Portland, OR
From ibikeu Wiki
Portland, Oregon, is a city of social miscreants, cynical geniuses, and bikers. Everyone has either an advanced degree or no degree at all, and yet everyone serves coffee for a living. The coffee shops are kept in business in the following manners:
- Everyone who serves coffee knows everyone else who serves coffee, and so they all visit each other at work and pass the same tip money around.
- It rains 10.5 months out of the year, so there's not really much else to do but drink coffee and learn how to letterpress.
- Coffee shops serve beer and every (good) restaurant serves cocktails all day.
- Every neighborhood is equipped with at least one bike shop, meaning the average bike commuter couldn't patch a flat to save her life. A flat is a good excuse to drop off the bike and go get some coffee.
It's the most wonderful city in the world.
Contents |
Bicycle Culture
Biking in Portland is not a subculture, it is a culture. You are not special if you bike in Portland; you are merely not a total asshole. Biking is cheaper and faster than the bus, though it is less of an adventure in observing ruptures in societal norms. Most streets have bike lanes, including streets that service rail lines, which is funny and dangerous.
Bike Commuting
"The city regularly ranks at the top of Bicycling Magazine’s list of the best cycling cities and has the nation’s highest percentage of workers who commute by bike, about 3.5 percent, according to the Census Bureau." [1]
Organized Rides
Zoobomb
- (Main article: Zoobomb)
Zoobomb is a weekly bike ride where riders "bomb" a large, downhill road (starting at the Portland Zoo, thus the origin of the name), typically using mini bikes.
