I think Portland has more bicyclists per capita than any other US city. Okay, I just pulled that one out of my head. But seriously, I don't think I've ever commuted to work without having to go around at least one bicycler on the road. There is even an Oregon license plate that encourages drivers to "share the road." I don't have much of an opinion on the subject but Wyatt gets pretty annoyed by the abundance of wanna be Lance Armstrongs. Mostly because they demand we treat them like a car and "share the road" with them but yet, they don't follow the rules cars do. Weaving in between cars, stopping at stop signs when it's convenient for them, crossing the crosswalks like pedestrians, you know - being inconsistent on when they want to be a moving vehicle and when they want to be a pedestrian. Sometimes Wyatt likes to say, "he thinks he's people" and it makes me laugh.
We may not be fans of bicycling as a sport but are really enjoy casual biking. Just biking in our street clothes, riding on the sidewalks and pretty much acting like a pedestrian on wheels. This past Saturday we took advantage of the nice weather and went for a bike ride. We parked our car on the east side of the Wilamette River, rode across the Hawthorne Bridge to the water front. Rode south on the water front to the bean (aka:tram) and rode that to the OHSU at the top of the hill. Did you really think, being casual bikers, that we were going to ride our bikes to the top of the hill? Gasp! Once off the tram, we rode our bikes down the hill, through the city and across the bridge to our car. I had a blast! I'm sure we were getting stink eye all over from all the "professional" bikers for not obeying the rules of the rode, but hey, we're casual bikers.
Wyatt snapped some cool pictures of our little ride below:
Riding the bean up the hill
the bean
the bean again
OHSU and the bean
We may not be fans of bicycling as a sport but are really enjoy casual biking. Just biking in our street clothes, riding on the sidewalks and pretty much acting like a pedestrian on wheels. This past Saturday we took advantage of the nice weather and went for a bike ride. We parked our car on the east side of the Wilamette River, rode across the Hawthorne Bridge to the water front. Rode south on the water front to the bean (aka:tram) and rode that to the OHSU at the top of the hill. Did you really think, being casual bikers, that we were going to ride our bikes to the top of the hill? Gasp! Once off the tram, we rode our bikes down the hill, through the city and across the bridge to our car. I had a blast! I'm sure we were getting stink eye all over from all the "professional" bikers for not obeying the rules of the rode, but hey, we're casual bikers.
Wyatt snapped some cool pictures of our little ride below:
Riding the bean up the hill
the bean
the bean again
OHSU and the bean
Marquam Bridge (picture taken by me because I thought it looked cool)
6 comments:
I didn't know that tram existed. Hmmmm...guess i haven't been to Portland in awhile. Looks like fun. I too am a "casual" biker. I did the Wenatchee loop the other day (10 miles around both sides of the river). I wanted to take some pix, but I left my camera at home. Maybe next time.
I went from "casual" biker on my old Elliot Ness white wall tire bike that I got for Christmas when I was in the 3rd grade to "have to be biker or stay at home" from all major--and minor--events in our lives. At the time some of those forced bike rides were NOT fun at all, and most all the kids in the ward and the neighborhood thought it would be neat to bike like the Nichols Family did. But the reality was that it was dang hard work to go every where on a bike--with kids also riding along side and carrying at least one kide, and sometimes two, on my own bike. However, in looking back those forced rides kept me in shape and healthy. They were the proverbial blessing in disguise.
After reading Abbie's and your blog today, I too am wanting a bike. The kids and I could go everywhere in our little town without too much effort and I am betting it would make me feel pretty powerful in the physical department. Your ride looked so fun!
looks like fun. remember when i had to ride a bike for exercise instead of run with my running buddy cuz my feet were so screwed up??? that was awesome.
Looks like fun there in Portland. I wish we had gone on more bike rides and other "hard to do with kids" activities when we were pre-kids. You two do so well at getting out and finding adventures.
That Bean thing looks cool! And the biking sounds fun! I understand the frustration of what I call "bikers who think they're cars" - we live off the main bike commuters path to downtown and I'm constantly looking over my shoulder for fear of killing someone!
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