(Photos © J. Maus/BikePortland)
For 52-year-old IT project manager Bill Chin, June is his biggest biking month of the year. Bill, a native Portlander who lives in John’s Landing, has ridden well over 400 miles since the month began. Interestingly, he’s done most of those miles pedaling to and from Pedalpalooza rides.
I bumped into him a few nights ago at the Epic Pizza Ride, his 19th ride of this year’s nearly month-long Pedalpalooza fest.
“I’m not a daily commuter, so this gets me out on my bike,” Bill shared as he scrolled through the list of rides he’s done. He’s got notes from several years of Pedalpaloozas on his phone (“Hey, I’m an IT guy, what can I say?”). He figures he’s taken part in almost every Pedalpalooza since it began as BikeSummer 10 years ago.
His favorites so far this year include the various naked rides, the Rocky Butte Sunset Ride, the downtown tour with famous drag queen Darcelle, and of course, the Pizza Ride.
Bill, who goes by “Buddha Bill” when he’s volunteering with the Bike Temple, says there’s a lot of things he loves about Pedalpalooza. “I love meeting all these new people and learning my way around Portland, finding neat places to go to… and I really have so much love for all the ride leaders!”
Bill’s on pace to break his record for total number of Pedalpalooza rides. He did 21 rides in 2010 and I saw him last night at the Invasion of the Bicycle Snatchers play. That makes 20 so far this year and I’m sure he’ll be out there again tonight.
Have fun Bill. Keep on riding and smiling.