3, 2, 1, joust!

Mini-bike jousters compete for victory at third annual Stumptown Joustdown event held at Colonel Summers park Saturday.
– Slideshow below/Gallery
(Photos © J. Maus)

Stumptown Joustdown - Pedalpalooza-101

The mini-bike chicken jousting
was a crowd favorite.

In Portland, somehow bike jousting has gone from being only the realm of hardcore bike gangs and daredevils on tall bikes, to a good, wholesome activity for the entire family.

At Saturday’s third annual Stumptown Joustdown, everyone — and everything — got into the act.

People went at it on mini-bikes (sometimes with a partner on their shoulders), unicycles, skateboards, side-hacks, and a few people just ran at each other with the jousting lances.

In addition to the Portland’s regular crowd of jousters, also going head-to-head at Colonel Summers park were two young brothers (they weren’t even teenagers yet), a dad (whose kids manned a first aid kit and egged him on from the crowd), and even a newly married couple.

Stumptown Joustdown - Pedalpalooza-32

Stumptown Joustdown - Pedalpalooza-38

A few hours prior to the event, Bonnie Hildebrand and Pete Hoebel tied the knot in a bike-themed wedding at Ladds Circle (a few blocks away). Since it was a bike wedding, I guess they felt a ceremonial bike joust was only fitting. Ahh, the spirit of summer and Pedalpalooza in Portland.

It was hard not to cringe as Bonnie and Pete hurled themselves at each other mere inches from the blacktop. Thankfully, it turned out O.K. (way to go Pete!).

See how it turned out in the series of shots below:

Stumptown Joustdown - Pedalpalooza-64 Stumptown Joustdown - Pedalpalooza-66 Stumptown Joustdown - Pedalpalooza-65 Stumptown Joustdown - Pedalpalooza-68

For a look at all the crazy action, check out my slideshow below (or browse the gallery):

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Jonathan Maus (Publisher/Editor)

Founder of BikePortland (in 2005). Father of three. North Portlander. Basketball lover. Car owner and driver. If you have questions or feedback about this site or my work, feel free to contact me at @jonathan_maus on Twitter, via email at maus.jonathan@gmail.com, or phone/text at 503-706-8804. Also, if you read and appreciate this site, please become a supporter.

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Chuck
Chuck
14 years ago

I want to know where the guy with the 1st place medal got the Wizards of the Coast bike jersey! it’s awesome!

old&slow
old&slow
14 years ago

I hate to be the killjoy here but I have noticed how little response there is to this pedalpalooza nonsense. I am sure to get hate mail but this website focus is so much on “tall bikes, sprockettes, jousters” and such really non-bike stuff IMO that it is not surprising that you get no reaction. I noticed a real bike ride like the gorge ride got 41 responses. You do whatever, it is your site, but I look at it less and less these days when obviously your interest lies in kiddie bike stuff and just silly crap like most of pedalpalooza.

emily b. wings
14 years ago

whoa buddy… tall bikes, Sprockettes and jousters are ‘real bike stuff’. it’s the best kind of bike stuff here in PDX, as long as the “IMO” are flowin’.

kiddie stuff? HA! some of those jousters, Sprockettes, and tall bike owners are over 30-35. not ‘old’ enough for ya?

does there need to be 100 comments on every story? maybe people are just too busy with “all this silly pedalpalooza nonsense” and aren’t on teh interwebz posting comments.

soooo.. would you like a cameo on your 3 mile commute? the newest Trek bike analysis or perhaps a flat changing tutorial? maybe more laws NOT being passed in bikers’ favor.. bikey enough yet?

yeaaahhhh… back to the fun summer stuff!
thanks jonathan! & elly! & staff! <3

Gabriel amadeus
Gabriel amadeus
14 years ago

If the point was to merely solicit the most comments, the bp team should just focus on all the sad and horrific bike/car crashes. Oh wait, the oregonian already fills that niche!

tr
14 years ago

I seem to remember that if you have the words fixie, fixed gear, or brakeless in a post you get at least a 100 comments. Those were the days of hashing out real issues on BP.

Paul Tay
14 years ago

I’d like to see a joust between Santa and da Tour d’France Diablo!

joeb
joeb
14 years ago

I haven’t participated in a Pedalpalooza event yet. Having recently moved to N Portland, every day, every commute, every restaurant where I stop feels like pedalpalooza. I like being alone in a crowd and tend to prefer unorganized rides. There were a couple of Pedalpalooza rides I really wanted to be on, but most didn’t interest me.

But Pedalpalooza is amazing. The “organization” and the amount of participation is outstanding. And BP coverage is much appreciated. There are a lot of bikes and a lot of energy out there. I love this.

Sorry, was there something about a joust? Not my thing I guess… and here I am posting.

solid gold
solid gold
14 years ago

thanks for coming out everyone! that was a great day of broken bikes, bloodied bodies, and newly forged marriage vows! fun times!

and the thing about freaky bikers is that the other 99% of ALL bike stuff is about lycra racers or mtb riders going extreme. the other .5% is about commuters, and the remaining .5% is about freak bikes/riders. portland is lucky that our bike culture is big enough that we can have this. if you don’t like it, there’s only 1000 other bike media outlets where you can read about the latest criterium and titanium bikes.

KJ
KJ
14 years ago

I have been so busy with doing Pedalpalooza stuff AND working 10 hour days at my professional job that I haven’t posted anything lately… but then, wait… I don’t post often.

I love the positive posts about community and happy things, comments seem to pile up on political/negative issues(injuries, deaths, the oregonian…)

Most comments I read are all by the same small cadre of folks replying/arguing amongst themselves on hot button issues.
I doubt that represents BP’s readership as a whole somehow.

Oop. I have two pedalpalooza rides to go on tonight after my long ass workday..break is over!

Thanks Bike Portland, for your coverage of Bicycling, whatever flavor it comes in. =)

SkidMark
SkidMark
14 years ago

Old-n-slow, I know it’s easy to judge people you know nothing about, but to say that zoobombers, Sprockettes, and freakbike riders are non-bike(rs) is ridiculous, considering most get around by bike, either their tall/freakbike or a regular bike, very few own cars. Can you say that about the average bike commuter?

stedew
stedew
14 years ago

O&S, You ain’t killing nobodys joy; reach deep inside and see if you can find any in yourself;) Anyone celebrating biking deserves a smile, after all bikes are just toys when you get right down to it.

tr
14 years ago

stedew said, [quote]after all bikes are just toys when you get right down to it.[/quote]

awesome!

Matthew
14 years ago

hey, thanks for the awesome photo of me as the banner on the website!

you know, I came in 3rd and didn’t even come to Col Summers park to joust, just to watch, but it was so much fun!!!

and yeah, i’m over 35 and not one of the “freaks” lol…

will so be back to try and take 1st place next year.

and because of the jousting I did bike karaoke on monday, and hope to get more involved in organized rides to make friends and really get out on my bike.

forgot how much I love riding my bike and pedalpalooza has helped rekindle that passion.

revphil
14 years ago

a photo essay of jousting and i dont think i saw one picture of a tall bike.

the times they are a-changing.

it all looked great! thanks for letting me see it a week later