Here in Portland the most commonly stored item seems to be giant piles of wet leaves filling the bike lane. If you must put your leaves in the street please shove them all the way out into the car lane where they won't hurt anyone...

Your attitude about the inevitableness of someone getting hit by a car while bicycle commuting needs to change.

I'll pray for your dad to get better, except I don't believe in that sort of thing. Damn you Colton Burpo!

Echoing econoline: Don't forget those piles of unmarked dirt people leave on streets, hoping one day they will finally get to put said dirt into those raised beds they never can seem to finish building.

I only say this because biking home through SE one night, I found myself unexpectedly airborne. My biked stopped and I went over the handlebars. My headlight was no match against that black compost, unmarked, hiding underneath a giant tree, on an unlit street.

I got cuts and bruises, some other jerk got tomatoes and kale.

Oh sad. Sorry, Sarah Mirk, sorry, humanclock.

Sarah,

Any way to possibly trace the concrete? Perhaps to a business nearby?

It'd be worth his time to investigate and talk to a lawyer, if anything to get medical bills covered.

Bummer. Sorry for his accident. Hope he recovers quickly.

Best wishes to your dad!

Nice to hear a cop was livid about garbage in bike lanes.

OH, that pisses me off. I'm with the cop, I get pretty livid about that kinda shit, it's that and Taxis/UPS trucks in the bike lane. Biking will turn you into a rage-aholic.

i've been felled by both types of hazards: a car ignoring my right-of-way thru an intersection (busted ribs, punctured lung) and gravel the city didn't bother to clean up after Snowpocalypse 2008 (busted shoulder). the leaves in the street right now scare me spitless, esp at night. i'll keep riding, but Pdx still has a long way to go be a true bicycle paradise.

which makes me wonder about those cities rated lower than us as "bike cities" - just how bad are they?

Having lived on a bike/ped college campus for many years, I'd have to say that there is no such thing as a true bike paradise. Even if there are no cars, clueless pedestrians, cyclists, and sometimes even landscapers will find a way to fuck with your flow. That's just the way of the world.

Sarah, I feel your pain. My dad has been commuting and recreating by bike since the late 60s (he'll be 77 on Thanksgiving) and has had many nasty incidents. The one I am most angry about happened in Corbett. Corbett HATES bicyclists and someone who lives there routinely throws tacks on one of the hilly roads into the town.