Merry Christmas everyone.
If Christmas isn’t your thing, then season’s greetings and holiday cheers to you and yours.
Besides the fantastic photo above taken by Will Vanlue (the other half of the BikePortland News Team), I want to share three things with you today: A nice trend I noticed on the Oregon Bicycle Racing Association (OBRA) email list and two Christmas-themed rides.
First, the OBRA list is known as a place where you can buy almost any bike-related item you can think of. With the off-season upon us, there are tons of bikes and parts listed for sale every day. But today, in the spirit of the season, I noticed one guy posted a kids bike for free.
“I thought I would donate it to a needy little tike that wouldn’t have a bike otherwise. It might make some little ones X-Mas,” read the email.
The best part about it is that, a few minutes later, inspired by the first listing, another guy posted a free kids bike that he felt, “would be a great Christmas gift for a child in need.”
I like that trend.
And now for some rides!
Kool Yule Ride
This afternoon (12/24) is the annual “Kool Yule Ride” brought to us by the bike fun magic common to the folks from Shift. The ride meets at 5:15 at the Starbucks in the Beaumont Neighborhood on NE 47th and Fremont. Folks will bling out their rigs with tinsel and lights and then, “cruise the Alameda Ridge and check out the eye-popping festive holiday light displays.”
Day After Christmas Ride
“What better way to recover from all those Christmas festivities than with a bike ride?” says ride organizer Ryan G. Grab some friends and roll out for coffee at Bipartisan Cafe (7901 SE Stark Street) at 8:00. The ride, a 30-50 mile jaunt (depending on who shows up), will leave at 9:00 am. Ryan says the pace will be a moderate 12-15 mph and “primarily a social ride.” The route will head north to Washington on the I-205 bridge, then back into Oregon on the I-5 bridge. What happens in between… you’ll have to be there to find out!
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OK, now it’s off to do some baking and cooking and hanging out with the kids and friends. Have a great holiday weekend! We’ll be back on Monday with more bike news, views, and other stuff.
Very nice to hear about the free kids bikes trend!
I gotta take to the road on my bike xmas morning.
It’s not as good as it used to be but automotive traffic will be so low that I don’t want to miss the experience.
When I was a kid we used to go driving through downtown areas on xmas morning and during the day. Back then it was empty … desolate; like you’ve stumbled in to the movie set for “Twilight Zone: Time Enough at Last”. Not any more in our modern 24/7/365.24219 world: someone will be working and some traffic will be about but the roads should still be startlingly clear.
After a solid month putting up with loud, cranky and combative shoppers the silence and emptiness is nice for a bit.
Merry Christmas Everyone!