Here is the problem, citizens: From the days when bikes were first built to be the “gentleman’s hobbyhorse,” they’ve gotten a bad rap as playthings of the elite and the hip and the Spandexed. The bold truth is: Bikes work. Not only do they save Portland money, they make Portland money. The cheapest and most efficient form of transportation our fair city can buy also creates hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs. A 2006 study by Alta Planning and Design found bike industries created $63 million in economic activity annually for Portland. A rough count these days turns up an astounding 157 bike businesses in Portland, including 56 dealers and repair shops, 33 artisan bike builders, 15 bike apparel manufacturers, 10 businesses that deliver food exclusively by bike, and eight bicycle cultural institutions including a film festival, magazine, publishing company, and, yes, a temple. This issue profiles a handful of those hardy Portlanders who don’t just use their bike to get to work (that’s 17,449 of us daily, according to the census) but those who use their bikes for work. Now get reading. Get riding. Get Portland working!
Read the Bike Issue articles here!Sarah Shay Mirk reported on transportation, sex and gender issues, and politics at the Mercury from 2008-2013. They have gone on to make many things, including countless comics and several books. More by Sarah Shay Mirk
Kinda disappointing. Want more of a perspective of the novice/newb biker.
WHOOOOOOO CAAAAARES!!! So tired of bike people. Its a form of transportation, not a revolutionary philoshophical idea. Stop patting yourselves on the back every 5 minutes and we won’t be subjected to pointless logs of corn-peppered journalism like this one.
I think it is revolutionary. It changed my life when I stopped driving instead bike/max to work. I lost weight, encounter adventures, made new friends, and saved money on car insurance and gasoline. I even got free breakfast this morning!
And its Pedalpalooza, that’s why this article is up. And its Portland, of course bicycle is mentioned every five minutes. I love it.
Biking is fun but like joggers along busy roadways you just got to wonder what your inhaling deep into your lungs while trying to be on a healthy alternative form of transportation.Oh well….fuggit.
Anything that tweakers love doing is fucking tainted. As for losing weight, canadia…you are a rarity, cuz most bicyclists I see are chubby little fatbodies with fucking love handles pouring over the top of their spandex or jeans shorts. If you wanna lose weight, get a stairmaster and exercise where the rest of us don’t have to look at your disgusting attempts at metamorphisis.
Whooa Snicks.I thought I had problems.Closet tweeker?
Yeah, the air intake vents on your car TOTALLY filter out all that stuff from the traffic in front of you on the roadway. Those things are miraculous.
COMMENT DELETED: gratuitously inflammatory
We’d rather not moderate your comments, but off-topic, gratuitously inflammatory, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate remarks may be removed, and repeat offenders may be banned from commenting. We never censor comments based on ideology. Thanks to all who add to the conversation.
COMMENT DELETED: gratuitously inflammatory
We’d rather not moderate your comments, but off-topic, gratuitously inflammatory, threatening, or otherwise inappropriate remarks may be removed, and repeat offenders may be banned from commenting. We never censor comments based on ideology. Thanks to all who add to the conversation.
Thank you for the deletion.Seriously…..language and hatred are getting way carried away.But there is a long way to go because a lot of your staff write it too.It’s a free paper,a free society but freedom isn’t an excuse to be so damn foul mouthed as if the world is one big slum of pseudo humorists going for shock and awe potty mouth words as a form of cool or humor.P.S.I love biking!!!!!Good readings as usual.
Fronted. Out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2mNB_VG_shc