(Photo: J. Maus/BikePortland)
Tuesday was about as wonderful a day for Northwest winter biking as anyone could wish for, and that feels like a sign that the wet, wet winter of 2015-2016 has started rolling away.
(Punxsutawney Phil, for the record, thinks so too.)
While we start to think about spring, it’s a good time to start thinking about where to find good times on bikes. So let’s do something we’ve been wanting to get done for a while and share a list of all the local bike-related Facebook groups we know of.
This won’t be a complete directory, but we’re eager to get your additions in the comments.
Grilled by Bike Club – Each ride ends in a meal that was prepared on the way.
Move by Bike – Pay it forward by chipping in on a few of these, and you will probably get people to show up and move all your stuff to your new place for the cost of a good time plus food before and after.
Women Bike – For the 51 percent.
Ladies Let’s Ride – A weekly Sunday ride of 35-50 miles, plus mid-week rides and events in the summer.
PDX Cargo Bike Gang – Haul yeah.
Portland Bike Party – Colorful, upbeat roll through the streets once a month or so.
Portland Urban Bike (Thursday Night Ride) – A newer weekly tradition in the central city.
Zoobomb – The Sunday-night downhill cruise that can only exist in Portland.
Bike St Johns – A network up north.
Bike Milwaukie – One of the region’s most active.
BikeLoudPDX community – For folks who take their fun with a slice of action.
Slow Bikes for All – Not strictly a local group but heavy with Portlanders and with Portland biking values.
Dropout Bike Club – Rides monthly. Freak bikes encouraged; all bikes welcome.
Mujeres en Movimiento – Latinas juntas.
Andando en Bicicletas en Cully – Family rides organized at Hacienda CDC.
Midnight Mystery Ride – Where will it go? The route is new each month, but there will be music on the way, alcohol at the end, and hardly any cars in between.
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The Sprockettes – The incomparable women’s bike-dance brigade has graduated into offering a summer camp for girls.
Butts on Bikes – Low-pressure social rides, mostly on the west side.
Cross Crusade – The local racing series is all grown up these days.
Portland and Mt. Hood Fat Bikes – Helping you head for the hills since January 2016.
PDX Fat Bikers – Similar mission, different group, founded 2014.
PNW Bikepacking – A little rubber makes the great outdoors greater.
Carfree Portland – “People thriving in Portland without automobiles, and those who aspire to live carfree.”
River City Ride Partners – Find a buddy.
Bike PSU – Camaraderie, support, advocacy.
Sandy Ridge Trailhead Mountain Bikers – For when you’re missing the forest (or the trees).
Portland Bike Polo – The city’s true hometown sport. HQ: Alberta Park’s tennis courts.
Ten years ago, urban bike fun exploded in Portland around the digital tools of the time: listserv, a calendar and a wiki. Shift became the great bike-fun group of the 2000s. Today it lives on mostly through the annual Pedalpalooza festival it created. But though the traditions, the faces and the communication tools will keep changing, bike fun will always be with us. These days, Facebook is a pretty good place to see it blossom.
Speaking of which: Who’d we miss?
— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org
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