As you my fine followers may have surmised from my previous post, I haven’t been feeling at my most peak athletic condition lately. Which is terrible, considering this month is the holiest of all Portland cycling months; being Pedalpalooza and all.

So, on Tuesday, June 23 when I got home a little early from work after not feeling super great I lubed up with my grand variety of salves and ointments, reveled in the fact that it was 80 degrees and thought that maybe a little aerobic exercise would do me good, despite my constant dull aches and cricks. I skimmed the calendar and checked out what rides would be coming up in the next couple of hours.

That, my friend is the magic of Pedalpalooza.

SAVE THE HUMANS: TRAFFIC SAFETY PROTEST: Taking the Lane, Not Prisoners. This is a ride to protest increasingly unsafe conditions on PDX streets, including those designated as bike routes & neighborhood greenways. The route will include at least one major arterial and one greenway. Ride pace will be slow-moderate, with some stops to “calm” car traffic. We will also be doing a crosswalk enforcement for pedestrian safety at N. Williams and Ivy. While our subject is serious, the ride will be fun (music!). We will meet at Oregon Park to make signs/banners first. BYO assertiveness and sign/banner-making ingredients. Route will be cargo-bike friendly (not too hilly). Approximately 5-7 miles, not a loop. Optional #bikingtobeers at Velocult after the ride.

While I have mentioned in many previous posts before, I am not an activist. (I very clearly identify as an advocate.) I found this ride conveniently located both with the start location, time and the end location. The milage seemed doable, seemed family-friendly. . . all in all my assessment of the situation seemed very positive and I decided to go for it.

Worst case scenario, I figured if I got there and it wasn’t my scene or if I got too sore, I could just peel off at some point.

It ended up being so awesome! There were about two dozen people at the start location making signs – a great combo of several good friends I’ve known for years and lots of new people to chat with. We made signs about sharing the road to tape onto our bikes. As I mentioned, I’m not super into that kind of thing, but the fact that we were planning a nice easy-paced slow-roll with bakfiets and children (sorry – don’t intend to use kids as an excuse. Just saying that between my disabled butt, families, people on beach cruisers, a giant sound system on a Bullit, and very large trailers, people of all skill levels – we weren’t winning any races.) Also to paint the picture that we weren’t an angry mob with torches breaking car windows and cutting through traffic.

I wouldn’t even call it a protest. I would call it a ‘demonstration‘ or ‘parade‘ – maybe ‘(very slow) rally’ or ‘march’ but it’s weird to use the word march when it’s a ride. . .

So what WERE we protesting? People dying due to reckless and dangerous driving behavior included distracted driving (IE: texting and using cellphones, eating/drinking, drugs/alcohol etc), making cars and parking a priority over people (IE: pedestrian and cyclist thoroughfares, etc) – and you know, basic safety concerns about, ummm. . . not dying.

I was not the ride leader, but this is my take-away from this from doing this kind of work in the past, so I could be way off – but I feel confident that it’s that the message is that simple.

The majority of the ride was awesome! We cruised a few blocks up Sandy Blvd with no problems (for those of you that aren’t from Portland, enjoy this apropos youtube video) and even got some waves from people on patios sitting at restaurants. We went through neighborhoods and people waved at us from their cars or front porches. We went across some pretty hefty intersections without any issues at all. In fact, it was as smooth as Earth Balance vegan buttery spread for about 98% of the ride.

The one glitch we had was on Williams Ave. Fuckin’ Williams Ave. I am not going to go into all the drama that Williams has had over the last 5+ years as they’ve attempted to “improve” and redevelop. It is a major bike boulevard and commute route for cyclists, drivers and for some reason buses as well. The area itself has been hugely contentious in general for over 50 years due to major gentrification, redlining, etc. etc. . . but that’s not what we’re talking about now.

I am writing about the incident that occurred at approximately 7pm on Tuesday, June 23, 2015 by the driver of the #4 Trimet bus 3106. Technically if I were a reporter, I would have to use the word “allegedly” to avoid unintended libel; but guess what? I am not a reporter – and I was there watching that irresponsible woman penning her resignation letter on her steering wheel as she was blaring her horn through the crosswalk “WALK” light as she made her left-hand turn through forward heading cyclist traffic (damn those Williams Ave left-hand bike lanes.) So it’s no alleged incident.

Bitch knew exactly what she was doing.

Not only that, but she decided to plow through us on a very well known safety corridor issue on Williams. (to the left) that was tried to fix, but is just getting worse now that there is a new grocery store on that corner and an apartment complex going in right across the street so more pedestrian usage. Why in the world would you have a bus turn down that narrow street, making a left-hand turn across a bike lane?

So what happened? Glad you asked. We headed for Williams and spent no more than 60 seconds tops (though closer 45 seconds based on my photography time stamps. That’s right, yo. I took photos from start to finish.) doing what is called “Sidewalk Enforcement” on N Williams and NE Ivy right in front of New Seasons grocery store. This is an area where there is a marked crosswalk, but everyone is a major jerk. And I’m not just talking about drivers. Cyclists in the bike lane were also being major asshats and cutting through us walking back and forth. You know what? When someone is crossing the road. You stop. If you are traffic and someone is crossing the road, you stop. It doesn’t matter if your vehicle is motorized or if you are driving a human-powered convenience. Otherwise you are a twat. (I have several photos of the cyclists cutting off our pedestrians. I feel like making a meme of shame and posting them at local bike shops. Asshats.)

Anyway, after several of the group performed their enforcement (not everyone participated. There were too many of us, and as I said, they crossed the road and then came back. The only reason it may have seemed like five minutes to some drivers is because of just that. . . “because bicyclists making a scene”)

After that, we all clustered together in the bike lane on the left and sidewalk next to the parking lot to continue onward north on N Williams. We had the light on NE Fremont so we were good to begin accelerating and continue on our forward momentum.

Seemingly out of nowhere; and I’m not just saying that for dramatic effect – honestly, I have no idea where the Trimet bus came from – they must have been pretty far back in traffic or have turned from somewhere because it wasn’t like they were first in the queue – but they were suddenly there next to our group.

And she had a superiority complex.

Wielding her 27,000 lb weapon she cut our group on twain where you can see the break in the bike lane, at full speed instead of slowly to let forward traffic pass, as is my understanding of how traffic works. In the process, the driver, forced slower, more cautious riders into the curb and back such as myself and a fellow rider who was hauling a bakfiets with two children in the box in front of me. (Her individual experience may vary – I don’t want to project that she was being cautious just because I was; assume or insinuate just because she has kids. We just happened to be in the same place at the same time, thankfully not crushed by a lunatic blaring her horn.)

Then, through the crosswalk signal and the green light, she failed to yield and while blaring her horn made that left-hand turn which is when I lost sight of the majority of my group, though feared the worse because all I knew was that they were in front and to the right of the bus. I hustled as fast as I could to the corner, where half of us clustered on the sidewalk like lost chickens, several more were clinging to the side of the road a little further up the street, as if fearing drift away in a river current, and that’s when I learned that several others had chased down the driver to ensure that a a professional driver wasn’t allowed to get away with that bullshit.

We all took a moment to calm down from the experience. There were a few witnesses on the street corner that came forward to give their information to us and introduce themselves. We met up with the second half of our group and eventually the sprinters returned who informed us that when they did catch up with the bus, initially the driver wouldn’t talk with them. Instead, some passengers came out and tried to start shit.

Draaaahhmmma.

Finally the driver called dispatch and was all, “Hey, I just plowed through a bunch of pedestrians and cyclists. What am I supposed to do?” [paraphrased, but not by much] no remorse.

Classy.

After that, we headed off goddamned Williams Ave. This is the exact reason why I don’t ride on bike boulevards. Another rider and I had a lovely conversation with three or four dudes just off of MLK that stopped us asked what his “Passes not Crashes” sign meant. They were totally into the idea of safe streets for everyone. That was a great bounce-back conversation after what had happened just 10 minutes earlier.

We hung out at Wilshire Park for a bit to chill, regroup, get out of traffic and all that before heading on to Velocult.

So if you’re a driver intending to run down a group of cyclists, can you just try not to do it when they’re obviously covered in signs touting “Safe Routes’  – it just makes you look extra douchey.

Other than that, the ride was fantastic – I was definitely sore that night and the next day, but that’s my own personal issues and not because it was necessarily difficult. It was what I would generally consider an easy-paced, family-friendly route. Rider leader was great, friendly – and it was a good time to be had for all. Except for that one intersection.

BikePortland also wrote about the incident.