A little night ride

Portland was once home to an event called "The Night Ride" where a thousand or more folks would pay to come out in the dark and ride (and a few hundred more would just skip the paying part and still ride). It was more about costumes and party than a ride.

Portland is also (in)famous for having the best attended edition of the World Naked Bike Ride.  Over 10,000 Oregonians (okay, and quite a few out of staters too!) take off their clothes and take to the streets.

It is officially a protest about oil dependency and highlighting cyclist's vulnerability. For a good number of participants, it is just a good excuse to ride around naked without getting in trouble.

Our ride tonight would be neither of these, but just a ride that happened to be after the sun set.

Neil was the ride organizer and he picked the Oregon Public House in north Portland as his starting point.  I started in Sellwood and rode the fixie to the ride.

Alan also joined us.   Alan and I had both arrived a bit early.  Neil walked up just a few minutes before we were to start.  He had a flat tire as he was riding to join us.  It took a few minutes to get the tube replaced, mostly because of excellent supervision.

Alan's photo

Just as the sun was setting we shoved off.
As we rode along the bluff over Swan Island we stopped for a photo.

Of all nights to leave the camera home   ;-(

Luckily Alan had his camera!

Neil was the only one to know tonight's route, so Alan and I just followed along.

There was very clear air tonight and the view along the waterfront was great.  My cell phone's camera doesn't do it justice.

Alan had biked hard yesterday and was feeling it a bit.  As we pedaled near the Moda Center he bid us goodnight and took leave.  Neil and I continued on northward "enjoying" a crazy ride up Williams Ave.  There seemed to be an abundance of cars turning and parking, and pedestrians crossing.  There were a few bikes out as well, and I was riding with a young woman who was on her way home from work.  We visited a bit about the craziness of tonight's ride up that stretch of street.  Neil and been dropped at a light, but had caught back up. Williams Ave is slightly uphill, and Neil was pleased that he was able to catch me.  I guess if I knew that it was a race..................  ;-)

Neil and I arrived back at the start/finish.  We each went our separate ways, him home, and me back down to Sellwood.

It was a great night to be out for a pedal.............  even if we did keep our clothes on!

.......Road bike........Rollers.......MTB.......Lifecycle....Total
Today.......45...............0..............0..............0.............45
Jan..........765.............0..............0..............0.............765
Feb..........248............0..............0..............0..............248
March......183...........0...............0.............0...............183
April........228...........0...............0.............0...............228
May.........200............0..............0.............0...............200
June.........199...........0...............26...........0...............225
July..........246...........0...............0.............0...............246
August.....502...........0...............0.............0...............502
Sept..........974...........0..............44............0..............1018
Oct...........831............0...............0.............0...............831
Total........4228.........0...............70............0..............4298