Skip to main content

Portland Bridge Clusterf@#k

Well, we started off with good intentions. We rode down to the Bridge Pedal this morning, and it looked more like the Bridge March.

The line of people walking their bikes extended all the way over the Ross Island bridge and back through the industrial area all the way to OMSI. Packed in, curb to curb.

We turned around and went home. No way I was going to fight that all day.

It is time for the BTA to limit entrants to the Bridge Pedal to 10,000, and possibly break it up into two weekends. One weekend for the 8 and 10 bridge rides, and one weekend for the 6 bridge ride. Each weekend limited to 10,000 riders.

As it currently is, there is just no way that I am going to do this again. And we have ridden in the bridge pedal every year since 2001. But the last 3 years it has been seriously mismanaged and poorly planned.

Anyway, we put our bikes on the bike rack of our Jeep, and went and rode around the Columbia River in Vancouver. No risk of running into too many bicycles in Vancouver. (I am only half joking).

I guess having more than 20,000 bicycle riders trying to participate in an event where we shut down the freeways to cars, and open them to bikes is a good problem to have. Lets just see if we can make it flow a little more smoothly.

Next year, I think our family will volunteer instead of ride in the ride itself. I think some of the people standing on the corners were moving faster than the crowd at points.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Critical Ass?
7:30 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stop renaming Portland streets.

Not only have they chosen one of the best Blogger themes, but the folks at cafe unknown have also put together a wonderful piece laying out much more eloquently than I would - why we should not be renaming Portland's streets , and how there are better more appropriate options. Please Please stop renaming Portland's streets. Portland has history too. And changing the names of the streets to honor those who were not really even part of Portland's history does a disservice to all of those who have made Portland their home in the last 150 some odd years. If you want to name new streets - fine. But keep the old ones. Please.
5 comments
Read more

Every bit of plastic ever made still exists.

If you have ever crate trained a pet dog, you will have found that dogs will do everything within their power to not shit where they sleep. A dog will hold it until their face turns blue. Unless of course they are already blue, then they will just get a darker shade. And if you (and the dog) have had the misfortune of getting stuck a little to long, and the dog HAS had to go in their crate, the minute the poor canine makes eye contact with you - you know it. The dog will feel as though they have betrayed the universe by pooping in the crate. Well, humans are assholes. We could learn a thing or two from our dogs. We only have one earth. Only one. No "fall back" or "plan B" exists despite what you may see in the Star Trek movies or read in the Cristopher Stasheff or Orson Scott Card novels. I imagine that some day some poor wasted species - a distant relative to the Human - who has had to survive underground or in bubbles without being able to breathe ...
3 comments
Read more

Not safer, just stupider.

The first definition of stupider is "Slow to learn or understand; obtuse." I think that there would be good cause to add to it "See American". Today, while passing through the security checkpoint at Portland International (PDX) I witnessed the TSA personnel sending people to the back of the line for not taking off their flip-flops. They shouted endlessly about removing liquids, regardless of size. And they generally treat every one of us like we were infants incapable of understanding simple instructions. But perhaps they might be on to something.
3 comments
Read more