Not this year.
(Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland)

“Social distancing from the comfort of your car.” That’s how the folks behind the annual Winter Wonderland event at Portland International Raceway are marketing this year’s event.

Since 2009 organizers have set aside one night of the five-week event where bicycle riders could enjoy the lights and festive vibes without the toxic emissions, noise, or threat of collisions posed by car drivers. But this year they’ve decided to cancel it. “Due to COVID-19 safety protocols, our special annual dog walking and bike nights will not be offered this year,” reads a statement by Sunshine Division, the Portland Police Bureau’s nonprofit arm that runs the event.[Read more…]

Lulu Johnson knows how important it is to vote.
(Photo: Kiel Johnson)

This election has many of us on edge. And what better activity to help our moods than a bike ride? Especially one that combines our election enthusiasm with cycling.

Portlander and creative bike activist extraordinaire Kiel Johnson is organizing a ‘Bike the Vote’ ride that will be a combination get-out-the-vote and political advertising campaign. Riders will slow-roll through neighborhoods to remind folks to vote while their bicycles will be adorned with political signs of all stripes.

“While the ride is non-political,” Johnson shared with us, “you are welcome to decorate your bike with signs of campaigns you support and we will have some signs on hand as well.”[Read more…]

The finish line, usually at Holladay Park in northeast Portland, will be wherever you want it to be this year.
(Photo: Cascade Bicycle Club)

One of the largest and most well-known group bike rides in the Pacific Northwest won’t let Covid-19 get in the way of its 41st year.

Cascade Bicycle Club announced today that the 200-mile Seattle-to-Portland (STP) ride will be a “virtual challenge” this year. 2020 will be only the second year the ride has been cancelled, with the other time being the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980.

This year’s STP will begin on July 18th and you’ll have until August 5th to complete the ride. Registered participants will create their own challenge — like 200 miles in 1 day or 10 miles a day for 20 days — and then log miles online and watch a “virtual challenge unfold” as they earn badges for reaching the traditional food stops along the route. The virtual journey will share bits about the history of STP and the places it rolls through.[Read more…]