8 November 2007

Guest Photo: Portland, USA

It had to happen sooner or later. At some point a photo from Portland, USA was sure to ding into our inbox. We have been hearing so much about Portland lately. The good cycling people of the city are endearing themselves to us more and more each day. [Although we'll never forgive them for bribing and flirting their way into second place - ahead of Copenhagen - on this very unscientific list... :-)]

We were dying to gain a glimpse of cycle chic in the city and we have to thank Patrick for sending this one along.

"Your website has been an absolute inspiration to me. I spent this summer attempting to document the best of Portland bicycle chic, but found that it's trickier than it looks. I did manage to get one photo I would like to share with you. Thank you so much for your amazing glimpse into your culture."

Thank YOU, Patrick. We're so pleased to be able to have a Portland photo of cycle chic on the blog.

And please tell everyone to keep up the splendid bike advocacy work in your passionate town.

9 comments:

Christopher Mark Perez said...

Portland is a wonderful place to bike. I'm a fair weather rider, so the bike commute to work is on-hold until the light returns (too dark and cold in the mornings).

Having said this, the photo that Patrick caught in Portland is unique. In fact, I am organizing and quiet private protest against those who insist on wearing spandex.

So... if you're ever in Portland... and you see a guy wearing a sport coat... dress slacks... and a top hat, stop me and say "Hi".

Colville-Andersen said...

Wonderful comment. i would travel to Portland just to see that.

I've had the same attitude about ski suits... for years I've preferred skiing in wooly sweaters, a cravat and corduroy trousers.

The top hat... I'll leave that to you... :-)

Regarding the light... Copenhagen is much farther north than Portland [the weather is the same, though] so it gets dark in at 15:30 here in deepest darkest December.

So no excuses... :-)

Anonymous said...

Portland, indeed. Wonderful city (we used to live there and it's my mate's hometown.) I didn't even own a bike when I lived there though. Wondering if Davis, California (where I presently live) has shown up here...since Davisites consider THEIR city to be THE biking city/town in the U.S. ;)

Colville-Andersen said...

Thanks Marilyn. to be honest, I think Davis has a branding problem. I've never of any bike culture out of Davis.

Sitting 8000 km away in Copenhagen, I hear often of Portland, Charlotte, NYC and even Chicago in relation to bike advocacy.

I'd love to hear more about Davis. I'll check them out. THanks.

Anonymous said...

We're just a university town of 64,000...but surely we have more bikes than people! :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis%2C_California

Our city's logo is a bike!

http://www.city.davis.ca.us/bicycles/

Every year the Davis Bike Club hosts a criterium through downtown on the 4th of July...and the Amgen Tour rode through downtown earlier this year. Bikes are BIG here. ;)

Colville-Andersen said...

Thanks, Marilyn, for letting us make an acquaintance of Davis. What a lot of great intiatives.

Great inpiration for other cities in North america! Impressive stuff.

One little statistic struck me, though. 17% of all trips in town are made by bike.

That surely must be a North American record! Quite aways to go to compete with many European cities, but impressive all the same.

Thanks very much for taking the time to let us know more about Davis.

Enrique Díaz said...

Hi all from a Spanish guy traveling from Canada to Colombia.

When I was in Portland, I took these pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7cero/996317759/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7cero/996648112/

Portland is marvelous for cycling.

Enrique

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting my photo! I am a celebrity now due to a large number of Portlanders who apparently check your site as often as I do.

I got a new camera and am clicking away with twice the resolution and image stabilization, so hopefully I will have some new beauties. It's been rough lately though with the colder weather moving in, still some good stuff though.

I try to update my Flikr page whenever I get a good shot:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14633132@N04/
for Ganesha1113

Keep up the good work!-Patrick

Colville-Andersen said...

Thanks, Patrick! That's great to hear! Let us know when you snap a classic cycle chic shot.