Remember a couple of weeks ago, when I talked about roughly a dozen people showing up for the Portland Critical Mass, and compared that to the mob scene at CM in San Francisco?
Last night I was part of the Portland edition of the World Naked Bike Ride. I’m convinced there were well over a thousand people in the ride!
We started from a warehouse in the NW at midnight, pedaled down TrendyThird past the bars, through downtown, over the Hawthorne Bridge, down MLK for a bit, back across the Burnside Bridge, and back to the industrial NW. All told, around 8 miles.
The highlights included:
- The sporadic cries from the riders of “nice ass!” Coulda been said by anyone, to just about anyone. It was that kinda crowd.
- The one lone rider (clothed) who refused to stop at a red light where a fire engine was trying to get through… only to get pulled over by a cop almost immediately. Instant karma’s gonna get you.
- Cheering and high fives from the crowds thronging the sidewalks outside the bars.
- The driver who pulled up next to me and asked, “Why are you naked?” The best I could come back with was, “Why are you dressed?”
It was massive silly and hugely fun! I would do this ride monthly, weather permitting.
In hindsight, the obvious costume would have been a stylish pair of chaps. Maybe next year.
hah, i had the same response to the same question from a driver (well, i said “why aren’t you?”)
there were well over a thousand. i started out about 300 deep and i sat still for over 5 minutes as people streamed past before we got to 23rd to help a girl whose cape got caught in her chain. then there were *still* enough people left that was still a couple hundred back, because i stopped to cork and she found me doing that!
i bet someone has a better idea of numbers and will post on bike portland
Sorry I didn’t get to hang with you last night; you looked like you were busy corking ; I saw you at a couple of different intersections I went through.
Looking forward to seeing you around.
hee hee. “hindsight.” I bet.