Stuck in a car to benefit trails

Last night, I headed out for a meeting with the Boring Trails Committee (no jokes, please – it was an interesting meeting!). They have all sorts of exciting ideas about how to extend the Springwater Corridor, build a bike-friendly trailhead park, and make their town a great destination for cyclists.

When possible, I like to show up at meetings on a bike, to walk (ride?) my talk, and to show folks who might not know many cyclists that we’re normal folks, just like them. That just wasn’t possible on a dark night for a 7 PM meeting, so I took a Flexcar.

Driving to Boring from downtown Portland at 6 PM was … not much fun. It took us well over an hour to get there. In case you, like me, haven’t commuted by car for years, let me remind both of us that what I experienced last night is no way to live. As I sat there in traffic, fuming with frustration, I was reminded of what our own Brita always says: “Remember to smile at the motorists; you’re having more fun than they are!”

In any case, the meeting was worth the stress of getting there, though I did have to warn them that I couldn’t make it out for weekly meetings. I think the advocates I spoke with are well on their way to success, and they asked me if they thought cyclists would be interested if they hosted a summer ride out to Boring to help people get excited about their trail concept. One idea they had was to a do a ride over the 4th of July weekend, with a sleepover at the school, a barbecue, and fireworks (as one woman said, they all know the fire chief…). What do you think? I said I thought it was a great idea. If you’d like to get involved, let me know and I would love to put you in touch with the group.

I did have one ironic moment: as I was sitting in downtown near-gridlock, I turned on the radio to OPB. What did I hear? The pledge drive announcer talking about a bike that the Bike Gallery had donated to them! Believe me, friends, I wished I could get on that bike right then and there.