Portland Pedalpalooza 2010

One of my goals was to ride up Mount Tabor, a volcanic cinder cone on the east side of Portland, so the first morning in town I set out by cycling across the Hawthorne Bridge then along SE Clay, stopping to visit the Coffee on Clay presentation on how the City of Portland is creating a green street here. This part of SE Clay is a busy bicycle boulevard connecting the Hawthorne Bridge into downtown with south east Portland. The city is adding trees, bioswales, bike racks, benches and other amenities to better serve all the users of the street. The bioswales will be a net benefit because of the load they will take off the aging storm drain system.

Continuing east led through the Ladd's Addition residential district with its diagonal roads, rose gardens, grand old houses and mature elms, then along the SE Harrison and Lincoln bicycle boulevards to Mount Tabor Park with its treed summit filtering views of downtown Portland. The return ride passed through Laurelhurst Park, the first city park listed on the US National Register of Historic Places.

The Sprockettes are an all female Portland-based synchronized mini-bike dance troupe formed in 2004 with performances from Vancouver to San Francisco.

The group for the Sprockettes Ride gathered at Da Vinci Middle School at 6 PM then about 130 cyclists rode critical-mass-style around the central east side of Portland. Cyclists leading the ride would occupy intersections by pausing in the lanes of cross traffic so everybody could pass through together.

The group stopped in Buckman field then formed different circles for some physical and mental exercise. I got into the memory dance circle of about 30, with a Sprockette to my right and another Sprockette a bit farther along the circle who started off the game by showing us four dance moves for everyone to repeat. The next person in the circle added four more moves and everyone repeated those eight. Each person added four more moves until half way around it was just too much and we started over. I stumbled through not really keeping up but having a lot of fun in the process. The next exercise had everyone join our circle to hold hands, move in so shoulders were touching, turn right to face the next person's back, then squeeze the circle closer so everyone was closely packed. We were then ready for the final move which was to sit down to be supported by the person behind. Yikes. We did hold each other up but it felt like I was doing most of the supporting.

Back on the bikes, the ride continued to a paved area near SE 14th and Alder where the Sprockettes set up their sound system, put down some chalk marks, then performed 20 minutes of their famous and inspiring bike dance routine. I had a front row spot so have pictures which are more descriptive than any words.

After all this I can say that not only did I see a performance of the Sprockettes, I rode with the Sprockettes and danced with the Sprockettes. If you think about the circle sit-down I even had a Sprockette sit in my lap.

The Cruller Crawl started at 7 AM. I thought I woke up early enough but left myself only 35 minutes to cycle from downtown Portland to Wilshire Park where the ride was to start. I had never been into North East Portland so raced down the Willamette River through Waterfront Park, across the Steel Bridge then into the street grid, arriving a few minutes late.

This event was hosted by an informal cycling group that does regular Tuesday and Thursday morning rides and added their climb up volcanic Rocky Butte to the Pedalpalooza schedule. We introduced ourselves. Amy was the leader and bearer of the doughnuts. Julie was the unicyclist riding a 38 inch wheel and was going to do the ascent for the first time. We cruised east to the hill, around back then up the far side and stopped at the top for the 360 degree view and a breakfast of doughnuts, bagels, orange juice and coffee. Julie made it, albeit with scraped knees, saying that when you come off a unicycle going uphill you may not have time to get your legs underneath you.

The return down the near side was a thrilling descent with a surprise cork screw turn through a tunnel, followed by a pleasant and flat ride back into downtown Portland. City crews were installing new sharrow signs along NE Tillamook. These are not painted on but applied using a thermoplastic process to make them more durable. I heard later than 180 of these sharrow signs are being added to the bicycle boulevards around Portland.

When the rents went up in the downtown Pearl district, many Portland artists moved their shops and studios to NE Alberta Street. On the Last Thursday of each month a multi-block section of the street is closed off for a street party between 6 and 10 PM.

The group for Bike Last Thursday met by the downtown North Park Blocks then crossed the Steel Bridge, rode through the Rose District and up Williams to Alberta. We were then released to wander the street ourselves. As the evening wore on the crowds became thicker with street performers: buskers, dancers, jugglers, skippers, bands; lots of entertainment and dense packs of spectators filled the street. Everyone moved aside for the Marching Band with their stilt walkers leading the way. Last Thursday is even more crowded in July and August.

SHIFT, the same group that organizes Pedalpalooza, serves Breakfast on the Bridges on the last Friday of each month on the busiest bridges for cycling traffic. During Pedalpalooza this happens each Friday morning. I stopped on the east side of the Steel Bridge where burritos and doughnuts were being served, said hello to Julie, the unicyclist that had climbed Rocky Butte Thursday morning, then rode over to the west side of Hawthorne Bridge where the menu included freshly cooked blueberry pancakes. SHIFT doesn't have a big budget for this so some of the ingredients were supplied by the cooks themselves. The Pajama Party Pedal ride started right after breakfast which will explain the attire in one of the pictures.

The Bicycle Transportation Alliance (BTA) offered the Build It! ride as a tour of current and demonstration bike projects and potential improvements. We visited the downtown buffered bike lanes on Stark and Oak, the cycle track on Broadway, the Hawthorne Bridge and other projects on the east side. The existing cycling facilities in Portland are the result of planning done years ago. For the future, Portland has a Year 2030 cycling plan and the BTA wants to advocate for the funding needed to carry it out, hence the Build It! theme. There is push-back about a recently installed buffered bike lane on SE Holgate in the far east of Portland and there are freight and business interests that want more of the federal transportation budget for their projects so the BTA feels they have to step up the effort.

I woke up early the last morning so was out on the bike at 4 AM riding around downtown Portland then over the Morrison Bridge to the Eastside Esplanade. I came across the last few party-hardy cyclists from a ride that had started at 10:30 PM and had numbered in the hundreds. The ride theme was Loud and Lit with bikes decorated with lights (neon, LED, fiber-optic, etc.), some towing sound systems. Riders from the earlier Michael Jackson, Cow, and Cowboy Rides were along for the fun as well.

This trip was a series of day rides from a central location. Portland could also be a destination for a multi-day urban cycling tour. Last September I met Kat Marriner on the Hawthorne Bridge, who with her partner Willie Weir, kept a blog of their week-long camping trip around the area with a total lodging cost of $12.

Portland can be reached from Victoria by boat and train. Summer schedules allow this to be done in one day, eliminating an overnight stay in Seattle.