For those of us in Portland Oregon that boasts more bike painted paths on the streets than any other city in America for the past decades, we who have been avidly bicycling to work since the late 1960’s, have to wonder, did the rest of the nation just discover the bicycle for the first time? Really? We Oregonian’s think it is great that the rest of you just woke up from a long bad dream but why is it that something so natural, so healthful, energy saving and air pollution reducing is just occurring to the rest of the nation and why just now? What accounts for this- possibly that many of you got out of shape from too much bad diet, sitting at an office desk combined with sitting too long at TV for the remainder of ones leisure hours? As kids at age 12 ~ 14, we rode our personally purchased with our own earned berry picking money, new ten-speed touring bikes in 1967 across the city of Portland just to take old town tours, and then photograph the cities old and new architecture. Students in our school did not believe that we as 12 year olds rode 20 ~ 40 mile round trip bike tours in half a days time across our city. Our sixth grade teacher even defended us and told thje class that she saw us in downtown Portland one day over ten miles from our homes, the same neighborhood that she resided in. It’s rather humorous to see news articles all over the web lately as if adults just figured out that riding a bike is now cool again. And enough to make poorly constructed new videos about it. Herein lies the next venture- how these people who ride their first bike as an adult will now also learn how to properly make an effective documentation newsreel about it. Next stop, Hollywood film fame on bicycles! Ladies and gentlemen, start your peddling and movie cameras!? !~; . . . /~; . . . - M2012
Mark Seibold