After a week of sub-freezing temperatures and two days of steady downpour (not that that stopped us from biking, mind you;), it stopped raining this afternoon long enough to take a fairly lovely joyride. And, like every time I’m out, I found new things that make me love Portland all over again.
It’s already pretty amazing that we have such a vast network of signed, marked, and useful bike boulevards (if you follow the link, there’s a great video about how bike boulevards here work). It’s also pretty awesome that once you’re on a bike boulevard, bike-specific signs will let you know how to get to a variety of different places–so even if you’re not sure exactly how to get somewhere, once you find a bike boulevard you can usually follow it wherever you need to go. Using the best, lowest-traffic neighborhood streets, even.
But as if that’s not awesome enough, there’s a whole genre of rogue street art that accompanies these bike boulevards. Take this, for example, from the Salmon Street bike boulevard that takes you from Mt Tabor in SE to downtown:
See the little blue guy hanging out on top of the sharrow? I’m not sure what motivated someone to put him there, but it adds just a bit of artistry, of interest to the street–and even better, it feels sort of like an inside joke for bikes, since you’re unlikely to see it from a car.
Sometimes, rogue bike art adds an extra incentive to keep pedaling. Take the top of this sharrow along the same Salmon St boulevard:
I’m not sure where exactly that beer is, but if the standard bike boulevard signs are any indication, as long as I keep pedaling, I’m certain to find out!:)