{"id":117996223,"date":"2008-09-27T16:43:43","date_gmt":"2008-09-27T16:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=117996223"},"modified":"2008-09-27T16:43:43","modified_gmt":"2008-09-27T16:43:43","slug":"reporter-tries-bike-commuting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=117996223","title":{"rendered":"Reporter tries bike commuting"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For years, I was scared to bike to work. In Portland, of all places.<br \/>\nI was afraid I&#8217;d get flattened, out there on my rinky-dink bike amid the beefy Yukons and boxy Westfalia vans that roam the region. These are not unusual fears. Even in the nation&#8217;s bike-happiest city, fewer than five percent of Portland workers pedal to the office, according to U.S. Census estimates. Some of the rest might consider the option if persuaded they&#8217;d get home in one piece.<br \/>\nI wasn&#8217;t persuaded. But I tried it anyway. Three months later, I&#8217;m alive to report: The fear is gone.<br \/>\nPretty much. &#8230;<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nYet the transition from full-time motorist to part-time cyclist isn&#8217;t quite the seamless shift to fitness, gas savings and Earth-friendliness that some of Portland&#8217;s bike boosters would have us think. To board a bike at 6:20 a.m., pre-coffee, and point oneself downtown is not comparable to a jog around the neighborhood, or switching from paper coffee cups to a reusable mug.<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s way more fun.  &#8230;<br \/>\n[And some interesting comments about before and after bike commuting views.]<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.oregonlive.com\/pdxgreen\/2008\/09\/bike_commute_fear_gone.html\">https:\/\/blog.oregonlive.com\/pdxgreen\/2008\/09\/bike_commute_fear_gone.html<\/a><br \/>\nAnd the video: <a href=\"https:\/\/videos.oregonlive.com\/oregonian\/2008\/09\/bike_commute.html\">https:\/\/videos.oregonlive.com\/oregonian\/2008\/09\/bike_commute.html<\/a><br \/>\noldId.2008092716434332<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For years, I was scared to bike to work. In Portland, of all places. I was afraid I&#8217;d get flattened, out there on my rinky-dink bike amid the beefy Yukons and boxy Westfalia vans that roam the region. These are not unusual fears. Even in the nation&#8217;s bike-happiest city, fewer than five percent of Portland &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/?p=117996223\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Reporter tries bike commuting&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"1","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-117996223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biking-elsewhere"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117996223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=117996223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117996223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=117996223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=117996223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.baltimorespokes.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=117996223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}