Mayor Charlie Hales Just Begging to Get His Bike Stolen

Portland Mayor Charlie Hales is begging to get his Trek stolen.

Just two weeks after his very first Portland bicycle commute from his Eastmoreland home, Mayor Hales took advantage of the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge on September 12, Bike Portland reported. 

The Tilikum bridge is unique, of course, because no cars go there: It's open only to bikes, walkers, and the new Orange line MAX. So a bike ride is, of course, an appropriate photo-op while entering a campaign against Ted Wheeler, who immediately met with cycling advocates after announcing his candidacy.

But before his bridge crossing, Hales appeared to use an unorthodox device rarely seen on intact bicycles in current possession of the people who bought them.

Yes, a cable lock.

This is a lot like when President George Bush Senior stood mesmerized by a grocery scanner.

Most Portland bike riders—including, sadly, this reporter—know cable locks to be like the ribbon on a thief's birthday present. 

Mayor Hales has had plenty of chances to learn from mistakes in City Hall.

City Commissioner Nick Fish had his bike stolen off a cable lock in December 2014.

In 2013, PBOT director Leah Treat also had her bike stolen off a cable lock. (Her bike, "Beatrice," was retrieved almost immediately from a homeless camp being cleared.) 

As Hales locked up his bike, Bike Portland's Michael Andersen let Hales know that cable locks might catch him some grief from anybody who knows anything about bicycles. 

"But I like cable locks," replied the mayor, with charming guilelessness, as he parked the brand of bike stolen twice as often as any other bike in Portland.

Is it the hubris of the mighty, perhaps? A dangerous unwillingness to learn from the mistakes of his peers? 

His wife, Nancy Hales had a different explanation. They had lost the keys to their U-locks, she told Bike Portland. 

Stay tuned for additional reports about the future unknown whereabouts of Mayor Hales' bicycle.

WWeek 2015