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:
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:
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.
