Screenshot of BikePortland Forums front page.

We’ve got forums!

I’ve been holding back on this announcement because I didn’t want to waste your time if they didn’t pan out. But after launching quietly at the end of March, today we’ve passed the 100-user mark on the new BikePortland Forums and that gives me the confidence to officially announce them here on the Front Page.

BikePortland has always been about fostering good conversations, sharing information, and inspiring people to go out and use it. It’s why we invest so much in our comment section and maintain daily discussions here on the blog as well as on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (not to mention old-fashioned emails and all those private messages).

So why add forums into that mix? Let me count the ways…[Read more…]

Screenshot. Or just scroll down to see it and use it IRL.

Hi everyone.

A quick break from our regularly scheduled programming to share some housekeeping news: We’ve just made a major upgrade to our commenting system.

You know how much we appreciate and value your voices, so this is super important upgrade for us.

Our current system needed to go. After 474,185 comments in the past 15 years it was dated, buggy (reply function was always breaking), and it didn’t have any formatting or editing features. We’ve made a few minor upgrades in the past, but this is the largest by far: A wholesale fresh start! We have heard your cries for help and hopefully this new system answers them. [Read more…]

Things were so innocent back then! And sorry, but that sweet little girl is a junior in high school now.

Can you believe this site started with an innocent, 100-word post about biking to an ice cream shop with my wife and daughter 15 years ago? I can’t.

On April 8th, 2005 I hit “Publish” and had no idea I would spend nearly every day of my life for the next 15 years thinking and writing about biking and other transportation issues in Portland.

I had only lived in Portland for about a year or so before starting the site. But that was enough time to understand that this place was different. That it mattered. And that these things called blogs would be the perfect place for a “citizen journalist” (which is what people used to call me) to capture it all. From those first days my goal was to create a central place where our community could gather, learn and be inspired, then go out and do more amazing things for me to document. It was — and is! — the best kind of positive feedback loop I could ever imagine. [Read more…]

Yours truly rolling in the Willamette Valley last week en route to a Cycle Oregon event.
(Photo: Lars Larson)

You guys did it again.

For the second year in a row, your votes helped earn BikePortland the title of “Best Local Blog” in the Willamette Week Best of Portland Reader’s Poll.
[Read more…]

Can you believe we’ve survived for 10 years?

Michael and I recording our subscription
promo video a few nights ago.
(Photo by Guthrie Straw)

A full decade of your comments, crazy stories, controversies, tragedies, triumphs, rides, meetings… It has been one hell of a journey.

As of this morning we’ve published 11,281 Front Page stories and 307,136 comments. That’s a lot of memories!

We have so much to celebrate. Thanks in large part to your recent outpouring of support (we’re up to $16,000 and counting!), I am relieved and excited to say that BikePortland has never been stronger.

To look back at our amazing decade and start the next decade off on the right foot, please help us celebrate.

Roll on over to Velo Cult (1969 NE 42nd) on October 2nd for our 10th birthday bash.

We’ll have a cake, food, wonderful drinks of all kinds, live music, a prize raffle, a speech or two, and a whole lot more. Bring your best and worst BikePortland memories. In the spirit of how we do things around here, everyone will be welcome to step up to the mic and share their thoughts and perspectives about our little blog.

Name tags will be provided if you want to share your username in hopes of meeting your dearly beloved comment-friends.

Oh, and what’s this I hear about a new subscription program? Show up, learn all about it, and then sign-up to help us keep BikePortland strong for another 10 years.

You are all such a huge part of what we do that I couldn’t imagine marking this milestone without you.

BikePortland’s 10th Birthday Party
October 2nd at 6:00 pm
Velo Cult Bike Shop and Tavern (1969 NE 42nd)
Families encouraged! It’s an all-ages venue
Facebook event

Hope to see you on the 2nd!

Results from our recent reader survey: 49% say comments
are their “least favorite” part of the site.

I want to share a few things regarding comments here on BikePortland.

Regular readers know that my efforts to foster quality, productive, and respectful comments has been (and will continue to be) a work in progress. I place an extremely high value on comments, giving them equal weight and consideration as the words I publish in stories. What this means is that I willingly spend a lot of time reading them, responding to them and editing and/or deleting them when necessary.
[Read more…]

Thought I’d take a minute to remember five years ago today, when I wrote my first blog post about biking in Portland.

Back on April 8th, 2005, I emailed some text to an editor at OregonLive.com (the website for The Oregonian newspaper) and they published what became the first post on their “Bike Fun” blog. Just over three months later, I left OregonLive.com and started posting on BikePortland.org.

To say a lot has happened since then is an understatement. I could very easily get all emotional and start reflecting on a lot of stuff, but I’ll resist that temptation for the time being. Suffice it to say this has been an amazing journey — and I’m nowhere near the end yet![Read more…]