(Photo: Good Sport Promotion/Flickr)
The Worst Day of the Year Ride is now the second largest ride in Oregon. This past Sunday organizers say that 3,500 people showed up, putting it behind only Bridge Pedal’s 20,000 or so participants in terms of size.
This was the ninth annual Worst Day Ride, so named because the weather almanac deems the date as being statistically likely to be cold, wet, and rainy. Funny thing is, weather on the ride has a history of being quite pleasant. On Sunday, the sun returned yet again, but riders still pedaled through plenty of rain.
Ride organizer Ayleen Crotty, says the huge turnout and popularity of the ride says a lot about Portland. “I gotta say, to have a ride that challenges people to ride rain or shine (and it rained for sure) as the largest certainly says something amazing about Portland!”
On Sunday, riders took to the streets on one of two routes – an 18-mile urban tour and a 40 mile excursion. The ride was a benefit for the Community Cycling Center. For more photos check out the Worst Day of the Year Ride photo pool on Flickr.
(NOTE: The Portland edition of the World Naked Bike Ride had an estimated 5,000 riders last June, which would make it larger than the Worst Day of the Year Ride. But we’ll still give WDYR props because they actually have permits, porta-potties, liability insurance, and so on.)
Hey… we had 5K people at the WNBR Jonathan….
Good point K’Tesh…. but we all know those unofficial, free entry type rides are in a whole different category!
i was also going to bring up the WNBR, but what about seattle to portland? …it’s 10 thousand.
ahhh, so WDotY Ride is the second largest ORGANIZED (and clothing-positive) ride in the state. Thanks for clarifying, Jonathan.
I meant in the city!
I would say “supported”, I’ve heard other people say that. Officially, maybe organized in terms of permits and insurance, but the support is really what sets rides like WDotY Ride apart from rides like the naked ride, in my opinion.
I thought this past WNBR had permits or some sort of organizing.. Or that was the impression I got from BikePortland requesting donations to cover some sort of expense related to it.
So, to be technical, the WDotY ride is the 4th largest ride in the state, the 3rd largest supported ride in the state, and the 2nd largest supported ride originating in the state.
Bridge Pedal: 20,000
Seattle to Portland: 10,000
World Naked Bike Ride: 5,000
Worst Day of the Year Ride: 3,500
Seattle to Portland has about 40+ miles of route within the state of Oregon. WNBR is an organized (but unsupported) ride – it had a special events permit and traffic control was provided by the city. Yes, it’s the bastard stepchild of organized rides in Portland, and something that more conventional people in Portland are ashamed to publicize, but it’s there.
All proof that it depends on your definitions as to how the numbers spin.
Oh, and matchu (#7) – the donations were for the Pedalpalooza Kickoff Dance Party, not the WNBR. It’s easy to confuse it, because the WNBR started and ended at the party, but the two events were separate events. Believe it or not, there were a few hundred people who stayed at the party while the ride was going on.
I might add that the WNBR will always be its own event. In addition to being a political statement ride which eschews sponsorship, no insurance carrier will ever insure 5,000+ naked people riding bikes over a bridge with metal gratings at night, which guarantees that no organization will ever want to host it.
“5,000+ naked people riding bikes over a bridge with metal gratings at night?” Ooooh, my gaaaaaaawd. Dat’s a whole lotta ground beef, when wet.