 years (same pickup, I think) and lately some bozo has tried to smog me with his diesel truck a couple of times. It may help that many motorists heading out where I live are bicyclists heading out the the Black Rock Mountain Bike Area. Most people wave.

B.Carfree, there is still a lot of green beans and corn grown in the valley. Norpac is pretty big. And I don't know why, but I've seen many new acres of hazelnut trees going in. I wonder if they found a variety resistant to the pathogen you mention. Heck, there's even a lot of wheat grown around here. And hops, still. They can't reliably grow dry beans, darn it.