Sunday, June 15, 2008

another Portland thing

Last night the two classes Stacey has been teaching had performances at the CSz stage. Both the Teens and Adult classes have learned a lot in the 10 week course(s) and their shows were both very good. It's crazy to see teens play so smart and confident.
After the show we all (the adults) went out to what has become our local hang-out-after-shows place, Casa Del Matador on 23rd and while there I got to witness another weird thing that makes Portland such a great place to be.
the Naked Bike Race.

Every year hundreds of people strip down and ride bikes around Portland. As soon as they started passing the Matador, we all got up from the table and walked outside to cheer them on. We treated it like they were running a marathon. "You Can Do It!" and "Safety First!" were my two favorite chants we had. There were somewhere between one and two hundred people in the pack.
It was ridiculous.
I just found out they did this in Colorado too, as a 'soft protest' against automobiles. Pro bikes. Being naked helps get attention.

1 comment:

Timmy Tapeworm said...

They did it in Chicago too. Rebecca and I were leaving The Playground and saw people gathered around Belmont and Halsted. Apparently, it was the designated watching location. We figured it was probably something we should experience, so we stuck around and watched for a while. We got the gist of it after a couple hundred riders went by and went home.