Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - PDX Critical Mass - in pictures.

Friday's mass was great. No cop cars emitting their fumes, only one motorcycle cop I noticed as we crossed the Broadway bridge, and a handful of bicycle cops that were cordial and just riding with us like any other rider in the mass. None of the historical harrassment going on. I don't know how many cyclists there were, but quite a bunch. Some of them broke off into their own style mass, cruising around downtown wherever they pleased. It was nice that I never noticed any negative attitudes from anyone towards us, and we actually got plenty of cheers from people dining, at bars, at bus stops, etc.

Although the bike cops were generally cool, we still had to keep in order while they were there. After a while, though, they split off and let us be... seems they thought we were harmless enough. The next mile or so was a true celebration of the bicycle. Felt very free.

The evening in pictures....

Gathering by the giant elephant in the North Park blocks.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/1elephant.jpg

Getting ready to ride.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/2getready.jpg

I think this was probably the Portland Mercury shooting a picture of people making out for their upcoming issue... can't wait to see it, as there was a mass of bikers in their background.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/3kiss.jpg

And we're off..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/4off.jpg

Cruising through a nice narrow street.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/5narrow_street.jpg

This guy was riding his skateboard when his shorts slid off baring everything, and then flew through a red light. This is the only legal issue I noticed during the ride...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/6skater.jpg

We stopped at every red light like good boys and girls. World famous Powell's books is right there.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/7powell.jpg

Mini bike maintenance required.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/8fix_mini.jpg

Mini chopper cruisin'. Zoobomb certainly has an influence on the bicycle scene here.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/9mini_chopper.jpg

Good times.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/10goodtimes.jpg

Looking downtown from Broadway bridge.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/11downtown.jpg

Pushing it up Hawthorne bridge.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/13uphawthorne.jpg

Another mini bike.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/14miniyellow.jpg

The cops finally split off, and we were free to roam. Sprits soared at this point.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/15free.jpg

Crossing back over the broadway bridge...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/16broadway.jpg

Feeling good coming back into downtown.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/17back.jpg

The end. Celebration at the fountain follows.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/gonesh9/18end.jpg

Great pics. Thanks for sharing them.

Great pics.

you never see any pics like that in NYC anymore :(

Thanks for the beautiful pix. I miss living in Portland.

looks really fun, i miss portland too

did those clown kids show up? *secretly crushes on girlclown*

Good times in the Chicago mass the piggies made us turn around once and were with us the entire time!! And then one guy was hit by a off duty cop! So when the real cops got there he was totally like this is where the cyclist hit me!!!! I think the guy left in a ambulance.

those are beautiful. looks like a good mass. thanks.

I miss Portland too. It's so much fun riding there.

milwaukee's got shut down asap last night.
totally ridiculous.
your pics make me long for my boston rides.

what great pics. I love Portland, what I great cyling town!

Pittsburgh's Mass went on without any problems. We did have a guy get out of his minivan and ask us in a yell, "WHO WANTS TO DIE FIRST?" as we were stopping traffic to let everyone through. He claimed to be a state trooper (yeah right).

beep beep! internal combustion coming through!

I didn't leave work until 6:45 but I managed to chase down the mass (with the help of a cellphone) that split off to go back downtown. For the record, critical mass is really easy to catch even if you start 5 miles away.

my shop is right next to the hawthore bridge on ramp. too bad I was underground (G) th tatoo'd chick reminded me of a hottie with even more tattoo's and calves almost as large as mine.

Gratuitous shot of hottie on fixie with lotsa sexy tattoos.

She's in just about every photo. Thanks! I want to visit Portland again very soon.

Nice pics. I'm going to try to get out next month (was too busy this month tracking down parts to finish off a friend's fixie).

Personally, though, I'd rather you left out the hottie pictures. I mean, you were pretty tasteful about it, and I don't think anyone would really get pissed off, but it's a little inappropriate/offensive to anonymously snap pictures of a girl so she can be objectified in an internet forum.

Gonesh - Thanks! I haven't seen Powell's in PDX for about 6 years...Monkey said it best: "She's in just about every shot"

you should have just talked to her. ;)

looks like fun!

milwaukee's got shut down asap last night.
totally ridiculous.
your pics make me long for my boston rides.
I'd heard that... What happened? Milwaukee usually doesn't seem to give two s__ts about it. :eek:

Hey the girl got in a bunch of the shots because we both happened to be riding towards the front. I honestly didn't realize she was in so many. I feel bad if there was any objectifying going on there, it really wasn't my intention.

Did anyone drop by NYC's? I was trapped at work and couldn't go by...

-s

Hey the girl got in a bunch of the shots because we both happened to be riding towards the front. I honestly didn't realize she was in so many. I feel bad if there was any objectifying going on there, it really wasn't my intention.
Oh, your post wasn't really bad at all. It's just one of those things that can easily slip into what I (and I doubt I'm in the majority on this anyway) would consider inappropriate.

so the "girl" would probably want to be called a "woman." considering that "girls" are around 12, and "hottie"? oh my [manifestations of traditional patri-culture]. But anyway - nice pics of pdx.07.05.o'mass!