BikeCraft & last day of Pedalpalooza

Yesterday's BikeCraft event at the Multnomah County Bike Fair went well.
Come to think of it, I don't think we've ever displayed the bike figures in public before. Sold a few of them, but I think more importantly got lots of people to see them in person. I don't think most of the people at the fair were there to buy anything, but I think it was good for people to see these things exist. As far as I know, I'm the only one making this kind of figures in paper mache. I had a few unpainted (Paint It Yourself) bike figures there and they went pretty quickly. I don't have any more of them on hand to offer them on Etsy, but I will make more of them soon. It had been a while since I had done one of these sale events in public. I think the last one I did might have been at the WFMU record fair in NYC many years ago when I was making an entirely different kind of stuff. I think the next BikeCraft event is November. I'm not certain, I will be there, but if I do, I'll definitely be more prepared.

So yesterday was the last day of this year's Pedalpalooza. I had fun at the few events I attended, but I wonder how it seemed to the non-enthusiast public. Was it just self indulgence by a select group of people? I enjoy riding my bike and many things bicycle related, but I'm still not sure that I fully identify with all of the so called Portland Bike Culture.

At the fair yesterday, I had to watch over my table all day, so I didn't get to see what was going on at other parts of the event. The only thing I saw was the track stand contest which was going on right in front of my table.



You had to be balanced on your bike without putting your feet on the ground while people threw water balloons and if you made it longer than 60 seconds, you won a prize.



A sprockette got in on the action too!



I got to see a lot of people yesterday too and I thought it would be fun to chronicle the cycling style that's all Portland. It's definitely different than Copenhagen or London. I am not sure I will purposely stake out to take pictures of people, but if I happen to take interesting pictures, I will report.

Paper Bicycles Saturday

As I said in the last post, I will be taking part in the Multnomah County Bike Fair's Bike Craft event this Saturday. I have been in mass production mode of the paper mache bike figures the last few days.



So, these in the above picture, along with others will be there on sale.

During the day of the sale, I will be taking the bike figures off from our Etsy shop temporarily. I haven't sold these figures in public before and I don't know how well they will sell, but if you've been eyeing any particular figure, I can't guarantee they will still be available after the sale. Even if they all sell out, I will be making more but no figure are exactly the same as they are all hand made.

If you are in Portland, come check out the Multnomah County Bike Fair!

MULTNOMAH COUNTY BIKE FAIR
Col. Summers Park, SE 20th Ave and Belmont St.
2:00pm - 7:00pm

MCBF is the catastrophic culmination of 2+ weeks of Pedalpalooza bike fun.
Local bikey artisan craft bazaar care of bikeportland.org
"Biking around large vehicles" clinic by TriMet's Dan Christensen.
Affordable lights and helmets from Protect Your World.
Local food carts including bike-based Soupcycle!
Root beer garden for the kiddos.
As always, live music and crazy competitions.
Bring your friend. Bring your bike. Bring your sunscreen. Bring your camera. Bring your best game. Bring your bandages. Bring your bike fun.

more Pedalpalooza and Sprockettes fun

The last post from Kao included pictures she took while visiting her parents in Kashima, Ibaraki. Ibaraki is the prefecture North East of Tokyo. Her English may not be grammatically perfect, but I think it's charming in its own way. I think her way of posting a few pictures and just a few words is maybe more eloquent than my incoherent ramblings and reminds me a bit of Copenhagen Cycle Chic.

Pedalpalooza is still going in here in Portland though it's coming to the end this weekend. I still haven't been able to check out much of it. If my hand was all healed, I might have partaken in the ride to the Columbia River Gorge. I've yet to really get out of the city on long rides, but maybe I'll try and do that by myself this Summer.

I did manage check out a couple of events though.



On Sunday, there was this event called Sunday parkways happening in North Portland close to where I live. They close a 7.5 mile loop of streets connecting public parks off from automobile traffic, so people on foot and bicycles can run or ride freely without worrying about cars. North Portland is very residential and family oriented, so the event didn't quite feel Pedalpalooza to me, but it was fun as there were no cars to worry about and it sort felt like a very loosely organized group ride.



The other event I saw was THE SPROCKETTES' HAWT DAMN HOTPINK POTLUCK BBQ. I think the Sprockettes is the image I have of Pedalpalooza, and they were performing close to my place, so I went and checked it out. I missed the POTLUCK BBQ part though, so I was unprepared and just ended up sitting around staring at all the people mingling and eating while I waited for the Sprockettes performance.



I had to wait a while, but it was worth the wait. What's not to like about 8 girls in pink and black dancing with bikes? I definitely like them a lot more than Hikaru Genji (late 80's - early 90's Japanese boy band with roller skates)

(Hikaru Genji)

Anyway, it was fun watching them. I feel I've finally experienced a bit of Pedalpalooza. I shot a bit of video, so you can watch for yourself.


They are doing a mid west tour soon(Chicago and Minneapolis), so if you're in luck if you live over there. They mentioned the bus they were going to use for a part of the trip fell through and they are looking for one. They are looking for something that's not a major rental car, but something that is local & more community oriented. If you know of anything, let them know.

They are performing again this Saturday at the MULTNOMAH COUNTY BIKE FAIR(which is supposedly the catastrophic culmination of 2+ weeks of Pedalpalooza bike fun). I will be there at the Bike Craft portion of the event selling the bike figures, so I'm not sure if I'll be able to see them, but that should be a fun event, so all you Portlanders come and check it out.