Motorists Take Heed: Portland Short and Long Board Riders Are Everywhere [PHOTOS]

A cosmopolitan place like Portland deserves great ways to get around it...just look the hell out.Go ahead--count with me the ways we can get around Portland: cars, trucks, buses, trains (reserved seat or boxcar), golf carts (Peaks is loaded with these bad boys--studs will get you to the ferry landing in awesome style com F-E-B).  And, more: Uber Rideshare, regular taxis, motorcycles and scooters, bicycles, boats (to and from the mainland), short skate boards, long boards for heavy traffic, and the often popular "on foot". Oh, and two summers ago, Segways. Because of all the sloped streets in town, the long and short boards often win out, especially at rush hour.

It takes the casual visitor a while to figure out that board riders could be drinkin' a coffee and suckin' on a butt while crouching down on their boards--heads below the line of parked cars--and weaving 8's down Free Street, or in the oncoming lane in a parking garage. But our riders are made of strong stuff. It's Portland's transportation scene on full volume.

And if you think any day you won't cross paths with someone jumping out in front of your 3,000 lb. truck, you could as easily wish Portland was built on the flat.  Days are filled instead with opportunities to see some ungawdly near misses.  And, to be mightily impressed.

So, just as stated, above: look the hell out, then hit the gas and enjoy the rest of your tour of Portland. In Bermuda, they have shirts printed up that state "I Survived The Bermuda Mopeds". (I left a little skin on the streets of Hamilton, myself).  Here, in Portland, our shirts could read, "Crouched for Better Aerodynamics".

And another Portland-based company is born.