BikePortland Podcast

In this episode, we hear from Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty. Hardesty was elected in 2018 and became the first Black woman to ever sit on Portland's five-member city council. In January of this year Mayor Ted Wheeler put her in charge of the transportation bureau. It was a surprising choice, given that Hardesty had never expressed an interest in the bureau and up until that time was m...

In this episode, we hear the story of Portlander Felipe Nystrom. Please be advised of this content warning : This episode includes mentions of physical and sexual abuse, suicide, and descriptions of excessive drug and alcohol use. We first first heard about Felipe's story in fall of 2019 and he and our host, BikePortland founder and editor Jonathan Maus, got together for an interview in July of th...

For this short and sweet episode, host Jonathan Maus (founder and editor of BikePortland) tried something new: On-the-bike interviews with random riders. He grabbed his recorder and a mic, hopped on his trusty Tern HSD e-bike and rode up alongside complete strangers to ask one basic question: What about biking in Portland are you grateful for?  Almost every person stopped and smiled and...

For this episode, host Jonathan Maus (BikePortland Founder and Editor) sat down with Yamhill County Commissioner and candidate for Oregon Governor, Casey Kulla. We first met commissioner Kulla in December 2020 when he was embroiled in a debate about the Yamhelas Westsider Trail, a rail-trail project he pushed for strongly, only to see it stopped in February of this year when he found himself on th...

In this episode, I'll share conversations I had this week with two Portland bike shop owners. The first is Brad Parker from Metropolis Cycles on North Williams Avenue and the second is Cassie Hidalgo, the owner of Gladys Bikes on NE Alberta. As we move further away from the peak of the pandemic, I wanted to circle back with shop owners who've been at the front lines of a tumultuous 20 months. Firs...

In this episode, our host (BikePortland Editor and Publisher Jonathan Maus) talks with Vivian Satterfield, one of Portland's busiest advocates whose work happens mostly behind the scenes as a member of many of the key committees, coalitions and task forces that shape local and regional transportation policies. Vivian is director of strategic partnerships at Verde NW, a nonprofit based in northeast...

In this episode, BikePortland editor and publisher Jonathan Maus talks with Matt Glazewski about the politics of climate change in Portland. Matt is a climate expert with 15 years of government experience who's worked on disaster resiliency projects at the local, regional and federal levels. He's worked with the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) and the National Weather Service wh...

In this episode I spoke to Ryan Packer, a journalist based in Seattle who covers transportation issues for The Urbanist. Their name might sound familiar, because Ryan is also BikePortland's special correspondent on the Interstate Bridge Replacement Project, or what we often refer to around here as Columbia River Crossing 2.0. Ryan recently visited Portland, so I thought it'd be fun to sit down, ta...

In this episode host Jonathan Maus (BikePortland's editor and publisher) talks to north Portland resident and Families for Safe Streets volunteer Michelle DuBarry. Michelle and her family have endured the ultimate sacrifice in the War Against Cars. In 2010, Michelle's husband Eric and her son Seamus were walking across the intersection of North Interstate and North Lombard when a man driving a car...

In this episode, BikePortland's Maritza Arango takes over the mic for a conversation with Marley Blonsky and Kailey Kornhauser. Marley and Kailey are building a platform around All Bodies on Bikes, which is not only the name of their Shimano-sponsored documentary film that's been viewed over 230,000 times on YouTube, it's also the name of the nationwide nonprofit devoted to making the cycling worl...

BikePortland Editor & Publisher Jonathan Maus attended the Pedalpalooza Ride Leader and Volunteer Appreciation party and asked seven ride leaders — Maria Schur, Madi Carlson, Shawne Martinez, Sumi Malik, Michael Mann, Eric Martinez, and Armando Luna — for their fondest memories. For the uninitiated, Pedalpalooza is an annual festival of free bike rides that's been held in Portland since 2004....

This week we talk about the all-powerful car lobby, from someone who's on the front lines of the all powerful bike lobby. Tom Flood (@TomFlood1 on Twitter) used to work in the advertising industry and helped car companies sell their products. Then he started biking with his kids and a light bulb went off. These days he entertains a massive online audience with ads of his own — short videos that fo...

In this episode we take stock of the Portland Bike Plan for 2030. Haven't heard of it? Well, that's not your fault. While it took a huge multi-year effort from hundreds of advocates, dozens of city staff, and several key elected officials to create it and get it adopted at City Council back in 2010, it hasn't lived up to its promise.  Instead of making Portland a  quote, "Healthy Communi...

Bike Play is one of the most amazing events of Pedalpalooza. It's been a part of the summer bike festival every year since 2009 and has become a favorite to many. It's open-air theater, a group bike ride, and public space activism all wrapped up into one very entertaining, community-building event.  BikePortland's Maritza Arango sat down with three members of the cast; Kristopher Mahoney-Watson, N...

In this episode we hear from Oregon State Representative Khanh Pham. Pham was just elected to office back in November and represents House District 46 which stretches from Interstate 84 to Mt. Scott and from about Laurelhurst Park to just east of I-205. She's garnered several headlines on BikePortland recently for her leadership in calling on the state of Oregon to invest more in 82nd Avenue . Pha...

This episode is a conversation with Prescott Elementary School Principal Nichole Watson. I first met Nichole in June 2020, during the height of the racial justice protests and just a few months into the Covid outbreak. I was on the Black Girls Do Bike Ride and Nichole was one of the co-organizers of the event. When I first met Nichole at that ride we had  a great chat and I loved what she sai...

BikePortland's Jonathan Maus attended a recent protest in front of ODOT headquarters. In this episode he interviews several of the participants, one of whom is a 15-year-old activist and another is a candidate for Oregon governor.  Don't miss the full report and images from the event on BikePortland .

In just a year since moving to Portland, Hami Ramani ( @HamiRamani on Twitter ) has become a formidable voice on the local bike scene. He leads the weekly PSU Farmers Market Ride and is a constant presence online (and off) as an agitator for better bikeways. He's also active with BikeLoud PDX. We talked about why he moved to Portland, his impressions of our bikeways, how he enraged haters on...

In this episode, we'll get into the weeds of anti-freeway activism. You may have heard the story of how Portlanders successfully turned back the Mt. Hood Freeway plan and removed a major downtown highway in the 1970s. About 40 years later, activist rallied again to fight the Columbia River Crossing, a plan to widen I-5 between Portland and Vancouver. The latest fight is being waged against the I-5...

Welcome to the relaunch of the BikePortland Podcast. In our first episode since 2016 (!), BikePortland editor and publisher Jonathan Maus talks with Molly Cameron, the Portland-based professional cycling team manager and newly-minted transgender rights advocate who just founded RIDE , (Riders Inspiring Diversity & Equality). In this wide-ranging interview, Molly shares her views on anti-transg...

Why on earth would someone want to ride for days on the side of a road in the middle of nowhere? That’s the question this shameless city slicker and utilitarian bike rider wanted to ask BikePortland’s podcast producer Lillian Karabaic and publisher Jonathan Maus. So as the Pacific Northwest enjoys its fleeting annual glimpse of autumn, the three of us devoted our  half-hour monthly podcast &n...

This month our podcast producer and resident transportation wonk  Lily Karabaic  and BikePortland News Editor Michael Andersen sat down to talk about the intersection of real estate and bicycling (unfortunately, due to a slower-than-expected recovery from a bad spill Jonathan took on his road bike, he didn’t make it to this month’s recording session). As Michael’s  Real Estate Beat...

NOTE: This isn't a new episode! This is the second of 18 old episodes we recorded between 2013 and 2016 when the BikePortland Podcast was co-hosted by Jonathan Maus ( @jonathan_maus ), Lillian Karabaic ( @anomalily ), and Michael Andersen ( @andersem ). ___ Two months ago, after returning from Amsterdam, Jonathan  kicked off  what he described as a “mini advocacy campaign” by BikePortlan...

NOTE: This isn't a new episode! This is the first of 18 old episodes we recorded between 2013 and 2016 when the BikePortland Podcast was co-hosted by Jonathan Maus ( @jonathan_maus ), Lillian Karabaic ( @anomalily ), and Michael Andersen ( @andersem ). ___ This episode came out on July 5th, 2013. We talk about three topics, the death of the Columbia River Crossing Freeway Expansion Megaproject, ou...