(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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