Mark your calendars and buy your tickets, because Bike to Blazers is going to be awesome this year. On April 14th, the bike and basketball worlds will collide, resulting in a fun community event that will (hopefully) become an annual Portland tradition.
Why bikes and Blazers? Why not? Both are a major force for good in our city and by tying them together, great things can happen. The Blazers want to be the “greenest” team in the NBA and a big part of their effort is to encourage more biking to games. From an advocacy perspective, putting bikes front and center at the Rose Garden, and tying biking more closely to the Blazers organization, is a great way to reach a lot of folks who don’t usually hear about how fun and useful bikes can be.
At the event, we’ll kick things off with a rally at Pioneer Courthouse Square. Then, we’ll retrace Bill Walton‘s bike commute to practice (for the uninitiated, Walton led the Blazers to a championship in 1977 and he was known for his love of bicycling). Once we get to the Rose Garden, we’ll join a mini bike expo at the commons area near the arena’s main entrance. As fans enter the game, they’ll get a healthy dose of biking: free maps and other goodies, custom bikes to gawk at, and more. We’ll make signs (gotta be ready for our big moment on the jumbotron!) and hang out before filing into the game where 100 lucky people will sit together and cheer on the Blazers from the official Bike Section. Whew!
We’re planning a bunch more stuff for this event, but those are the basics. This is a family-friendly event and the great folks at the Bicycle Transportation Alliance are on board to help make sure the little ones on bikes have a great time too.
This is their last home game of the regular season and it’s against the Golden State Warriors.
If you’d like to join us in the Bike Section, visit our Bike to Blazers event page for ticket buying information (or, cut to the chase and visit this Blazers link and enter promo code “bikeblazers”). Stay tuned for more details (did I mention one lucky person will win a Bill Walton autographed helmet!?).
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Bike to Blazers
April 14th
Pioneer Courthouse at 5:30, ride at 6:00, game at 7:30
Tickets: $22
Full details at BiketoBlazers.com