How We Roll in Stumptown (Lebowski style!)

How we roll...with the tumbling tumbleweed!













Ohhh, Nice Marmot!







"The ringer can not look empty, Dude"







"Larry,this is what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass!!"




Group photo...note the marquis(below)



Much noise has been made of Portland’s livability, it’s long dark winters, glorious beer, and the glowing reviews of life in Stumptown in the pages of high-brow travel and outdoor magazines. Consequently, all this press has resulted in a huge influx of migrants (myself included….no self righteousness here) and certain character aspects of the city have changed. Some of these changes are good. Some are bad. While Portland maintains its very liberal outlook on life, I have realized that there are rich liberals and poor liberals and each group has a distinctively different view of the world.

While prices have gone up everywhere, the place I call home, the inner Southeast, has tenaciously hung on to its proletarian roots (in isolated enclaves). You just have to look a bit deeper for them. This brings us to one of Portland’s most wonderful and misunderstood subcultures of which I now find myself among. Bicycles. Yes, Bicycles.

Now most folks think about riding a bike as either a recreational or competitive event. Something for sunny Saturdays or that odd friend of yours who gets totally stoked for Tour de France coverage. True, some of you may know those who cycle daily for health, environmental, or with today’s gas prices, economic reasons. But many in Portland have taken cycling to a new, bizarre level. And as I cycle more and more, I find myself wading deeper into a way of life that has brought new friends and great experiences. I give you “Pedalpalooza”!!!

Pedalpalooza is a two week event that involves everything bike and bike related. Bike polo, bike jousting, bike repair, synchronized bike teams, bike fairs, zoo bombing, a naked bike ride (stop shuddering! I did not participate), free coffee and doughnuts for bike commuters, and my favorite events: theme rides. The gist is this: get a bunch of cyclists together and take over a small part of the streets for a time, throw back a few, and have some fun. Not as a protest (ok maybe a little) but as a way to develop visibility for cycling. While a car may look upon one cyclist as an annoyance, when there are 60 laughing, pedaling riders headed down the street, well, you’re just going to have to deal!

Last night was the “Dude Ride”. A 15-mile homage to one of my favorite movies of all time, “The Big Lebowski”. At various stops we re-enacted scenes from the movie (with audio), and rode the streets of Southeast Portland with a soundtrack of Credence Clearwater Revival. There were many bath-robes, a Jesus (with whom nobody fucks), a couple of Maudes (“vagina“), a smattering of Nihilists (we wants the money Lebowski!), and yes, copious amounts of white Russians. I stuck to beer as I have vowed never to touch vodka again after my time in Georgia (once you’ve had Gomi, you never go back!).

The evening culminated with the scattering of Donnie’s “ashes” at Mount Tabor and then a ride down to a bowing alley where we received cheap bowing and free shoe rental. And then, we bowled. I must say that for not having picked up a bowling ball for over three years I did pretty well (155 and 128). After 5 hours, tons of laughs, and only $23 dollars spent, I turned on my rolling Christmas tree of a bike and pedaled home. Tonight I find myself in a quandary: do I ride with our newly elected mayor (a big cyclist himself) or go to the bike in movie? Ahhhh such decisions.