“Portland bicycling community seriously needs to try to reign in these outlaws.”
“Typical stupid bicyclist. They break the law, you call them on it and they flip out. Too bad he didn’t get beat up some more.”
Is this what we're up against if we ride a bike in an American city--even lovely, progressive Portland? The victim wasn't even riding a bike at the time of the incident; he just liked bikes!
Road rage incident sparks media frenzy, spurs us-them mentality
Personally I think that Zakilliscious blog guy in Copenhagen is right; if cyclists and cycling was a relaxed everyday normal part of life being practiced by people who looked and acted like the rest of the culture around them, the us-VS-them mentality wouldn't ever come up.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking in generalities, cyclists dressed in Ronald McDonald circus clown uniforms and zipping in and out of lanes and ignoring stop signs and lights do not do much to prevent ill-feelings among the rest of the citizenry.
I have no idea what the culture is like in Portland but I _do_ know that the few times I have tried to follow a blog or two that come out of Portland, I have been turned off very quickly by the militancy and arrogance I've read there.
Assholes do seem to bring out the asshole in others.
alf
Alf
ReplyDeleteCan you post a link to the Copenhagen blog discussion. I do know the blog, but don't recall seeing this discussion.
The irony in Portland is that the guy in the car, who was attacked, is a cycling advocate. The guy on the bike--who hurled his bike at the car-- appears to be little more than a garden variety drunk.
Sorry Gordon, I'm terrible at back-navigating blogs (it may be a generational thing), I can read the current but then it becomes like trying to operate an ATM.
ReplyDeleteAs to your latter paragraph, that's the irony of irony, it's so ironic.
alf
Alf,
ReplyDelete35% of Copenhagen's workers commute by bike, so yeah, you don't see as much day-glo on the roads. Our best cycling commuter numbers are probably in Portland, where the total--after decades of building bike infrastructure--has climbed to around 4%. In a car-centered society loud clothes can keep a cyclist alive and they do wick sweat off the body.
But as you point out, the road is not our playpen. We do need to observe traffic laws (per Copenhagen and Amsterdam cyclists) if we expect the gasoholics to let us live. I just hate like hell to lecture cyclists after one of us has been attacked by a drunk--even if he did throw a bike at our guy.
I'm with Alf, the militant knee-jerk rants in the comments on bike portland are off-putting, as is some of the bike culture in Portland. But I live and ride in Portland, as I have in various U.S. cities and Amsterdam. Cycling in Amsterdam is mature, California cities are hit or miss, Atlanta is lethal, Portland is sublime.
ReplyDeleteBut there are occasional bike/enemy-vehicle incidents which bring out the ranters. Thing is, I think it's mainly blog-rage. Motorists express contempt at cyclists, motorcyclists hate the 'cagers', cyclists sneer at skateboarders and everyone looks down on rollerbladers. There's enough vehicle bigotry to qualify Portland for Southern state status, even though most people in these categories also use one or more of the other vehicles they express contempt for.
But it's mostly in the comments. Sure you see stupid and dangerous people in all the above categories, but riding day-to-day in Portland is great--people are for the most part, friendly, courteous and laid-back. So please don't gauge Portland by the silly headlines and commenters, although if it keeps you from moving here, that's cool.
btw, in descending order I use bikes, motorcycles, and infrequently, my station wagon when I need something that won't fit on the other two.
I'm thinking that "bike culture" is a kind of consumerism. You buy the right costume and equipment to show you below. You don't see it as much in Europe and the whole scene is more relaxed.
ReplyDeleteBTW I use bikes, feet, station wagon and truck to move things and/or me. Generally, in that order.