These days are Bike to Work days

Judging by the bike traffic I've seen these last few days it's been Bike to Work Day all week this week, but Portland's official "Bike to Work Day" celebrations happen this Friday. Downtown commuters can enjoy coffee, breakfast snacks and basic tune-ups in the morning in Monument Square. In the afternoon, South Portland bike commuters can stop by Bug Light Park between 4 and 5 for pizza and giveaways.

The weather forecast says that it will be partly cloudy all day, warming up from the mid 50s in the morning hours to the low 60s when it's time to head home. Perfect biking weather.

And in other news, the U.S. Census Bureau announced this week that bicycling is the fastest-growing mode of travel for U.S. commuters — our numbers grew from an estimated 488,000 in 2000 to 786,000 in the 2008-2012 period. Even after that growth spurt, we're still a pretty small slice of the commuting pie — a little less than 5% of all commuters in Northeastern cities. Still, it's worth noting that Portland, Maine in 2014 has roughly the same proportion of bike commuters as Portland, Oregon did in 2000. With continued efforts to make the city's streets safer and more enjoyable for everyone, there's no reason why we couldn't attract thousands of new bike commuters in the coming years.

See you in Monument Square on Friday morning.