I’m thankful for family, friends,
and crowded bike lanes.
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
and crowded bike lanes.
(Photo © Jonathan Maus)
It’s that time of year where many of us feast and pause for a moment to think about what we’re thankful for.
As far as bike-related stuff goes, I could write a list a mile long of things I’m thankful for. So instead of getting specific, I’ll just say that I’m most grateful for all of you; the intelligent, active, hard-working and passionate people who give Portland such a bright and bikey future.
I’ll also take this opportunity to share my gratitude for all the advertisers and donors who support this site. Without them I couldn’t continue to devote so much time and attention to my work.
And of course I’m thankful for my three beautiful ladies at home.
Feel free to share thoughts of your own in the comments…and enjoy the holiday!
Happy thanksgiving Mr. Maus. You should be VERY proud of what you have done for Portland. You should be very proud of what you have done for us.
Enjoy your turkey mr. bike reporter guy!
– Chris
Back at you Jonathan. And to everyone else. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!
I am thankful to live in a city, state, and country which, for all their faults (of which we can all reel off many, I am sure) are still the best places I have ever lived in the world (and I\’ve lived in some cool places). I am thankful that I am healthy and strong at an age when too many women already have given up on being active (and for that I give credit to my 75-year-old basketball-playing, mountain-climbing, Peace Corps Volunteer mother). I am thankful that I have a husband who, although a non-cyclist, indulges my obsession.
Oh heck – I am just thankful. 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving, Jonathan and everyone!
Happy Thanksgiving ALL,
May the wind be at your back today and
enjoy every pedel stroke..
Enjoy being together on the road, wave if you can 🙂
Joe
Jon,
I give thanks that you moved North to Portland (who needs all that sun, surf and movie stars) and started this website, against my advice I might add, \”Kick ass idea, but career suicide, my friend!\”
How wrong I was! I\’m specifically thankful because it\’s an information source run by a topnotch journalist, a devoted community leader trying to balance his family life with a noble sustainable, eco friendly cause. Oh, and for making cyclocross in the mud look like too much fun not to see me but in a saddle for it next season!
To the rest of my cycling brethren – thanks for pedaling and encouraging others by showing them how much fun it can be.
The evolution will not be motorized!
Happy Turkey Day all.
Joe Metal Cowboy Kurmaskie
Thank you, Jonathan, for running this website. I have learned so much from my fellow cyclists, and occasionally have even had my point of view changed! I am impressed that so much positive action has come from cyclists joining together as a result of this site and taking on city hall. I credit this site with starting a change of consciousness in this, my native city, to make cycling more acceptable and safer for everybody.
I\’m thankful that my boyfriend sold his car and started riding a bike many years back, so I didn\’t have to dump him 😉
I\’m thankful to be part of the most excellent Portland bike community, full of smart, passionate, well-balanced people (thank of course to our daily exercise).
I\’m thankful for all my friends and family, all of whom ride a bike at least some of the time, and some of them even most of the time.
I\’m thankful that I\’m physically able to ride a bike. Sometimes I get an injury or something that sidelines me, and I get a glimpse of what how sad a bike-free life would be like.
And I\’m thankful for Bikeportland!
Happy feasting, everybody!!
Thankful for:
–BikePortland.org.
–My health, which still allows me to ride a bike nearly every day.
–My sweetie, who isn\’t a bicycle rider but who understands why I am and gives me room ro roam.
–My family who keeps me rooted.
–My friends who encourage me to dream.
–My work, which allows me to make my passion manifest in the world.
–My life, which is sweet beyond measure.
From your friends acroos the river, \” HAPPY TURKEY DAY\”. Please be thankful and good to each other for what we have. Your friend \”HUGGYBEAR\”
I\’m very thankful for my friends, both old ones, whom I have known and loved for over 20 years, and new ones, too. It seems like I\’m meeting cool new people every day, just be being part of Portland\’s bike community. It\’s wonderful! (Thanks, Jonathan!)
My #1 goal in life is to be rich in friends, and I\’d have to say: By that measure, I\’m already a rich man, and getting richer every day! Thanks, friends. I love you all!
This is long over due, and since it is thanksgiving, I figure it is appropriate to post this here. Sorry if this is long…
I\’m thankful
-that my injuries weren\’t more extensive, they easily could have been, I can walk around, laugh, pet my dogs, and correspond with friends and family (the sisters).
– FOR THIS BOARD and for Jonathan who started it and all of you great people who post here. The reporter from KGW left me with a printout of all your comments. Before, reading them, I just assumed it would be a slue of comments about how I\’m a \”treehugging bike nazi\” (not sure how that\’s possible but…) who deserved what she got. Because up until then that is the sentiment I was exposed to, when following Tracy and Brett\’s death on mainstream media message boards. Without this board I wouldn\’t have the awareness to start questioning the status quo surrounding traveling by bike. Your comments were uplifting, distracted me from feeling sorry for myself, and it was deeply touching. You have all kept me positive.
– for miss who stopped and sat by my side, called the police, and scolded the driver so I didn\’t have to.
– for being waited on hand and foot. That\’s nice.
– for the nurses, especially Carolyn who was super gentle with me and understanding.
– for Patti, the lady in the bed next to me who even though she just went through surgery, still managed to get out of bed and come over and wipe my tears when she heard me crying in the night. (I\’m such a wimp!)
– for my employer and co-workers. They rock!
– for my sense of humor, otherwise I would kill my sisters for making fun of me crying on tape, I am the oldest and I can throw a beat down.
Thank you everyone, I hope you are enjoying your dinner. We are lucky privileged people. And it is good to see people out there working to make it better for others.
I\’m thankful that Jonathan started this site.
I\’m thankful that I got back on the bike in 2004 and stayed on it.
I\’m thankful Tomas dragged me to the Share the Road rally in January 2006, and that my work paid for my bike locker for a year and a half, and that my family supported me when I started getting involved with all those \”crazy bikers\”.
I\’m thankful that I live in one of the best biking cities in America, and that the others who live here stand together on the important issues.
I\’m thankful that I have a new, very large extended family of people who share my passion for biking.
I\’m thankful that I\’m single again (long story, but not a bad one). I\’m also thankful that I have such a great friendship with my ex and her partner.
I\’m thankful that I can finally move back to Portland, that I found a place in inner SE, and that people are going to make the long trek out to Clackamas to help me move by bike. You people totally rock!
I\’m thankful that I have my health, that I have enough to eat, and that live is as good and wonderful as it is.
And I\’m very thankful that the times I\’ve been stupid, whether on a bike or in a car, that I didn\’t hurt or kill myself or anyone else. I\’m thankful that the many close calls I\’ve had with cars were merely that.
I hope that as we enter this crazy holiday season, everyone stays safe, alive and unhurt, and that we all have the opportunity to enjoy and appreciate the relationships that matter to us, and the communities around us.
Happy turkey day, or whatever you want to celebrate this weekend.
Besides the usual – wonderful family, life in general, turkey on the grill…
I\’m thankful for a husband who puts up with someone who vanishes for big chunks of time to ride brevets.
I\’m thankful for all the wonderful friends I made when I returned to cycling in 2003 – Team Bag Balm, Portland Velo, Oregon Randonneurs, as well as my unaffiliated cyclist buddies.
I\’m thankful that the crash in February did not involve any other vehicles, the only fatal casualty was my 25 yr old steel bike, and I got out of it with just some broken ribs.
I\’m thankful for Cecil and Rickey who get me doing much stupider (and fun, in a sick, twisted way) stuff on a bicycle than I\’d ever dream up by myself.
I\’m thankful for Jason, who always wants to go for a bike ride.
Happy Thanksgiving All!
Log off and ride!
I\’m thankful that Siobhan wasn\’t hurt more then she was. thankful that even though i\’ve only met her once under very undesirable conditions that I feel like i have a new friend.
I\’m also thankful that I feel like i\’m part of something bigger here on bikeportland.
I\’m thankful everyday for other friends and family and my pets.
I\’m also thankful that this is the internet and no one can see me tearing up! 🙂 have a wonderful day in the sun!
I have got to share a little too. gosh…everyone is so awesome!
Sioban, I\’m so thankful that you are on the mend and will be able to continue to help in the fight for bicycle liberation! All the best to you and your family.
I\’m also so thankful that I lost the case to Marylhurst from my bike accident. Without this loss I would not be meeting Jonathan and all kinds of other cool peeps and joining in the hard work to get us bikers noticed!
Also, so greatful for Matt Davis and Amy Ruiz pickiing up my story for the Mercury.
My three beautiful feline daughters: Sydney, Carmen and Yoda….
…my fiancee, Rand….
….my friend, John Schmidt, who got me into biking…
…Floyd Landis for being such an inspiration and a great guy! (I met him recently!)
….and for my almost 35 y.o. (nov.24) healthy body! I wouldn\’t have anywhere to live without you!
I am thankful that I live in Washington Co. A great place to ride. Also the great friends I have meet along the way. Even though I had a bad crash, my two other buds had injuries(still waiting for one to get off the injured reserve list) it was a great year. Paris I will see you 2011.
I am thankful for my partner who has learned more about biking than I have about football and such… but I am equally thankful for the amazing people in Portland, be it the boys at bike polo, messenger friends who risk their lives every day, and Tori the amazing mechanic and dear friend, or the everyday commuters that speed by me on the bridge, THANK you all for creating Portland\’s bike community.
I am inspired everyday by these people. I am a lucky girl to be in a place with so much to offer that we have a community or forum to share our thoughts and ideals.
I am thankful of the cars that are paying attention at the intersections,and let me go first before they turn right.
Although we all have a lot for which to be thankful, we ought to also thank the people who gave up everything they had so we can have all that we have today…
\”Well, here in the US it’s the holiday known as Thanksgiving. It got started when the governor of Massachusetts wanted to celebrate the massacre of 700 Pequot women, children and old men by English and Dutch religious zealots, racists, mercenaries and other assorted scum. The governor wanted to give thanks for this massacre. And now, without ever having recognized the origins of this holiday as a society, with our schools still teaching about the “meeting of two cultures,” the televisions, radios and newspapers are full of stories about how thankful we Americans are about one thing or the other.
No one on CNN or NPR will be speaking about the elephant in the living room. No one will be uttering the words, thank you, Native America, for your stolen land. Thank you for this great commons which we have privatized and sold. Thanks for your forests which we are decimating. Thanks for these mountains which we are mining. Thanks for these prairies which we are drowning in pesticides. Thanks for these coastlines and deserts and river valleys which we are covering with highways, malls and nuclear reactors. Thanks for these blue skies which we have turned gray. So yes, happy Thanksgiving, all. Happy Iraq War. Happy climate change.” – David Rovics, folk music singer, http://www.davidrovics.com
Bad turkey, bad!!
I\’m thankful that:
– I get to get up everyday and work with awesome people to make communities more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. I could not have ever imagined such a great career.
– we have such an amazing bicycling community
– so many of our elected officials are supportive and into bicycling
– so many good folks are moving here because we are so bicycle friendly
– the media keeps paying us attention, for good and bad
– our air and water are clean, and we can safely bike in so many parts of town
– you created bikeportland.org
And of course I\’m grateful for my kids, health, friends, community, family, and so much more.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Mia Birk
\”Gratitude is heaven itself.\” – William Blake (1757-1827)
im thankful for my friends, family and anointed davidic king.
im thankful for this beautiful planet we live on. thankful i\’ve had the opportunity to roam all over it for the last 2 years and get a better big picture of this place.. and thankful that in 2 weeks i get to fly home to my favorite city, study community development again and live in wonderful bikable se portland. so thankful i\’ve been spoiled silly living in amsterdam these last 8 months, yet thankful to be moving to a city where people are joining the bicycle movement every day and don\’t take it for granted. im thankful for portlanders who celebrate biking in a full spectrum of creativity and embody it / advance it on the streets every day. thankful for every new bike path/lane/etc. thankful for a bikey future for portland. thankful for this site (esp. jonathan) which serves to unite us in that hope. thanks.
I\’m thankful for my car breaking down my freshman year…
I\’m thankful every morning that I can get out of bed, kiss my wife and girls, and throw my leg over the bike to go to work.