People on Bikes: Inner southeast Hawthorne

I apologize. Somehow, three years have passed since I did a proper People on Bikes.

If you’re new to BikePortland, this is something we’ve done since 2011. Most of them are from Portland but we’ve taken the idea afield as well with episodes in New York City, Copenhagen, and even Colombia (thanks Michael!). The idea is simple: Freeze bicycle riders in time to give us a better understanding of who’s riding, what they’re wearing, what they’re riding, how they’re riding, and so on.

Think of it as a form of voyeurbanism.

In my opinion, you can tell a lot about a city’s bike and street culture by simply observing its bicycle riders: Are they mostly older? Younger? Are riders mostly shes? Hes? Theys? Do they ride cheap, drop-bar “ten speeds” or flat-bar MTBs? Helmet? No helmet? How many e-bikes do you see? Do people look experienced? Afraid? Calm and cool? Stressed out or blissed out? Would a People on Bikes in southwest or outer east Portland look different?

I also think images of real riders — as opposed to staged or stock photos — adds substance and humanity to what is often just a blur through our streets. I wish people who mostly drive would take time to look at images like this. I think it would help build respect when they realize these are real and beautiful people, just like them, and not just “that damn cyclist who blew by me”. But I digress… Let’s get to the images.

Here’s who rolled by on SE Hawthorne between 6th and 7th in about a 20-minute span on Friday afternoon (click to enlarge):

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Thanks for looking!

— Jonathan Maus: (503) 706-8804, @jonathan_maus on Twitter and jonathan@bikeportland.org
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