Bicyclists, you’re free to go ride on the freeways, with a proposed ban on freeway cycling ^[1] no longer being considered. I understand that there are a lot of bicyclists who want to ride wherever the cars can go, but I think from a safety perspective that riding on the freeway sounds like a bad idea to me. Freeway shoulders usually aren’t very wide unless you’re talking about a brand-new section of freeway (and when’s the last time you saw brand-new freeway in Portland). Put a stalled car, chuck of debris, or other obstruction into that shoulder, and now you have a bicyclist who needs to use the travel lane to get around it. Physics and probability would dictate that mixing 50-60mph automobiles and 5-20mph bicycles in the same section of pavement is a recipe for potential messiness. Are my thoughts out of line? Is it possible to safely ride down the freeway without ending up dodging debris and cars?