Welcome to June, Portland!

We won't lie—it can be a wet, demeaning, carrot-dangling-from-a-stick kind of month, where every day feels maddeningly like we might be about to round the corner on summer's sunny bounty. (We can never be sure until sometime in July.)

But for all the dampness June can bring, it's a time for rejoicing for anyone with a bike in this city. It is the best month on Portland's stellar bicycle calendar—a dizzying bout of celebration and ridiculousness.

Sure, we've got bike lanes and "greenways," and a higher proportion of bicycle commuters than any large city in the country, and that's all great. But the upcoming month is what truly elevates Portland's bike culture. It transforms the city from a landscape of individuals going about their own bikey business to a single, rolling, bizarrely dressed mass.

We look forward to June every year, and for this year's annual Bike Issue, we're helping you look forward, too—not just to the treats the next three weeks have in store, but to the amazing potential of a cycling paradise that Portland's only begun to fulfill.

In the following pages, we examine what the city has to do to retain its crown as America's best bike town, and why there's reason to fear. We check out what a shoddy budget year and a new mayor might mean for Portland's bike culture. We give you a sneak preview of what you can expect from the upcoming bike-share program, straight from people who've lived it. And we get personal with a few of the city's up-and-coming riders.

So read up, everybody. Then lube the hell out of that chain and check your tire pressure.

It's going to be an awesome month.

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More Bike Issue Articles

Protecting the Crown

Tale of the Grip Tape

Quick Study

Bike Share in the Future

Put the Fun Between Your Legs

The Bicyclists of Tomorrow