Welcome to the week.
Before we get started with our regular coverage, let’s take a look at the most noteworthy stories we came across in the past seven days…
Battling body image: An extraordinary personal reflection on riding the Tour Divide Race from Alexandera Houchin, an indigenous woman who has struggled with feelings of shame around her weight and uses a bicycle to make sense of her world.
Commissioner Butler: California Governor Gavin Newsom has appointed transportation activist and Toole Design Group consultant Tamika Butler (whom you might recall from her visit to Portland in 2017) as that state’s newest transportation commissioner.
Bike-life balance: Cycling Weekly has a good piece on how cycling is more addictive than ever these days and how to not become so obsessed with your riding and training.
Deadly deliveries: Curbed says new reporting on Amazon delivery truck crashes gives even more urgency to right-sizing our urban delivery vehicle fleet.
Pence motorcade backlash: Vice President Mike Pence brought his motorcade to carfree Mackniac Island and people are a bit peeved about it.
E-bike subsidies: Widespread use of e-bikes could radically transform the U.S. transportation system and we should be subsidizing the purchase of them like France is doing.
$13,000 e-bike misses the masses: Veteran cycling journalist Joe Lindsey thinks the new Specialized Creo road bike is so expensive that it won’t be accessible to the people who are most likely to ride power-assisted machines.
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Shower helmets: I’m loathe to link to yet another article on helmets, but this is a fun one on the relative danger of bathtubs.
Truth about De Blasio: Sometimes it takes someone from outside bicycle advocacy circles to see something so clearly: “New York’s Mayor Claims to Be Progressive but Favors Drivers Over Bicyclists,” writes The Intercept’s Peter Maass.
Why density rules: Solid op-ed from New York City encourages coalitions between transportation reformers and pro-growth groups because “density is the friend of safe streets and transit.”
Mingus Mapps disagrees: Mr. Mapps wants to unseat Portland Commissioner Chloe Eudaly. He told the Willamette Week that he thinks Portland neighborhoods have become “dysfunctional” because it’s hard for him to find a car parking spot in front of his house.
City cycling love: Bike Snob eloquently describes the joys of urban cycling and says more people should feel safe enough to experience it.
Video of the Week: Open streets inspiration from Ethiopia, where they make major streets and freeways carfree every month across the country and there are calls to make it a weekly event in the capital:
— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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