– Slideshow below/Gallery –
(Photos © J. Maus)
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.
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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:
For a look at all the crazy action, check out my slideshow below (or browse the gallery):