Took the scenic route along Marine Drive, thanks to a suggestion from a friend. (Photos: Erin Bailie/BikePortland)
This is the second post in my “New to Portland” column. In my first post, I shared my thoughts as a visitor to town. Now that I’m here and settling in, I’m excited to share a few tales from my first few weeks as a Portlander.
I moved to Portland at the end of January, and I would be remiss not to acknowledge that I’m lucky to have completely dodged the ice storm. It’s clear the storm has been a hardship on the city, and that residents, businesses, and infrastructure are recovering from its impacts. On my first day in town, I encountered bike lanes filled with gravel and thought about complaining about the inconvenience; but when street sweepers quickly cleaned the bike lanes in my neighborhood, I realized the disruption was only temporary.
In the few weeks I’ve been in Portland, I’ve prioritized bicycling as my form of transit as much as I can. The unseasonably warm and dry weather has made it easy to make this choice. My destinations have included the mundane — the gym, my office, the grocery store — as well as more unique trips like IKEA, several furniture stores, and Bike Happy Hour. When I can remember, I track my riding with a tool called wandrer.earth which lets me know if I’ve ridden any new-to-me stretches of road. According to Wandrer, I’ve ridden 54 new miles in the first week!
Thank you to the reader who suggested the Portland Bike Map! I’ve kept a copy in my handlebar bag, and it’s been helpful for planning rides.
Naito Parkway was filled with gravel. I’m grateful for wider tires, but from 2004 until 2019 I rode a bike with 25mm tires and would have been afraid to ride this.
I love dedicated bike boxes in intersections, and the small blue lights which let me know my presence has been detected.
I’ve made a goal to navigate using neighborhood greenway signs instead of programming a route into my GPS computer, and for the most part, it’s worked well. But, there have been a few mishaps. Occasionally I “lose” a neighborhood greenway. The greenway will zig-zag, and I’ll fail to see the signage, finding myself on a street that doesn’t have protected crossings. I usually realize this when I try to cross Cesar Chavez or Sandy Blvd and don’t have a protected crossing. My most annoying moment of being lost took place on Lloyd Blvd near the Steel Bridge. For the life of me, I couldn’t find the entrance to the Eastbank Esplanade from NE Lloyd Blvd, and rode back and forth along the sidewalk until I spotted a bicyclist using the entrance. I’m not sure I would have found it otherwise!
The only time I departed from the neighborhood greenway strategy was when I went to IKEA. (No, I didn’t plan to carry my furniture home on my gravel bike — my husband met me there after work, and we drove home together with our purchases and my bike.) I planned a route to IKEA via NE Cully Blvd and Lombard, but when I shared my plan with some friends, they suggested I take the “scenic route” via 33rd and Marine Drive instead. I’m so glad that my friends intervened. Not only was my ride along the river relaxing, but after driving home on Lombard, I now realize it would have been a stressful ride during rush hour.
I’m still having some culture shock, specifically related to how drivers interact with me as a rider. Every city has its own unwritten traffic rules. In Pittsburgh, drivers making a left-hand turn do the “Pittsburgh Left” and turn through the intersection before oncoming traffic or pedestrians have a chance to get in the way. I’ve discovered Portland’s quirky traffic habit: the “Portland Wait.” A Portland Wait is what happens when drivers stop for cyclists even when the driver has right of way.
[ Being “nice” is dangerous and could make you at fault in a collision ]
I need to be careful writing this, because it does feel great to be seen and yielded to. But it’s not great when one driver is stopped and anxiously waiting for me to roll forward, but other drivers in the intersection continue to follow right-of-way rules. Sometimes drivers will even wave me on, when I can see there’s oncoming traffic that has not stopped for me. If I were to follow their guidance, I would surely be hit! The worst instance of this happened while crossing MLK near the Morrison Street Bridge. I waited what felt like ages (it was probably a minute or two) while one lane of traffic stopped to allow me to cross while other lanes of traffic continued past. Eventually the driver got fed up, kept driving, and a break in traffic allowed for a safe crossing.
I’m curious; how do BikePortland readers handle these situations?
It’s been a wild week with lots of chores and errands, and I’ve been longing to join rides from the Shift calendar. Now that the boxes are unpacked and the furniture assembled, my evenings and weekends are free for more social rides. I can’t wait to join a few, and get to know other riders in town.
