(Photo by J. Maus/BikePortland)
It’s almost here. The largest bike event of its kind on planet Earth is about to start.
That’s right. It’s Pedalpa-frickin-looza time. And it all begins tomorrow at 6:00 pm with the tradional opening event: The Kickoff ride.
Or if you can’t wait, join the Urban Adventure League for the Sunrise Coffee Club ride at 5:00 am at Broughton Beach out on the Columbia River.
If that sounds a bit crazy, welcome to Pedalpalooza. For the 14th year in a row Portlanders of all stripes have come together to organize a bevy of creative bike events — 278 and counting over 26 days — that are free and inclusive and are guaranteed to make you love Portland even more than you already do.
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I have a hunch this year’s events will see huge crowds. It’s a hunch based on three main things:
1) We’ve had lots of nice weather to get people in the biking mood.
2) The BTA’s Bike More Challenge just ended (it used to happen in September), so that means many new riders are primed to just keep on pedaling.
3) People are ready to jump into something life-affirming and positive after what has been a bruising election season and incessentaly depressing news cycle.
Look at the Kickoff Ride, it’s already got 493 RSVPs and nearly 800 “interesteds” on Facebook. That’s a big number for a DIY, grassroots bike ride.
To give you a sense of the insanity that is Pedalpalooza, there are 22 rides on June 18th alone:
There’s so much good stuff on the schedule this year.
What rides are you looking forward to the most?
— Jonathan Maus, (503) 706-8804 – jonathan@bikeportland.org
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Super excited! I suggest a different title, though. ‘You guys’ isn’t as inclusive as I know we all want Pedalpalooza to be.
William, I hear you but I think “you guys” is commonly accepted as a way to address all genders. And it’s also a common convention on the Internet and not intended to be gendered at all.
I’m glad you brought it up though, as I’ve wondered about it myself. I’d be curious what someone who doesn’t identify as a “guy” thinks.
Can confirm, havkng grown up in the Midwest, “you guys” is the Midwest version of “you all”.
Adam, it’s not just the midwest. The majority of the country uses “you guys” as the plural for “you”. You can see a map here:
http://www.businessinsider.com/22-maps-that-show-the-deepest-linguistic-conflicts-in-america-2013-6#this-is-the-deepest-and-most-obvious-linguistic-divide-in-america-its-also-an-example-of-how-everyone-in-south-florida-pronounces-things-in-the-northern-us-style-7
When used to address a group, “you guys” is a perfectly reasonable, and commonly acceptable way of doing so.
In the Midwest it’s “you’se guys,” with a heavy stress on “guys.”
That was my perspective for a long time as well, and for many (and in many contexts) it is probably just fine.
Let me share what changed my mind. At one point I was working for a technology company that suffered from a pretty bad gender imbalance, especially among engineers. My team was all guys (men) except for one woman. On a pretty regular basis, I’d address my team this way (“hey guys!”, “what’s going on guys?”, etc). I never thought much of it, until the female engineer on my team said in the context of a conversation about the team’s gender imbalance that me saying this phrase made her feel excluded. And even though guys to many means “people” and even though women use it this way (even to groups of all women), it totally makes sense to me why she felt that way. So I stopped saying that to my team and ever since I’ve tried to avoid using the phrase, especially in scenarios where there isn’t a great gender balance to begin with. There are plenty of other ways to say “folks”, and IMO alienating even one person with by using the phrase isn’t worth it.
Yeah, that definitely makes sense.
That’s why I always use “Hello, humans.” in my best robot voice.
I feel you man. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I feel this context is different, but it’s not worth it to me if it even gives one person pause. I understand how it makes some people feel. I’ve changed the headline.
Yep! ‘you guys’ is gendered! would it be acceptable to say ‘you girls’ to groups including boys? probably not! so let’s say yall or youse ! or yin! or whatever, people said a lot of good options. it *does* matter.
Thank you! The argument that “guys” is gender-neutral reminds me of this: https://twitter.com/manwhohasitall/status/727483112016343040
–JD, female bike guy
I very much doubt that your report (person who reports to you) or anyone else would bat (not the mammal or sporting good) an eyelash at someone remarking that a litter (group of young animals born at the same time) of puppies was “a bunch of cute little guys.”
I am all for well-considered speech. By all means, use workarounds, but there is such a thing as oversensitivity. Dictionary definition #1 for “guys” applies to men, but that is not the end of the list.
At the risk of blowing this out of proportion, or killing the bike fun, I’ll give my opinion. My opinion is that this type of language seems harmless but it actually isn’t. I don’t like that “you guys” is used to address all genders. It’s making male the norm – I wouldn’t call a group of men/women “you gals” and expect a positive response.
I say that, and I’m so guilty of saying “guys” especially when I am excited or passionate about something. Pedalpalooza is something to be excited about, so I say carry on, Jonathan.
What’s the approved salutation, then?
You all!
As a contraction – y’all.
We shouldn’t have to sound like pretend Southerners.
Are “you people”, “all of you”, “you folks” okay?
Just use “you” – as it can be plural on its own. Although, you’ll end up confusing everyone because everyone takes “you” as singular.
English really needs an equivalent of Ustedes in Spanish.
I absolutely hate being called a guy. I’m not a guy. The male commenters don’t see the problem because they’re guys. The solution? What about “you gals”? I personally see absolutely no problem addressing a mixed-gender audience as “you gals” or “ladies” but I’m guessing that the guys would object to that.
I wasn’t meaning to imply that you’se guys is acceptable, BTW. One of the more difficult things as a teacher has been to eliminate the use of the word “guys” where referring to my class. When do I slip up I apologize to the better gender for the mistake.
+30 80’s point to you. MCP approves.
Come on the SLOW Ride, Wednesday the 22nd and show Portland that our streets should work for riders of all abilities, not just people who can keep up with motor traffic on racing bikes! Bring your heavy city bike!
How slow is slow?
Casual skateboarding speed.
FYI: riding very slowly on carbon fiber racing bikes is an essential track racing skill (see 1:10):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cL1lXDNSJQ
We won’t judge if you want to ride your carbon fibre bike. 😉
How slow? Is this a trackstand contest?
No, we will be riding at a slow pace on heavy bikes. Though no one will stop you if you want to track stand. 😉
Not out loud anyway.
Some recommended reading about making this year awesome:
https://www.facebook.com/pedalpalooza/posts/10154066656980791
REALLY looking forward to this! Can’t wait!
If you ride or collect classic & vintage (C&V) bikes, there are three events on the weekend of June 11-12.
On Saturday 8:30 am we are doing the “heroic c&v ride”, which will be about 50 km including the length of Leif Erickson (gravel, dirt); some climbing and descending (potentially on wet road) on Skyline, Germantown, Saltzman; a bit of Hwy 30. It may rain. We may get wet and dirty. Our bikes may get wet and dirty. It’s all about being, or pretending to be, heroic. And wearing wool kit, if you feel like it. Ride is doable with 25 mm tires, but you may not want to bring your most fragile vintage tubular rims, due to the Leif Erickson part. Not a race, will be a no-drop ride, but it will be about 30 miles with hills.
On Sunday 10 am we are doing the “casual c&v ride”, which will be a relaxed, flat, shortish loop. This ride is about looking cool, not breaking a sweat, and keeping the bikes and bodies clean for the show (see next). We may ride as slowly as the SLOW ride!
Later on Sunday 2-5 pm there will be a Classic & Vintage Show & Shine at Velocult. This is a DIY bike show, bring your most interesting, most collectible, or simply most favorite C&V bike (road, mountain, three speed, balloon, etc) and show it off.
What’s a classic & vintage bike? We use the term fairly loosely. It’s something old, cool, a little bit special. A modern carbon fiber bike definitely isn’t, a ’73 Colnago with Super Record definitely is, and there’s plenty of room in between.
See Pedalpalooza calendar for details.
Those sounds pretty fun, I’m going to try to make it out to at least one of those!
I’d highly encourage everyone to try and attend the rides that BikeLoudPDX is hosting. Pedalpalooza is not just about unbridled fun, it’s also about reclaiming our streets, attracting new riders, and demonstrating the potential of the bicycle in our transportation network. We’ve come up with a list of rides ranging from wonky to protest that we’re hoping will help kick off our summer direct action:
June 17: No More 4-Lane Roads!
Protest ride! 4-lane roads are deadly; let’s reallocate that extra lane to active transportation.
June 21: Transport Your Activism
Learn the tools of the trade for effective advocacy when requesting road improvements.
June 22: Slow Ride
Slow bikes (and slow riders) have a right to travel city streets too.
June 28: The 20s Bikeway: A Technical Critique
Wonk ride outlining where the future 20s Bikeway has already gone astray.
***July 2: New Orleans Jazz Funeral***
Our main event! We’re memorializing Portland’s traffic deaths by marching from City Hall to ODOT Headquarters to highlight the increase in traffic fatalities. Festive atmosphere, somber message.
NO MORE 4-LANE ROADS! Great idea.
Hi to all those bicyclists new to PedalPalooza…and making it yours…with event planning and promotion and bike fun…
Here is a little history of how it all started back in the last century…before landing in Portland…
http://criticalmass.wikia.com/wiki/Bike_Summer!
http://www.bikesummer.org/2002/events/index.htm
http://www.wweek.com/portland/article-2077-willamette-weeks-i-like-bike-summer-calendar.html
https://portlandtransport.com/archives/2002/08/kboo_bike_show_7.html
and more on-line…
Heavy Bike Hill Climb. I’m lining up a bakfiets for this year.
I’m going to ride it just as fast as I please.
And a passenger or a keg?
I had a cooler in mind, but we’ll see.
Sounds like a Tuesday 😉
Call me what you’d like, I’m an early supporter of Portland’s light rail system, draftsman/designer effecting Cityhall planning. For good and numerous reasons, I favor BRT for Barbur Blvd the SW Corridor. Barbur buses are comparably faster, most ideal for BRT experiments. Through a forested hillside sadly denuded by light rail. Nor does Barbur really have enough ridership potential in future development patterns to justify high-impact/cost LRT. MAX from Beaverton-Tigard-Tualitin and the Salem trainsets, to me, suggests Portland & Western with 2-track LRT on the side, admittedly the more productive route, least impact, most future rail junctions. Prefer BRT for the Columbia River Crossing I-5 Bridge replacement. Extend MAX Yellow Line from Expo Center a mere half mile to a Hayden Island terminus. From there, a BRT loop system would reach many miles further into Vancouver than LRT. Portland has a year to reconsider Barbur BRT before the you know what hits the fan. We’ve got to implement more transit with better buses, especially BRT and nex-gen paratransit vans low-floors and hybrid/EV drivetrains.
PS: I’m near finished near final draft of a Bikeway on the Morrison ‘connection’ and Viaduct Bikeway arrangement.
East of Grand, a 2-way Bike lane arrangement on Belmont.
It was fun putting it together.
All y’all who organize these rides are awesome. Thank you!
You should give it a try yourself! It’s surprisingly easy. And addictive…