It’s No Kings weekend. I suspect many of you will join in the mass protest against the Trump Administration. It’ll be massive and a lot of folks will show up and march with bikes. Whatever you do, I hope you have fun.
I also hope you are able to roll over to NW 23rd to check out the new Duer store! BikePortland is helping this cool Canadian company spread the word about their awesome apparel and the opening of their new Portland store. The founder of Duer was initially inspired by his bike commutes and the pants are really fantastic to ride in. I’ve had a few pairs over the years and they’re my favorites for sure. Please support companies that support BikePortland! They’ll have special celebrations and events at their store on 820 NW 23rd Ave all weekend long.
Here are my picks for this weekend…
Saturday, October 18th
Saltzman Century – 7:30 am at Saltzman Rd Lower Gate (NW)
NW Saltzman Rd is one of the most revered and wonderful unpaved climbs in the region. The folks organizing this ride plan to spend the entire day going up and down it. Whether you love to climb or just feel like doing something silly in the “because why not” spirit, this is for you. More info here.
Ride to No Kings Rally – 10:30 am at St. Johns Plaza (N)
Join a group ride to the big protest and rally downtown. Meet in St. Johns and head down N Willamette into the Central City. More info here.
NOISE Ride – 11:00 am at Fresh Pot (N)
A rowdy and fun, unsanctioned gathering that’s been going on for 20-ish years, the North Oregon International Singlespeed Exhibition (NOISE) guarantees, “Hills, mud, blood, jumps, limbo, buzkashi, singletrack, alleys, cogs, logs, bike toss,” and other shenanigans. More info here.
Sunday, October 19th
Cyclocross Crusade #3 – All day at Portland International Raceway (PIR)
Take advantage of a fun ‘cross race in our own backyard. It’s the “Coyote Run” course at PIR, just a bit north of Kenton. More info here.
Winter Cycling Workshop – 9:00 am at Lents Farmers Market (SE)
Staff from Portland Bureau of Transportation will host this informative workshop that will get you informed and inspired to tackle winter by bike! More info here.
Fall Colors to Springwater Wetlands – 11:45 am at Lents Farmers Market (SE)
Join experienced ride leader Tom Howe on a jaunt to newly restored wetlands adjacent to the Springwater Corridor bike path where you might see all types of natural beauty. More info here.
82nd Avenue Transit Rally – 1:00 pm at Montavilla Park (SE)
The Portland chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has emerged as a transit advocacy group right when we need it most. They are working to push TriMet for great bus lanes on 82nd. Join them for a rally and get plugged-in! More info here.
— Did I miss your event? Please let me know by filling out our contact form, or just email me at maus.jonathan@gmail.com.
Thanks for reading.
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Wait, where’s the “Ceasefire Now” celebration ride?? Did it already happen?
A protest celebrating something is not something people generally do.
Do you even read what I post?? I said celebration ride and not a protest. This is the event notification page, not the protest notification page.
People have been agitating for a cease fire in Gaza and now that it is here I thought there would be some kind of celebratory ride.
Does such a ride exist? I didn’t know. It sounded like you were just being disingenuous and mocking people who protested to end a genocide.
I don’t know if such a ride exists either, hence my question. How is it mocking to celebrate a cease fire?
Maybe I’m too cynical and lack an interest in civic engagement, but in a county that voted for Harris at 79%, what is this for?
National News Coverage
If Fox News reports that 1000’s of people in Portland, Seattle, Atlanta, Jacksonville, Charleston, etc all showed up in person to express their point view, they would at least get noticed.
For what though? To confirm that a place that heavily voted against this administration still doesn’t like it? Does someone in Wyoming watching FoxNews see thousands of people in the streets of Portland protesting and rethink how they view the world?
Notice how I included other cities?
I agree that if only Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco had protests, it wouldn’t get much notice. But I know for a fact that e.g., Cleveland is expecting a big turn out. What if, Biloxi, MS had a big turn out? Birmingham?
Cuyahoga County voted for Harris at 65%. 80k people voted in Harrison County, MS, so not really a needle mover there.
A year ago, millions of people voted in favor of Harris, it isn’t remotely surprising that millions of those people would still vote for Harris and will spend a day indicating that, just like it isn’t remotely surprising that millions would vote for Trump again in a heartbeat.
Sorry, I think its great people are willing to activate themselves, I was just trying to understand the motivation, intent or expectation of results.
I’ll attend my small city’s NK protest simply to register my dissent. Sure, this town is pretty liberal, but I think of the body count as a measure of the nation’s pulse, regardless of the way any vote anywhere went.
Another thing protests can communicate (to your opposition) is political resolve.
One useful aspect is to build solidarity between opposition factions in different parts of the country. It helps to make a coordinated statement from both blue and red places. The folks in majority republican locales feel like they are part of something bigger, and it makes a difference to them. Making your voice heard is incredibly important right now — both in places where you (we) are in the majority and in the minority. It’s nice when my parents (ID) and I (OR) can feel like we are part of the same action, however symbolic and insufficient.
Spending your time to show up and support the voices who are opposing the Trump administration signals that the issue is important to you. Are you cynical that your action won’t have as much impact as you want, or do you actually care about the issue?
I guess my view is the intent of protest is to raise awareness of an issue to change the minds of people who may view things differently. From that view, this seems completely pointless when 8 out of 10 people in the county, and probably more in the city, already agree.
Hmm, given the political and social climate in this country rn I’m not sure any rhetoric or action will be changing minds on either side. For me the protest is a way to express my own outrage and to show up with people who agree that the current direction is not okay. Even if the end of the road does not lead to the change I want, at least I can say I did something to try making a difference instead of just rolling over.
It’s been suggested that even the US Supreme Court, who would otherwise seem to own the law, sometimes count the crowd at their gates before they render a decision.
The three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals is hanging fire on whether to revoke the temporary restraining order from Judge Immergut halting deployment of federalized National Guard units in Portland. That’s interesting given the makeup of the panel. Maybe their screens show something different than what is rolling in the West Wing.
I don’t think protests change minds or are meant to. I do think protests signal to decision makers how people feel about their policies.
The Boston Tea Party (like the actual one) wasn’t for other Americans. It was meant to send a signal to the King of England.
Boston Tea Party is an apt comparison to Oregon politics currently. Bringing in the dying and infirm to vote for a hugely unpopular tax increase and then delaying the execution of the document to give the opposition the least amount of time possible to collect signatures to put the measure on a ballot, all while bleating about democracy is just a beautiful metaphor.
The Boston Tea Party was a tax protest over the arbitrary way Prime Minister Lord North was trying to get colonials to pay for their own defense without giving them representation in Parliament. Most of the protesters themselves were still totally loyal to King George III, they just didn’t like his government ministers.
So very, very afraid of the power of the people…
Eighty percent is a huge electoral majority in US politics. Words in a sentence don’t give the full weight of that number. When people see their familiar geography covered with compatriots unified in opinion it will always have an impact. When you see a screen showing a view of a dense crowd running out to both horizons no one can say it’s not a thing.
That’s pretty amazing to me. It is kind of crazy that people will be swayed by 1% of the population showing up, but not by hearing that 80% of people agree with them. Says a lot about the natural analytical capacity of the average resident.
Yes and. People will be upset about a squirrel in the road but flip past news reports of large scale tragedies at a distance. I’m not saying animals are unimportant, I’ve been deeply affected by contact with animals. I’m saying that direct experience affects people viscerally in a way that media does not.
Why do people go to church when they could just read some religious text at home?