The premiere eviscerater of bike culture, Bike Snob NYC, made a pilgrimage to Portland last fall for an article in Outside magazine. That article is finally out and it’s pretty spot-on. Check it out:
NATURALLY, IT’S RAINING when my plane lands on Halloween morning, but by the time I cross the Willamette River into downtown, it’s cleared. As I step into the lobby of the Ace Hotel, I notice that the 20-foot bike corral outside is brimming with practical yet stylish rides, like a hitching post in a hipster western.
“Is it OK to bring my bike through the lobby while I’m here?” I ask the lady at the front desk.
“Of course,” she says, as though I’ve just asked if the complimentary matches are free.
Once inside my room, which manages to evoke a doctor’s office on a sailboat, I set about reassembling my bicycle and am soon out the door, headed for—surprise!—a bike show, where I’m certain to run into some of the attendant culture. The Oregon Handmade Bicycle Show is part of a six-week celebration of cycling. As I ride across downtown, I’m struck by how calm the traffic is. With my coarse NYC riding style, I feel self-conscious, like someone dining in a formal restaurant after decades of throwing elbows at a country buffet. And there are so many people on bikes—normal people, not miserable-looking messengers and delivery folk—that I feel like I should be waving to them. But this would be odd, akin to giving the thumbs-up to the guy next to you at the urinal and saying, “Isn’t peeing fun?!”
My favorite part of the article was that BSNYC’s only bad interaction with anyone was a cyclist yelling at him for not signaling.
Er, was this the second link you wanted?
http://outside.away.com/outside/destinatio…
Side note, my wife and I were in Austin a couple years back seeing friends. We went to Lance Armstrong’s bike shop, it was opening up the next day but they let us wander around anyways. I even got a photo of dreamy I-have-no-body-fat Lance Armstrong holding up 2:09.
A few days later we are back in Portland and I’m reading bikesnobnyc and discover that not only was he at the bike shop, he was staying at our small hotel that weekend and had all the same photos I did of the area around it.
“I wish I could convey the sensation of being squeezed between a bus and a stretch SUV limo while a pair of cops in a Crown Vic take a coffee break in your bike lane.”
I love this.
Hmm… no love for the Bike Temple. I guess he’s not a pot-smokin’, chickin eatin’ kind of guy. Too bad, I would have loved to take his confession.
as someone much wiser said (in regards to a bsnyc theme ride at this year’s pedalpalooza): “we should have a 2008-themed ride cuz that was the last time BSNYC was worth a shit..”
(thanks toa3t)
Bikes!