I have mentioned the amount of bicycling I am doing in previous posts, and I have made reference to all of the bicycling that everyone else does here in Portland, but I think I should go into detail about it just a little more. Biking in Portland is not just for exercise or sport, but it is for necessity. A lot of people don't own cars, so this is their main form of transportation.
People also bike for convenience. Whenever we go downtown, we bike downtown because of parking. When we went to the Weezer concert the other night at the Rose Quarter, http://www.rosequarter.com/, we biked there and back. Parking was sooooooooooo not an issue. :)
Portland was made for biking. Bike poles are placed all over downtown and the surrounding neighborhoods. It is hard to find a business that doesn't have bike parking nearby. Bike lanes are marked on many of the streets, and now the city has devised green boxes downtown which help prevent bikers from getting hit by drivers making right turns. The following link tells about the bike boxes:
http://bikeportland.org/2008/03/17/portlands-first-bike-box-is-now-complete/
The sheer number of bikers is incredible. Whenever I go anywhere in Portland I see bikers. During rush hours you can see a flood of bikes enter and leave downtown on the various bridges. I read an article in a Portland magazine which told about two business women who ride their bikes all over Portland to different appointments. They said they save at least $300.00 a month in gas with no carbon emission. Another example is when I was biking into downtown the other day and saw about 100 bicycles tied up in the street in front of an open warehouse. I was told that the BPA, http://www.bta4bikes.org/ ,was sponsoring an encouragement event for bikers with free beer and pizza.
I am sitting at Clinton Corner, neighborhood pub/restaurant, and writing this blog. I am looking out the window and I see at least 1 bicyclist every minute at the moment. Wow!
My boyfriend and I are going to be die hard bicyclists. We are already biking home at midnight after events, and we are learning to bundle up tight for the cold evenings. I still have to put fenders on my bike, and we both need to get water proof pants and booties. Yep, we will definitely be biking throughout the winter. I keep telling myself I need to get fenders put on soon, but I just hate the thought of not having my bike with me for a couple of days.
Well, it is time for me to go. I have to actually do some bicycling for exercise today. I am wondering just how far North I can go in 30 minutes before I turn around and make the trip back. I am hoping to reach Loyd Mall http://www.lloydcenter.com/ and watch the ice skaters, or at least make it to Hollywood Theater http://www.hollywoodtheatre.org/ and see the times for the independent films.
