Keeping
It Weird
Last
week, MB and I packed several bags, jumped on American Airlines, and flew to
the Pacific Northwest to visit Portland OR for a week. This wasn’t a vacation, mind you, as we both
had to work; we’re fortunate enough to be able to work remotely thanks to the
magic of the internet, VPNs, email, conference calls, and webinars.
The
whole idea behind the visit was to spend time with our new (and first)
grandson, Beckett, who is only 8 weeks of age and already a baller. He can sleep, eat, and poop at the 98
percentile already. Can’t wait to get
him on a bike, pool table, golf course, and into the workshop with me. Yeah, I’m a doting grandfather already. Wanna see pictures?
We
did spend some wonderful bonding time with him and his parents but we hate to
be high maintenance to anyone, especially brand new parents. Good grief, they’ll be suffering from sleep
deprivation for some time, I don’t want to add to the stress. At least, not yet.
As a
result, we spent each day working East Coast hours – roughly 5 am to 2 pm local
time – and then had time to visit the city as well as the kids. That gave me a chance to explore and get to
know about the city that’s been voted Best Bike City in America. (As I live in Richmond, the town that hasn’t
been voted anything except maybe City with the Largest Collection of 2nd
Place Trophies
Robert E. Lee Monument
1 of 7 on Monument Ave.
and host of the 2015 World Cycling Championships, I was hoping I
could take something back for us to work on.)
Easy
to See Why!
The
first thing you notice in Portland is that nearly every street has a bike
lane. Seriously. And they are clearly
marked, well laid out, and constantly used by cyclists. Even the bridges that
cross the river in the middle of the city have them. (The only place I didn’t see one was on the
interstate and that’s because it’s illegal according to the Federal Highway Administration. Oregon is pretty laid back, I almost expected
to see them ignore this law.) No matter
where you’re going, if you’re going on a bike, you have a designated place to
ride.
The
next thing you notice is that there are bike racks in front of every business
and they are constantly in use. The only
time you see a bike rack without bikes locked to it is very late at night,
after a business is closed. Even then
you occasionally see one after hours, much like a parking lot with one car in
it at 3 am.
The
most startling thing to me is huge number of cyclist commuters there are. Thousands of people ride through Portland
every day, using the bike as a commuting device. It can be cold, windy, dark, pouring down
rain – even all four – and you still see riders out. They simply dress for it, prepare their gear
for it, and then they do it. (It made me change my mind about what’s acceptable
weather to ride in. I’ve been such a
wuss, to date!)
One
of the large bridges across the river has a counter that shows how many
cyclists cross it each day. On Saturday
morning, about 11 am, it showed 372 had already crossed. On work days, my son tells me the number is
typically around 7,000 after the evening rush hour! How amazing!
The
drivers all seem to be pretty sane, too. Cyclists are given their due space,
and give proper respect to cars. I only
saw two cars run red lights in a week and most people drive slightly under the
speed limit, too. Yeah, I know. Weird.
So
Why All the Riders?
I
struggled with this question for a couple of days until I realized the answer
is simple.
Because They Can!
Really, if
you were able to get around safely and easily on your bike to get just
anywhere, wouldn’t you? I’ve been
thinking about bike commuting to work for months but I haven’t been able to
find a route that doesn’t put my butt in harm’s way for a good portion of
it. (Hey, Richmond! Want to be thought of as bike friendly? Take
a hint!)
MB
and I were talking about it. She said
she thought we could probably do with one car between us if we lived in
Portland, to which I agreed. Those are
strong words coming from two people that grew up in the suburbs of DC where a
car is a necessity.
The
same bike mentality carries through to other parts of the state, too. We spent 2 days in Eugene, about 100 miles
south. The same bike lanes, bike racks,
and riders are in effect down there. The
difference, being it’s a college town, is that all the riders are much
younger. Up in Portland, it’s every age
up to the elderly; even older than me.
Like 70 plus!
I
saw other reasons to bike…..about 100 or so…..
Portland
is home to about 80 micro-breweries and these guys brew up some of the best
beer in the country, according to my beer geek friend, Steve. I was fortunate enough to get a taste of
about 25 different ones during the week.
Cycling gives you an outlet for working off those extra calories, doesn’t
it? (Deschutes, Black Butte Porter – one
of the best beers I’ve ever had. Wow!)
Bike
Shops galore!
With
this many cyclists, you would expect to find a bunch of bike shops. There is almost one every couple of
blocks! The difference here is that
while the shops have plenty of bikes for sale, lots of commuter models – big surprise,
they have a huge inventory of wearables.
Based on the many seasons of Portland weather, that makes sense. You need wet weather, cold weather, any
weather clothing to get on the bike, not to mention panniers to carry your
stuff, good locks to protect, etc. (My
son’s rig is to die for; he commutes to grad school in town and has a ball.)
Several
shops specialize in gear for the working cyclist. You can get trailers that will handle and
haul just about anything you need. I actually saw a construction rig that one
guy was pulling behind his bike with a chop saw on a stand and a tool box all
tied down. He was pedaling along a
secondary street at about 15 miles per hour, talking on his cell phone.
Bundle
it all up, will ya?
In
fifty five years of living, nearly twenty as an adult, I’ve never even thought
about living on the West Coast. I’d live
in Portland though. Great town, great
beer, great cycling, great people, and terrific restaurants. Who cares if the weather is a little sketchy
for months at a time?
Just
ride!
