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Portland’s ‘golden age of bicycling’


Former Oregon Governor
T.T. Geer was known
for his cycling, over
100 years ago.
(Photo courtesy
Eric Lundgren)

Local author and historian Eric Lundgren — who previously shared his research on Portland’s first “Cycle Park” — will speak on the topic of Portland’s bike history this Friday (11/30) at Portland State University.

Lundgren’s talk is part of the ongoing Transportation Seminar Series at Portland State University’s Center for Transportation Studies (CTS). Former talks in the series — which are all streamed live and archived online — have featured Rutgers University Professor John “Make cycling irresistible” Pucher and economist Joe “Green Dividend” Cortright.

Lundgren says his talk will take a spin into our bikey past, to a time over a century ago, when Portland was building a network of dedicated bicycle paths. Here’s more from the event notice:

“For a brief and glorious half-decade, bicycles were a focus for road-planning and road-building. At a time when Portland seeks to gain Platinum-level recognition as a Bicycle Friendly Community, we can look back at a few of the ingredients in Portland’s first golden age of bicycling.”

Lundgren says his talk will feature Oregon’s bike-loving, 19th century governor, T.T. Geer. Along with the photo of him above, Lundgren sent me this cool newspaper clipping about Geer:

Geer’s bike exploits were big news.
(Graphic courtesy Eric Lundgren)

Event details:

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