Oregon Manifest

Last weekend, I was able to catch the final festivities of Oregon Manifest, a celebration of the bike culture and innovation in Portland, Oregon. Part of the month-long celebration was a design challenge and an exhibition of the winning frame designs. The first place prize went to Pereira Cycles for this design, now on sale.

A gallery in the Pearl District was featuring the exhibition Dreams on Wheels: Danish Cycling Culture for Urban Sustainability, which will make its way to cities around the world including London, Barcelona, and Brussels in 2010. The exhibition looks at Danish efforts to cultivate a culture of cycling through sociological research, urban design and planning, public policy, and educational programs.

A few Danish words for ‘bicycle’:
Stålhest (steel horse)
Skærveknuser (bone crusher)
Havelåge (garden gate)

Untrammelled Womanhood

“Let me tell you what I think of bicycling. I think it has done more to emancipate women than anything else in the world. It gives women a feeling of freedom and self-reliance. I stand and rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel…the picture of free, untrammelled womanhood.”

— Susan B. Anthony, American Suffragist, 1886

Ik houdt van fietsen

Riding around this morning, I spotted an ‘Amsterdam houdt van fietsan’ (Amsterdam loves bikes) poster. Not that Amsterdammers need a campaign to convince them. As autumn begins, I hope this is the year I fulfill my dream: to catch a falling leaf while riding my bike. I’ll stay busy with that until the film Riding Bikes with the Dutch by Michael Wolfgang Bauch comes out.