Bike Kiss-In photos!

Here they are...the long awaited Bike Kiss-In photos!

Report: Bike Kiss-in

Last Friday's Bike Kiss-In was without a doubt the best of it's kind that Portland has ever seen. It inspired mini-kiss-ins afterward at various intersections, and looks to become a nation-wide phenomenon (look for an east coast Kiss-In ride report in the future).

23 couples rode from City Bikes Mothershop to the very visible 39th and Glisan traffic circle. We made Joan of Arc blush, I'm sure. Upon arrival, we dispersed ourselves among the circle, and commenced the spit-swapping in the name of bike love. Some couples held signs as
they made out, including:

• Make love, not traffic
• Honk if you're jealous
• Lip lock, not gridlock
• Bikes have more fun
• If you rode your bike, you'd be kissing now

The weather held out long enough for everyone to make out for a goodtwenty minutes or so. At the end, we all gathered for a group photo-op and one-minute make out intensive. Then the clouds rained their congratulations upon us and the satisfied participants scattered
homeward.

Props to:

• Alex for the idea
• Carye, Timo and Jeff for spectacular signs and slogans
• the many vegans on the ride (next time I promise I'll plan better and not buy gelatin-filled Altoids from the Circle K)
• everyone who came to demonstrate bike love to the auto-driving, Friday evening masses; you're all hot.

I've got some tasteful photos that I'll post soon. All in the name of bike love,
Elizabeth

Report: Museum Tour 2

Reported (and led by) Carye Bye:
6/24

Bicyclists: 8
Museums Visited: 5

On a busy Pedalpalooza Friday, one day from the fair, the Small Museums & Collections ride II squeezed in between BonB and the Critical Mass Memorial Ride.

The tour began at Laughing Planet Cafe on Belmont where half the group filled bellies with burrito fuel for this tour that would bring us to 5 museums scattered throughout the Eastside & Downtown Portland.

At 1 pm we headed to our first stop (2 blocks away) The Belmont Firehouse and Jeff Morris Memorial Museum. In fact this was a last minute add-in. Don Porth, the museum director, gave us a wonderful guided tour. Highlight: Trying out a smaller version of the fireman's pole - use your feet! Not recommended with shorts!

Next Stop: Movie Madness, - Mike's movie memorabilia at Belmont & 43rd. Luckily also at the last minute Mike agreed to tell us about his collection himself. We oohed & ahhed over Julia Andrew's sound of music dress, Orson Welles Touch of Evil Suit, Psycho Stunt Knifes, Blue Velvet's ear and more! Mike does such a great job putting up signs and photos showing the movie props & costumes from the films. But it was added bonus to hear him gush about his favorite movie dresses.

Then we bike-bombed from SE to the Hawthorne Bridge. We headed over to the Police Museum at the Downtown HQ building. After all our IDs were recorded (everyone handed them over - so we had no fugitives in the group) we headed up to the 16th floor to meet the museum director Lori who gave us a brief guided tour of police weapons, confiscated weapons (criminals are creative!), and Portland's First Traffic Light. Sadly the talking Macgruff,the crime dog, was taken off the floor for repair, after scaring a child with a mutating voice the day before.

From here, with 1 bicyclist less, we headed back over the Hawthorne Bridge to the "secret" Kidd's Toy Museum off of SE Grand. It's hidden in a non-descript gray business building with a little note on the door. The Banks, locks, and (scary) dolls amused us.

Now after 4 pm. All ditched but the leader +1; so the last two biked off down SE 3rd through produce row towards Stark's Vacuum Museum at Couch & NE Grand. On the way we made a pit stop at City Liquidators to check out 20,000 chairs in stock, and most importantly "The Stairway to Savings" to the Mysterious 3rd Floor room of chairs. Sadly the file cabinets have been taking over, and the furniture chute was closed up.

And finally the Vacuum Museum, which has 100 or so antique, vacuums, some with tags of explanation. Cool stuff, but would have been more appreciated with a guide. However, the staff of Stark's was very busy showing rosy-faced families how to buy new vacuums and how to use them on a variety of carpet surfaces. The scene in the store was almost more interesting than the discarded mummies at the back of the store.

Report: Bike n Boggle

Reported by Carye:
6/23

Click here for photos

10 bike riders, 25 - 30? at ACME

The ride that started with a beer and ended with third place & a flat.

About 10 people showed up at Portland Mercury HQ (NE 22nd near Sandy) for the bike ride that took us on an odd route past the cemetery, and through a field, and down a hill to ACME in inner SE.

At the HQ we were immediately handed a PBR to get the party started. Zach from the Mercury was to lead the ride - When we got to the field which was Colonel Summers Park, Zach jumped the curb with his bike. A moment of confusion for most of us followed, about whether we should jump the curb too. I made a lame attempt.

At Acme, us hungry bikers headed straight for the spread of party food - we were told there would be appetizers. Soon after sitting down with our food, we were told that wasn't Mercury's food but we took it from the Reunion party. Oops. we ate it anyhow.

Then the games began. Four to five to a table. 7 or 8 boggle games. Justin Sanders of the Mercury reading the rules. We played 4 rounds of Boggle. The four top scoring players moved to the final round to compete for a beautiful engraved boggle trophy & air guitar. Also Kudos to the Mercury for making very snazzy Boggle score cards.

Report: Happy Hours for Cyclists

Reported by Amy:
6/16 and 6/23

While it's hard to get a very good count, empty cups and anecdotal evidence reveal the following approximate count for the two Happy Hour events:

• Stoppers and snackers: 50-60 each day
• Gallons of liquids consumed: 4-5 each day
• Thank yous and waves: 100s
• "Get the %^&$ out of my way"s: 6-8
• Wigs worn by event volunteers: 4
• City council members stopping by: 1 (Randy Leonard)

Thanks to Jay Graves from Bike Gallery for providing Shifty Lube service on the Steel bridge esplanade, to Jeff B & helper for distributing lights on the Hawthorne, to Robert, Carie & Cody for transport help, and to Sang, Eli, Traveling Dan, Carye and Jeff on the tallbike for helping transport and serve!

Report: Atomic War Preparedness Ride

Reported by Shawn Granton:
Ride date: June 23

Figures:

• total riders: 50
• riders all the way up Kelly Butte: most of that 50
• riders all the way to Chez Bernard for the movies: about 20
• men in dresses: 1
• tall bikes: 3? 4?
• gas masks: a few
• hazmat suits: 2
• authentic Civil Defense hats: 1
• confused civilians: many
• buttes climbed: one
• wrong turns: one (sorry!)
• bike collisions: one
• total length of ride: 4 1/2 hours

For a full report visit the Urban Adventure League Blog!

Report: Eastside Theater History Ride

From Shawn's Urban Adventure League Blog
Wed 22 June 2005

While the weather wasn't perfect for this Urban Adventure League ride (there was the imminent threat of rain for most of the ride's duration, and it actually DID rain for a moment), it didn't deter seventeen people from showing up at the starting point of Ladd's Circle at 6:30pm for this unique tour. Introductions were given, the zine for the ride handed out, and the bicycle ride headed south-eastward on Ladd Av towards the first destination, the Clinton Street Theater. I gave a brief history of the theater, and the crowd gawked at the new addition to the cinema--Portland's smallest brewpub (as of this week!)...

Click here to watch Clarence Eckerson's movie of the ride!
Click here to continue reading the full report!