PLUS: More of WIRED's best longreads from this week.
If you reside in the Pacific Northwest, you live under the daily looming threat of the Big One—the magnitude 9.0 earthquake with a not-insignificant chance of hitting the coast within your lifetime. So do you panic or do you prep? For WIRED gear head Adrienne So, prepping is the easy choice. She stocks up on the usual stuff: camping equipment, portable stoves, a 50-gallon water barrel. Her secret weapon, though, is a cheery yellow, solar-charged electric cargo bike her daughter named Popsicle. After a major quake, bridges and roads will be a mess, and emergency vehicles will run out of fuel—but a bike will be able to go almost anywhere. To test her emergency skills, So signs up for Portland's Disaster Relief Trials, a bike race that simulates catastrophic chaos. It's part fun run, part training exercise. Predictably, as she and Popsicle ride 37.9 miles through the city, nothing goes to plan. Obstacles are encountered. Limits are tested. So gets lost. Does this mom on a bike have what it takes to finish? You'd better hope so. Because when the Big One finally comes, she's the one who's going to rescue you. – Camille Bromley | Features Editor | | | | |
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