J&B Importers are looking to enlarge our Inside Sales team at our location in Sumner, Washington. We are looking for a sales and customer service-oriented individual to handle inbound phone orders, as well as outbound sales calls. Ideal candidate must be knowledgeable and experienced in cycling, fluent in English, and have excellent verbal and written communication. Position is full-time, Monday-Friday. Wages commensurate with experience. J&B offers an excellent benefits package.
How to Apply
Please e-mail your resume to mjohnson@jbi.bike
*Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
The author pedaling across the Broadway Bridge. (Photos courtesy Rachel O’Connor)
This article was written by Portlander Rachel O’Connor. This essay was submitted as part of a community project to keep BikePortland going while BikePortland Editor & Publisher Jonathan Maus is tending to a family medical emergency out of town and unable to work as normal.
In August of 2023, I sold my beloved minivan to have extra money for upcoming international travel. I had no idea back then the domino effect that decision would create in my life.
Fast forward to November 2023 when I returned home from traveling and was faced with yet another decision — to buy a new vehicle or test out the waters of a carfree life. As you can probably guess, I opted for the latter, thinking it would be a temporary way to save some money.
To understand where this story is going, it’s important for you to first understand a little bit about me. I’m a 32 year-old cis female living in Portland, and have had a car since I was 16. Cars have always represented an important form of freedom to me — freedom to road trip, freedom to car camp, and freedom to get as many groceries as I want at Costco.
“My life has been completely transformed by the experiences I’ve had on a bike the past five months.”
Additionally, I’m a curvy girl with a transparently mediocre level of physical fitness. The past few years I have admittedly increased my outdoorsy-ness — tackling my first backpacking trip, more hikes than ever before, and a good amount of casual rides. However, the idea of relying solely on a bike as transportation was extremely daunting based on my at-the-time normal activity level. Regardless of my concerns, I decided this would be a good challenge. My partner is also an avid cyclist and has been carfree his entire adult life (which I’m not going to lie, greatly encouraged me to make the leap).
Enter my bike purchase era.
In November I decided to reach out to VVolt to ask about the availability of their used e-bikes. Riding around the city felt a lot more doable on an e-bike. To my delight (and dread), VVolt had an awesome Centauri model that had been completely refurbished and was on budget! No turning back now! I quickly bought the e-bike and apprehensively began my new car-free life. (Sidenote: Working with VVolt has been incredible, 10/10 recommend.)
Before continuing, I want to be transparent that my life has been completely transformed by the experiences I’ve had on a bike the past five months. Here are some rapid-fire highlights of how I have evolved, as well as some hacks I’ve stumbled upon along the way:
Highlights
Steel Bridge with my partner Andrew.Better Naito in winter.Water break on Columbia Slough bridge in north Portland.
Experiencing the city around me: I don’t know where I read this, but I am certain there is urban planning research to support the fact that cycling, walking, or taking public transit around your city makes you feel more connected to the world than being in a car. This has been one of the biggest transformations I’ve noticed sans car. I feel connected to the other cyclists in the bike lane, more connected to the local business, and generally more in love with living in Portland than ever before. Vehicles require isolation, while cycling requires integration. I just made that one up and I think it’s pretty good.
Resilience: There’s no escaping the reality that cycling does not sound fun sometimes. You want to meet a friend for drinks, or go to the park or grocery store, but doing so would require getting on your saddle and pedaling all the way there. This breeds a specific type of resiliency that I haven’t been challenged with before. Winter in Portland is even more extreme. A simple ride up to northeast to meet friends now requires gloves, a waterproof jacket and pants, wool socks, waterproof shoes, and something to keep your ears warm. Yet, rising to this challenge feels like a small win every time, and it’s a pretty great feeling when you get your wardrobe juuuust right for the circumstances (IYKYK).
Finding new community: I have always had a pretty decent connection to the cycling community via my partner, who was a courier for a while and participates in many Portland cycling events. However, I was really only connected by association. Being able to interact with other people who are passionate about being carfree and/or cycling in general has brought a new level of connectedness that I didn’t realize I was missing. Now I get excited to attend bike events instead of feeling like an awkward bystander (and quickly realized the cycling community is not as intimidating as I thought).
Activity level and a new hobby: Obviously, cycling for transportation increases my daily activity level. But I didn’t expect to enjoy it so much. In fact, I have enjoyed it a little too much and recently bought myself a non-e-bike gravel bike. Last week, I rode my gravel bike over 50 miles just for fun and I find myself anxious to get back out on the road if I go too long without riding. Who am I?!
Career trajectory: Funny enough, my newly-found passion for being carfree helped me land a role in the sustainability industry — where I get to help organizations and government agencies find funding to support their transportation electrification goals (like e-bike voucher programs!). I could have never imagined this seemingly small lifestyle change would open up doors and set me on an entirely new career path. But I’m happily trudging down it.
Discovering new ways to travel: A big concern I had about going carfree was losing the ability to get outside of the city. To my surprise, Oregon has a shockingly extensive infrastructure for taking bikes and people across the state. So far, I have taken trips (bike in-tow) to Tillamook, Pacific City, Hood River, and Mt. Hood utilizing only public transportation. All experiences have been pleasant and way more fun than driving alone.
If you find yourself with some carfree curiosity, read on for some hacks that have worked for me:
Hacks
TriMet: Sometimes you just don’t want to ride a bike. Luckily, Portland has an amazing transit infrastructure and bikes are allowed on all of them. If you are within a certain income threshold and/or receive benefits like OHP or SNAP, you can qualify to become a TriMet Honored Citizen – making all of your trips half-off.
Biketown for All: Similarly to TriMet, falling into certain income categories will qualify you for free Biketown rentals for up to 60 minutes at a time. This has been a lifesaver for me when I’m riding to a concert or other activity and don’t feel comfortable leaving my bike locked up too long.
Charging: If you need to charge an e-bike during longer rides and have a removable battery, just pop that baby off and sit at a table in a coffee shop or bar with access to an outlet.
Panniers: I cannot stress the magic of a rear rack and big waterproof panniers enough. I’ve found these to be specifically helpful for grocery hauls but there are many other use-cases. I shock myself every time I go to the grocery store and see how much food I can take home with those puppies, and I don’t even have to worry about the straight-from-hell Trader Joe’s parking lots.
Locks: I highly recommend double-locking your bike wherever you leave it. I always make sure to lock up both my rear wheel and my frame, and feel much better leaving it alone this way.
Insurance : Since accidents, crashes and theft are a thing, I enrolled in bike insurance. A lot of renter’s insurance policies will cover theft but not necessarily accidents, medical costs, injuries to others or yourself, and/or e-bike coverage. I think my insurance costs me about $8 per month, and offers some great peace of mind.
Tires: If you opt for an e-bike, make sure to ask about the tires. If they’re not tubeless, I highly recommend getting hard-to-puncture tires. When I first had my e-bike I got two flats on the stock tires, and changing them was hell on earth. I ended up having to get a local bike shop to help, but it was pricey.
Being carfree has been absolutely transformative. I feel more connected to my city, more connected to my body, and more connected to my community. Although every ride has not been pleasant (I’m looking at you, drivers parking in the bike lane and running stop signs), I can’t imagine returning to car ownership anytime soon.
I know living without a car isn’t feasible for everyone. I share my experiences in hopes that some of y’all realize being carfree isn’t as terrible as you may think. In fact, it might just change your life!
— Rachel made the leap across the river to northwest Portland after living on the east side for the past nine years (opinion on the west side still pending). She currently works full-time as a sustainability consultant, and spends a lot of free time trying to perfect the art of the AeroPress.
Last month the Portland Bureau of Transportation (PBOT) published an annual report on its progress toward making the city accessible to people with mobility disabilities.
Titled the ADA Title II Public Right-of-Way Transition Plan Update, the report is a requirement of the 2018 Consent Decree between the city and a group of individuals with mobility disabilities who claimed that the city was remiss in meeting its Americans with Disabilities Act obligations. The Civil Rights Education and Enforcement Center (CREEC) provided the text of the decree, which requires that Portland meet yearly targets for building curb ramps, as well as to report annual progress and other information.
At about twenty pages, the report was engaging and complemented the work of PedPDX, the citywide pedestrian plan. It cataloged the addition of new sidewalks, pedestrian signals, curb ramps, accessible parking, accessible bus stops, as well as features which are not specifically required by the ADA, but which make walking safer and more inviting for everybody. Things like like enhanced crosswalks, pedestrian head start signals, rectangular rapidly flashing beacons, and pedestrian refuge islands.
All in all, it made for uplifting reading and was a nice review of the design elements which have been popping up throughout the city. Within the first few pages, the report caught my attention with some figures about how many new sidewalks had been built in the city:
In 2023, PBOT projects built over 18,000 linear feet of sidewalk adding approximately 3.5 miles to the city’s sidewalk network. Developer projects added approximately 5 miles of new sidewalk to the pedestrian network.
That interested me, sidewalk building grouped into capital versus private projects. I contacted the PBOT Communications office for more information. Specifically, did they they have the developer-paid sidewalk broken down by quadrant.
UPDATE: 4/25/2024, 12:30PM — Hannah Schafer contacted me with a clarification regarding the “Private Development” column of numbers below. Those lengths refer to not only new sidewalks, but also sidewalk upgrades like widening, changes in use, and fixing poor conditions. I changed the title of the post to reflect this correction.
Hannah Schafer, the Director of Communications got back to me with the following information:
PBOT-constructed sidewalks:
Errol Heights LID – approximately 1 mile
70’s Greenway Everett St between 76th & 78th – 1120 linear feet
4M Greenway – 550 linear feet
Suttle Road LID – 3100 linear feet
SW Barbur Sidewalks – 900 linear feet
Downtown I-405 – 268 linear feet
East Portland Access to Education & Employment – 4400 linear feet
Private development:
Total mileage is 31,635 linear feet (so closer to 6 miles), and here’s the breakdown by quadrant to give you a sense of where it was constructed:
N: 3550 linear feet
NE: 8360 linear feet
NW: 1660 linear feet
S: 510 linear feet
SE: 12400 linear feet
SW: 5155 linear feet
That’s nearly ten miles of new sidewalk. Schafer added,
Keep in mind this is sidewalk that was permit ready. It should be fairly equivalent, but based on scheduling and other items, it may not fully reflect what’s on the ground just yet. For example, someone could have an approved permit in 2023 but for some reason waited to construct in 2024. This is the best data we have for now.
These numbers, of course, raise other questions. For example, regarding private development, I neglected to ask for a denominator — six miles of sidewalk built out of what total of new frontage? But still, I was glad to see the city tracking this information, and I imagine we will see more data organized by district as we move into the new, district-based, form of government. City councilors elected by district will want information specific to their district.
The report also noted that “the ADA doesn’t require sidewalks to be installed on streets where there aren’t any.” And that’s the elephant in the room. Portland has a lot of arterials and collectors without sidewalks, and therefore it has entire neighborhoods where disabled people cannot live without a car. And if they don’t drive, it makes it hard to live independently.
[Note: The story below was shared by BikePortland subscriber Shawne Martinez, who goes by @tigard_stripes on Instagram. I’ve been away from Portland for a week dealing with my dad being in the hospital, so I’ve been unable to do BikePortland stuff. I’ll be sharing a few guest articles this week and until I can get my dad stabilized. Much love and thanks! – Jonathan]
I’m a carfree bike dad in Tigard, Oregon. My daughter Eliza (a second grader) and I put many miles on our bikes in Washington County and we often see and hear the WES train rolling between Tigard and Beaverton on our bike rides in Washington County. The WES, short for Westside Express Service, is a commuter train that runs between Wilsonville and Beaverton that can be beneficial for people living a car-lite (or car-free) lifestyle.
The limiting factor for us has been its schedule: weekday morning and afternoon rush hours only. With no weekend service we’ve found it difficult to utilize this train route. Recently, my kiddo’s school had a weekday break, so we decided to take our bikes on the train to Wilsonville. There are five morning departures from the Tigard Transit Center, then a six-hour gap until the first afternoon northbound train.
I needed to make this a fun experience for my 8-year-old daughter so I scanned the map near the Wilsonville Transit Center for bike infrastructure and fun activities. I spotted the entrance to a multi-use path just a couple of blocks away from the WES station with several playgrounds in the area. So we grabbed our bikes and rode the 1.5 miles to the Tigard Transit Center.
Boarding the WES with bikes is easy — just roll up the ramp up to the boarding platform and be sure to scan your Hop Card, phone or bank card at the scanner to pay your fare. While waiting for the train, there is an interactive sculpture at each station to keep people (young and old) busy. The train floor is at-grade with the station making for a smooth transition to roll the bikes on-board. There are a couple of wall mounted bike hooks that you can use or just park in the designated area and secure your bike to the wall with the provided strap.
So how’s the ride? This train is fast! We were in Wilsonville in no time. On the multi-use path near Coffee Lake Drive we discovered playgrounds, parks and a bird watching activity spot. We rolled to Lowrie Primary School to see their wind generator and rain garden sculpture. This community has an interesting mix of housing and street designs. Biking down Wilsonville Road we spotted several lunch options and stopped for a slice of pizza. We rolled under I-5 to see the paintings titled “Beauty and the Bridge” that surround this extremely loud and unpleasant section of our route. But our goal was in view: another path that would lead us to Bulwinkle’s Family Fun Center! (The bike racks at Bulwinkles are hidden around the right-side of the building. Why not right by the front door?) A putt-putt course, video games and bowling kept us busy for a couple more hours.
Car traffic on I-5 was completely stopped as we rolled back to the Wilsonville Transit Center just in time to board the 3:30 WES train back to Tigard. The doors closed just as we rolled on (whew!) We enjoyed a quick 18-minute ride back to the Tigard Transit Center. Although we’ve taken the WES to Beaverton several times, this was our fist time riding to Wilsonville. It was a positive experience, and the kiddo had a blast.
It just proved to me once again that public transit is the ultimate range extender for bikes and a great way to leave the car at home.
Read more of Shawne’s transit and cycling adventures here.
Go By Bike seeks seasonal bike valet attendants. We are located under the aerial tram in South Waterfront. Throughout the summer we will park about 360 bikes a day. Our mission is to provide the best end and start to people’s bike commutes.
In addition to valeting bikes, Go By Bike offers repairs ranging from flat fixes to full tune-ups. We also manage loaner bikes and a bike share system for Oregon Health and Science University.
Responsibilities include parking and retrieving bikes, as well as assisting with our loaner bike & bike share programs. Much of your time will be spent walking outside. Our shop is a converted 20-foot shipping container with AC, heating, and big windows.
Customer service and a friendly and positive attitude are a must. Go By Bike appreciates diversity and inclusivity and keeps an open, positive atmosphere. We are looking for a teammate who will share in these values.
Compensation is $20/hour. These will be seasonal, part time positions, 4 hours a day, 5 days a week. Must be a people person, honest, punctual, kind and have strong open communication. Starts as soon as Monday, April 29 and runs through October.
How to Apply
To apply email gobybikeshop@gmail.com with a resume and 1-2 paragraphs about why you would like to work at Go By Bike.
Happy Monday everyone. Jonathan has been away from Portland attending to a family medical emergency since Wednesday, so things might look a bit different around here until he gets back.
Don’t dis cotton: A breezy piece about the pleasure of wearing cotton when riding. (Outside)
E-bike infrastructure: Manhattan is poised to convert an iconic newsstand into an e-bike charging station, but first it has to jump through a few hoops (like the Landmark Preservation Commission). (Gothamist)
VanMoof is back!: Under new ownership, the company is relaunching with a new line of e-bikes. They recognize that they have a big job getting “angry customers back on track” who were left in the lurch after bankruptcy with no place to go for service or upgrades. The new owners, LaVoie, have revamped the company’s business model and seek to offer “better customer experience, after-sales servicing, and reliability.” (The Next Web)
Cotton mouth: Republican Senator of Arkansas Tom Cotton escalated the tension over pro-Palestinian demonstrators who block traffic by calling for inconvenienced drivers to “take matters into their own hands.” (NBC News)
Too much pavement: Turns out that San Diego shares one of Portland’s problems, a backlog of needed street repair, and no funds to pay for it. A group of advocates, led by the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, is asking whether the city just has too much pavement. Discussion of San Diego’s first-of-its-kind Pavement Management Plan. (KPBS)
Jamaican racing: Better known for success in Track and Field, Jamaica hopes to develop cycling as a sport too. Nice discussion of the differences between the two sports, and the different pathways to success. (Cycling News)
Expired tags: This article reveals the breadth of the Fake Tags crisis which has exploded in U.S. cities since the pandemic. Portland gets mentioned because “even motorists with legitimate plates have become routinely late in registering their cars.” (NY Times)
Bad drivers and death: A must-read analysis of road fatalities reveals that the reason the U.S. is an outlier is not just because of our affinity for obscenely large trucks and SUVs; but also because maybe our drivers are just more inconsiderate and recklessly distracted. (Financial Times)
Biking through grief: A moving and insightful piece about how a jerry-rigged e-bike helped the author grieve the death of a newborn daughter, and how biking has moved in and out of her life. (NY Times)
Vision Zero at City Hall: Taylor Griggs writes about how susceptible Portland’s houseless population is to traffic violence, and how some city officials seem to be shifting the conversation away from traffic safety, infrastructure and design and instead toward the fentanyl crisis. (Portland Mercury)
Cars are the problem: A thorough opinion piece about the problems of car-dependence from the editors of this popular science magazine. Leads with the Dutch Stop de Kindermoord, talks about the epidemic of U.S. traffic fatalities, street redesign, density. A good introduction for the person in your life who is new to transportation issues. (Scientific American)
Family columnist Shannon Johnson hit the ball out of the park last week with her post about wanting “legs of steel” despite the constraint of biking with five young ‘uns. She was thinking of switching from her e-bike back to a regular bike, and asked for your advice. And boy did you all respond. Seems like everybody wants to talk about bikes on this site, go figure.
For me, what gave her post some depth was that Shannon’s dilemma is universal, and comes down to how to accommodate change — that’s a problem that runs through life, including successfully aging in place. So the responses were intimate, sort of a peek into how other people live.
This is one of those threads that is worth reading from top to bottom, and Jonathan led it off. But don’t miss Taylor too. And for some reason, the comments which made my short list were all written by people whose name begins with an “M.” So definitely read all “M—” comments.
Here’s some good advice from ML:
I am a mom of 2 (3.5 yrs and 11 mos) and don’t think I would trade either of my e-bikes. For the daycare run and weekend excursions, the primary benefit is that I can always get up to speed and have more maneuverability in traffic.
I would definitely recommend test riding a bunch of things, maybe borrowing or renting for several days if possible. If you’re looking for the feeling of working harder or think you might be happy with (a) switching to a 2-wheeled long tail ebike that can carry your 2-3 youngest kids only, and/or (b) getting your own non-electric bike. On my Tern HSD I found it surprisingly comfortable to ride around on Low most of the time, whereas with a bulkier bike I always wanted to add more assist.
It is 100% worth figuring out childcare arrangements so you have time (even if it’s just twice a month) to ride separately from the kids on their own bikes, and you can control your own speed.
I think a 2-wheeled e-bike might be a good compromise of your family carrying needs + personal desire to feel zippier and pedal harder. I’m registered for a 50 mile mountain bike race this summer and plan to do a significant portion (maybe 1/3) of my training time on an e-bike carrying the kids. Between my kids I got decent fitness doing one 2-hour group ride a week on my road bike plus one 2-3 hour e-bike bike with the toddler (mostly on the low setting, but motor off if I was feeling extra zesty). The smaller 2-wheeled bikes feel a lot better with zero/no motor than trikes.
I also wanted to say I bet you already have legs of steel! Absolute power isn’t tied to weight or size, and I have gotten absolutely smoked in bike races by people much bigger, especially on flat terrain. If you want to lose weight specifically, I recently had good luck working with a nutritionist to do it in a sustainable, science-based way where I never felt hungry – it did involve tracking all my food in an app and aiming for specific macronutrient ratios.
There are lots of pieces to this puzzle but my favorite is that you and your family all enjoy riding together. Hope you get some good experiments in to figure out how your equipment evolves to support your goals!
Thank you ML. You can read ML’s comment, and all the others starting at the top with Jonathan’s.
Steven Taylor
Join our team! Cascade Bikes has just moved to Beaverton and we’re opening a new store in Lake Oswego soon. We are looking to hire salespersons at both locations. The perfect candidate would have bicycle retail experience, have a love for bicycles and the outdoors, desire to provide customers with an excellent experience and be eager to learn and offer feedback on how we can be a better bike shop.
Salespeople are entrusted to answer customer questions, restock the floor, and answer phone calls. Pay will be based on how qualified the candidate is.
How to Apply
Please send a resume to Steven Taylor at steven@cascadebikes.com. I will be in communication from there. Thanks!
Tweed Ride is Sunday! (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
Just look at the wonderful collection of options you have this weekend. Weather should be great too. Soak up as much of this glorious spring as you can and have fun out there.
Friday, April 19th
Portland Psychedelic Society Ride – 7:00 pm at Irving Park (NE) Bicycles are a trip. Join the Psychedelic Society to commemorate an important date in LSD history. Expect an 8-mile loop and a fun after-party on Alberta Street. More info here.
Saturday, April 20th
Farmers Market Ride – 10:00 am at SE Clinton and 41st (SE) It’s spring! A perfect time of year to get out and explore Portland’s largest farmers market on the South Park Blocks. Make sure there’s room in your bike bags for all the great food and treats you’ll find. This is a weekly ride. More info here.
Spring Flowers on the 70s – 10:00 am at Roseway Park Blocks (NE) Join the Portland Bureau of Transportation on a ride that will familiarize you with infrastructure and destinations along the 70s Neighborhood Greenway. More info here.
Woodstock and Creston Bike Bus Park Crawl – 10:00 am at Woodstock Park (SE) Parents and fans of bike buses will come together to mark Earth Day and build awareness for their preferred way to get kids to school. Expect a very short ride that’s perfect for little ones. It’s a play date on wheels. More info here.
The 420 Ride – 3:00 pm at Colonel Summers Park (SE) It’s 4/20, which apparently has some significance. IYKYK. More info here.
Sunday, April 21st
De Ronde PDX – 3610 NW St. Helens Rd (NW) This is it. The time has come to see if your training has worked! De Ronde is a Portland classic. Very tough, but lots of folks to share in the beautiful pain with you. More info here.
Fallout Ride – 11:00 am at Convention Center Plaza (NE) If you are fascinated by fallout culture or a fan of Wasteland Radio, this is the ride for you. Fallout-themed cosplay encouraged. Ride ends at a sports bar on SE 84th near the Springwater. More info here.
Tweed Ride – 3:00 pm at Brooklyn Park (SE) Get dressed in your finest outfit and enjoy a smashing scene of cycling civility. For a taste of what to expect, see BikePortland’s past coverage of this ride. More info here.
Sunday Sunset Soulride – 5:30 pm at Laurelhurst Park Pond (SE) “Join jazbot and frendz on a vybe-fueled vehicular voyage into the unknown.” Expect great tunes and vibes on this magical journey. More info here.
— Did I miss your event? Please let me know by filling out our contact form, or just email me at maus.jonathan@gmail.com.
Trying out non-electric bikes at Clever Cycles. (Shannon Johnson/BikePortland)
“I really want to improve my physical health and cycling stamina. Is the e-assist holding me back?”
I have recently been thinking about returning to an “acoustic” front-box cargo bike. Yes, I might give up my much-loved electric-assist bike.
First, let me praise e-bikes to the sky! I have loved my Bunch e-trike. Having the e-assist has been a game-changer. It is so much fun. My husband says riding with the e-assist feels like riding downhill both ways, even when pedaling uphill with four kids in the front. That’s saying something! The battery power helps eliminate so many excuses and hesitations. With an e-assist I easily doubled, and perhaps quadrupled, the amount of biking I was doing. The e-cargo bike functioned more easily as a car-replacement, as we were happily able to replace most of our nearby car trips with the bike, and it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice. I don’t have to toil and sweat, or worry about running out of steam. The joy of coasting down a hill is the joy of every e-bike trip. I highly recommend an e-bike to everyone, especially bike newbies. An e-bike can really blast through biking barriers and hesitations and turn non-bikers into enthusiasts. And for those with fewer children, or kids young enough to all fit in the e-bike, the battery power can really help you get to your destinations a lot faster. The newer fancy e-bike models really zoom.
But I have been feeling stuck in a biking rut.
That is, I want to move past feeling like a beginner cyclist to feeling like a full-fledged biker. I want to do longer, harder rides. I want to be able to join rides that currently intimidate me. I have dreams of bike-packing and bike-camping. But I don’t have the muscles or fitness for those kinds of rides. In fact, after three years of riding, the last two years primarily on an e-trike, I don’t feel like I have gotten stronger at all. And I don’t have time to sneak away from the kids to do hours of solo training rides on my own bike.
My initial reason for getting a cargo bike was to give me a healthy and enjoyable activity to do with my children, one that could include all of us. Cargo biking allowed me to ride alongside my oldest kid, an energetic boy who wanted to ride his bike, but was previously held back to the stroller pace of his younger siblings. With the cargo bike, my son was challenged, I was challenged, and the little ones were happy to be riding along. I also hoped the cargo bike would provide the means to exercise with my children, instead of seeking opportunities to work out away from the family (which is really hard to manage consistently!)
When I had the chance to buy my current e-trike, it was a great opportunity to try out the e-assist, and I loved it. I grew as a biker, partly because the e-assist gave me a huge confidence boost, making longer and more frequent riding so much easier.
Now however, I have two independent riders, ages 10 and 9. My 9-year-old daughter doesn’t love physical challenges and she is a slower, more tentative rider. She is prone to bursting into tears if my bike pace is too fast for her comfort level. Next, her six-year-old brother is starting to ride his own bike, which dramatically slows our pace. In which case, the speediness of my e-bike is no longer useful. I can’t use the speed power, because I need to ride at the pace of my slowest independent kid riders. Furthermore, the e-assist removes me from the experience my children are having. I don’t feel the hills, or the distances, but they feel them. Giving up the e-assist would give us all a shared experience of the challenges of the ride, as well as put us at a more similar shared pace. We would be riding and sweating together, facing the challenges together.
As to the fitness: I find that although I ride more with the e-assist, I am not gaining strength or fitness and I haven’t even lost the weight I gained with my last pregnancy (baby is now age 2). I really want to improve my physical health and cycling stamina. Is the e-assist holding me back?
Why not just turn off the e-assist?
Yes, I could ride with “zero assist,” but if you have ever tried an e-bike, you’ll understand that it’s really not fun to ride it without the assist turned on. You can choose “zero assist,” but then you have to ride with the heavier weight of the battery; the e-bike is heavier, so it feels like an added punishment to ride without using the e-assist. And in my case, it’s even worse with a trike. The trike model is fine with the battery power, but without it, it feels especially cumbersome–not exactly agile and aerodynamic. For unassisted rides, I want the feel and maneuverability of a 2-wheeled bicycle. And let’s be real: when the going gets tough, any e-bike provides a strong temptation to push the power button for help. You might have the self-discipline to keep the assist turned off, and to power through a long ride and a grueling hill…but I don’t think I am that tough. If I can push the button for help on the hill, I’m going to push the button for help on the hill.
Would I trade my e-bike for a regular cargo bike?
Here’s the deal: it would be really difficult for me to afford a new cargo bike right now. And since I have a perfectly functional and enjoyable e-trike, it seems rather opulent to purchase an additional front-box cargo bike, not to mention the squeeze on garage space. Also, I recognize that I use a cargo bike like a minivan, which means I keep some supplies permanently in whatever bike I am riding–diaper bag, first aid kit, sweater, sunscreen, etc. I’m not going to hop back and forth. I’m just going to ride my cargo bike, whichever it is. So for a variety of practical reasons, I should settle on one big family cargo bike. If I sell my e-trike, I should have enough money to cover the bulk of a new acoustic cargo bike. But will I regret it? Will it be the dumbest bike sale and purchase I have made so far? Will I bemoan the loss of my e-assist and then poutfully drive my minivan instead of huffing and puffing on an unassisted cargo bike? Can I even do the local rides without the e-assist? Or am I too out-of-shape?
But if I really want those legs of steel, there’s really only one way to get them. It involves actually pedaling with my own muscles!
And, I remind myself, that is what I am asking of my older children. They don’t have a battery option. They ride on their own two legs. Shouldn’t I have the guts to join them?
What do you think? I’m ready to hear your thoughts. Has anyone switched from an e-bike back to an unassisted model? Why? Were you glad? Or did you regret it?
3 out of 4 traffic deaths in Portland happen on “High Crash Network” streets like 122nd Ave. (Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)
“PBOT can design safe streets, but we cannot reach our safety goals by focusing on street design alone.”
– Millicent Williams, PBOT
It’s no longer possible for the City of Portland to dismiss the startling toll of traffic deaths as an aberration. At City Council today, leaders of the transportation bureau will face the incontrovertible facts as they ask Mayor Ted Wheeler and the other four commissioners to accept a Deadly Crash Report that includes 69 confirmed fatalities — the most recorded in at least three decades.
2023 was the fourth year in a what the Portland Bureau of Transportation referred to in a statement released today as an, “increase in egregious travel behaviors among people using the streets.” Those behaviors, PBOT will share in a presentation today, are partly to blame for a consistent spike in the annual death toll that has been over 50 Portlanders per year since 2020. Prior to that year, the last time we suffered more than 50 road deaths was 1996.
When Portland proudly passed its Vision Zero goal in 2015, there were 37 traffic fatalities. That means despite our city’s focused effort on this problem and millions invested in infrastructure, education, and programs, we’ve nearly doubled the amount of deaths with just two years left before our target date of eliminating them.
At City Council today, PBOT will focus on two core themes: how the behavior or road users is largely to blame for the uptick in deaths; and that they need more “cross bureau collaboration” to address it.
“PBOT can design safe streets, but we cannot reach our safety goals by focusing on street design alone,” PBOT Director Millicent Williams said in a statement. “Ending traffic deaths depends significantly on traffic enforcement and the efforts by government and community partners. This includes important work to provide social services, mental health treatment, drug and alcohol addiction services, housing services, investments in state highways and facilities. It also depends on every single person in our community making a commitment to traveling safely.”
PBOT’s statement included a list of “simple actions everyone can take now to help PBOT eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries in Portland,” that included things like driving slower, watching for other road users, leaving the car at home and taking a different mode, installing yard signs, and not driving while impaired by drugs or alcohol.
No one at council today can act like we don’t know what’s going on or how to solve it. The trends are clear: 74% of deaths happen on high-speed, car-centric arterial streets; 40 of the 69 traffic deaths involved speeding, and nearly one in five people killed in our streets last year were homeless.
PBOT will have a lot of research and evidence on their side when they lean into the “Safe System” approach, which has “shared responsibility between those who design, manage, operate, and use the system,” as its main tenet.
But buzzwords and admonitions for safer behavior are likely to fall on deaf ears of advocates and skeptical electeds. “Visions are not enough, we need swift action and concrete investments to save lives,” said a statement released this morning from The Street Trust Executive Director Sarah Iannarone.
Iannarone said her organization is “saddened and concerned but not surprised” at the record death toll. “For years, advocates have been sounding the alarm on the worsening epidemic of traffic violence in our community and proposing solutions which have been ignored by the City Council, so of course the problem continues to worsen.”
To combat the “crisis conditions”, The Street Trust is calling on the City of Portland to implement a citywide 20 mph speed limit. They are also urging PBOT to more strongly enforce its policy of daylighting intersections (pulling parked cars away from corners to increase visibility), do more automated enforcement with cameras, and work with state legislators to reduce the blood-alcohol content (BAC) limit from from .08 to .05.
So far, beyond calling for more meetings with other bureaus, PBOT hasn’t acknowledged any shortcomings in their existing approach — nor have they shared details about what they plan to do differently to save lives going forward.
Stay tuned for coverage of the council meeting. You can watch it on YouTube here.
Adah Crandall outside the home of Vice President Kamala Harris. (Photo: Allyson Woodard)
When we first introduced you to Adah Crandall, she was just 15 and already fighting a freeway in the backyard of her former middle school. A few months later, in the summer of 2021, she was leading youth climate activists in a weekly protest outside Oregon Department of Transportation headquarters in downtown Portland.
Now Crandall has a full-time job with Sunrise Movement and has thrust onto the national stage after being arrested early Monday morning in Los Angeles. Crandall and about 40 other young climate activists coordinated a protest action outside the home of Vice President Kamala Harris.
In a video of her arrest sent to BikePortland (below), Crandall is in handcuffs with several officers around her and can be heard saying, over a chorus of supportive singing from other activists, “My home in Oregon is on fire and Biden is continuing to expand fossil fuels at record rates!”
I caught up with Crandall after she was released from jail and asked her about the protest, her activism in general, what it was like to be in jail, and what her next move will be…
Jonathan Maus
Sunday night on your Instagram stories, you were in such a good mood. Can you tell me happened after that last story when you’re saying, ‘Hey, we’re we’re gonna have a sleepover with the Secret Service!’ Take me through what happened after that.
Adah Crandall
On Sunday morning we started rallying outside of Harris’s house in LA, near the Secret Service blockade. And then a group of us ended up staying and camping out overnight. That was chill, and they didn’t try to arrest us for that, even though it’s technically illegal to camp out on the sidewalk. But then the next morning we did a road blockade and actually prevented cars from coming or going through the Secret Service blockade down the street. And then six Sunrise people were arrested, including three from Portland.
Jonathan Maus
Was it a pretty straightforward arrest? How did it happen?
Adah Crandall
Yeah, it was a pretty standard protest arrest.
Jonathan Maus
What is the specific ask of Vice President Harris? What demand was so important that it brought you to her house?
Adah Crandall
Sunrise has been running a national campaign trying to get Biden to declare a climate emergency. We did an action at this campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware a few months ago where a bunch of people got arrested sitting in the office — so this is a continuation of that campaign. And Kamala Harris is kind of a secondary target, because she is one of the people with the most influence over Biden, and could use her power as vice president to get Biden to declare a climate emergency.
Why do you think Harris hasn’t been as much of a climate champion as you’ve expected?
Adah Crandall
I think that there is a general sense among politicians that they’re they’re scared to take this really bold action. And the Biden administration is in a difficult place of trying to win the election, but also, the numbers show he needs the youth vote if he’s gonna’ win. And in order to get the youth vote, he needs to declare a climate emergency and call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
You know, a lot of people ask, ‘Well are you going to vote for Biden when it comes down to it?’ And the truth is, I don’t know. His administration is really out-of-touch with what our generation is asking for. And he can’t expect our votes to be given just because we’ve campaigned for him in the past.
Jonathan Maus
Why do you think it’s so difficult for Biden to declare a climate emergency. Isn’t it just a proclamation?
Adah Crandall
Yeah the climate emergency declaration is largely symbolic, but there also are a lot of tangible things that could happen if we declared a national emergency on climate. It would unlock federal powers to do things like; create green union jobs, use the force of the federal government to prepare communities for climate disasters, and actually put an end to the Fossil Fuel Era, do things like prosecuting oil executives for their crimes against humanity. And so there are a lot of bold things that could be done if a climate emergency was declared that are the type of climate solutions we need to actually meet the scale of this crisis. But Biden is being a coward. And he’s bought out by the fossil fuel industry and he’s not fighting for everyday people and young people across the country — even though he needs our votes in November.
Jonathan Maus
Why are you combining climate change activism with the pro-Palestine, ceasefire in Gaza demand?
Adah Crandall
Because sunrise is an organization that is fighting for the liberation of all people and sees the climate crisis, as, not just an issue in the US; but a global issue. Fighting against a genocide is very much a part of our values. And we simply can’t have a president that is literally funding the bombing of children overseas while climate disasters are killing people here every day. So I think a big part of it is to highlight the dichotomy of that. And also, these are like the two biggest issues that are swaying Gen Z and the youth vote this election.
Jonathan Maus
You started your activism here in Portland, now you’re working on more national issues. What is your current role at Sunrise?
Adah Crandall
I started as an organizer in Portland. I graduated high school and joined like the national Green New Deal for Schools team. So most of my job is coaching students around the country to run local school district climate campaigns. And sunrise has about 120 chapters around the country. We’re doing a combination of local-issue based campaigns on things like transit and housing, and then also have hubs that are doing local organizing for this national climate emergency campaign targeting Biden.
Jonathan Maus
What’s next for you?
Adah Crandall
I’m working full-time on the Green New Deal for Schools campaign. I’m planning to move to Chicago for the summer to help run a summer camp with the Chicago Sunrise chapter for their campaign and support student organizing there. And nationally, with Sunrise’s climate emergency campaign, we have a big day of action coming up on Earth Day in partnership with Friday’s for Future where they’re going to be teach-ins planned all over the country targeting local congressional representatives and asking them to call on Biden to declare a climate emergency.
Jonathan Maus
Is there anything about the arrest that you want to say in terms of, what it means for you personally?
Adah Crandall
It’s obviously not an easy decision to put your body on the line like that. But to me, it is an action that meets the stakes of the crisis. And I think we’re going to need to be brave and be bold and do a lot of really scary things to win this fight. And, yeah, it was terrifying [to get arrested]; but it felt really powerful. And I feel really grateful for the organizers that organize with me. And being in jail and hearing my friends singing from cells down the hallway was kind of a beautiful moment, despite how miserable we all were.
Jonathan Maus
Thanks, Adah. Thanks for sharing. I really appreciate it.
