Biking In Portland

Amsterdamize reader/viewer Dave, aka the ‘Melancholic Optimist’ from Portland, Oregon, contributes this video of his bike commute: to work, going from what looks like the suburbs to downtown Portland.
“…it’s about an 8 mile commute round trip (13 km), it’s just that Portland is arranged in neighborhoods outside of the main city center area. It’s [...]

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Just an Amsterdam native who won't take his city and its cycling extravaganza for granted anymore, thinking these posts might be clues to others, inspiration perhaps, if you will...

Article by Amsterdamize
Amsterdamize’s Website

Amsterdamize reader/viewer Dave, aka the ‘Melancholic Optimist’ from Portland, Oregon, contributes this video of his bike commute: to work, going from what looks like the suburbs to downtown Portland.

“…it’s about an 8 mile commute round trip (13 km), it’s just that Portland is arranged in neighborhoods outside of the main city center area. It’s about a 20-25 minute commute for me each way (it takes about 15 minutes by car, when there isn’t much traffic, and usually at least 30 minutes by bus).”

You’ll see how diverse his route is, either sharing the road with other, using the bike lanes or riding along park side/water front areas. Notable are the moments when he rides on where ‘others’ (wink, wink) have to slow down or end up in gridlock. I specifically like the scene where he’s about to pass a huge highway viaduct. Like here, I’m sure cyclists always enjoy a shorter and more comfortable route than car drivers.

Thanks, Dave!

Watch it here or on Bicycle TV, where you can see all of Amsterdamize in one place, for your convenience.

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4 Comments

  1. Dave added these cyclelicious words on October 10, 2008 | Permalink

    It’s actually not really the suburbs - it’s about an 8 mile commute round trip (13 km), it’s just that Portland is arranged in neighborhoods outside of the main city center area. It’s about a 20-25 minute commute for me each way (it takes about 15 minutes by car, when there isn’t much traffic, and usually at least 30 minutes by bus).

  2. Amsterdamize added these cyclelicious words on October 10, 2008 | Permalink

    Thanks for that, I knew I was fiddlin’ in the dark there :-p

  3. Wilma added these cyclelicious words on October 10, 2008 | Permalink

    Love the video, and the moody music. What I notice, is that even though Portland is known to be a cycling city, it is a lonely place, compared to the streets of Amsterdam. Only that one bridge seems to have a lot of people either walking or cycling.

    This last week it got cold (below freezing) in Spokane, and all of a sudden, there are very few bikes out there, and none that I would call Cycle Chic! I still rode several days, but have to admit that I bundled up (not so stylish), because it was so cold! Snow is now in the forecast, and that may do it for me too!

  4. Dave added these cyclelicious words on October 10, 2008 | Permalink

    Well, keep in mind that those videos are from early in the morning too - but yeah, the parts of town I ride through generally don’t have much traffic. Certainly downtown and on more main traffic streets, there is more activity, but I try to avoid those on my commute, as it’s quieter and safer. Of course, even being one of the biggest cycling cities in the US, we still only have (I think) about 6-8% of people who commute by bicycle, so compared to a city like Copenhagen or Amsterdam, there are almost no bikes here :)

    The encouraging thing is that we have city officials and city planners studying Copenhagen and Amsterdam and taking trips there to talk to city planners and others about how to create bicycle-friendly city streets, and in the past few years, there really has been a noted improvement in our bicycle infrastructure. I hope that as this continues to happen, more and more people will start riding, and thus more infrastructure development will happen, and on and on. One of the streets featured in my video near the beginning (where I stop at an intersection and a bus turns in front of me), is slated for reworking soon, supposedly.

    It’s cooling down here too, but we aren’t anywhere near getting snow yet (if we ever do) :) I did wear my long wool coat and a scarf today though :) Thankfully our winters are mild enough that I should be able to continue riding (and even riding with nice clothes) through the winter - with the exception that I will definitely need a poncho :)

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