Posted on November 15, 2010 in Arts & Culture
By Jessica MacDonald

If you’ve ever walked through downtown Portland for the First Friday Art Walk, you may have seen an artsy gang of cyclists strolling about. These are the Portland Slow Riders, a community of cyclists with one interest in mind: taking a nice slow bicycle ride through Portland.

On Nov. 5 they took their last ride of the year.

Every first Friday of the month, the group congregates at Monument Square in Portland to celebrate their love for bicycles and the enjoyment of a casual ride through the city. Beginning at 7 p.m, the group can be seen taking their time strolling down Congress Street.

When Julie Fitzgerald of Portland started the group, she didn’t realize it was part of a larger fad in casual cycling.

“There are rides like this happening all over the country,” Fitzgerald said.

Everything from “bird bikes” to speaker mobiles and velocipedes, an earlier kind of bicycle, can be seen on these rides. Rain or shine, local bicycle lovers flock to the event to show off their creativity and classic styles. Fitzgerald describes the rides as “spectacles outside the realm of spandex and performance.”

And from the growing number of participants in the slow ride and similar events, she sees a growing trend in Portland.

With an average of 30 people a ride, the group appeals to every type of cyclist. Fitzgerald said she has met people from “all walks of life.”

There is no police assistance to ensure rider safety and no permits acquired for the events. In addition, no streets are blocked and traffic isn’t directed. The bicyclists ride at their own risk, some with children in tow, through the busy streets of Portland.

Every month there is a new theme for the riders, Fitzgerald said.

The latest theme encouraged riders to incorporate lights, bear costumes, and safety orange to create a hunting theme.

Two days after the last slow ride of the year, a similar event was held, called the Tweed Ride, and it was created by Josh and Jillian of Portland Velocipede, a fancy bicycle shop that opened in May.

The Tweed Ride is similar to the Slow Ride, except participants are encouraged to dress in the finest tweed and sport the best handlebar moustache one can grow, or find, evoking a feel of the 1920s. The ride began in Tommy’s Park and followed Portland Trail.

Contrary to what a few people thought, Fitzgerald did not organize the event, though she said she certainly participated.

Before these events were formed, Fitzgerald said previous social cycling events such as club riding, fitness riding, and racing excluded a certain kind of people. Now with the increasing number of slow rides, there is a new way for more people to socialize and express themselves.

While Fitzgerald said the rides are mostly for fun, there is one thing she does hope for.

“My only agenda is more people on bikes and motorists seeing more bikes on the road,” Fitzgerald said.

Additional reporting by Dylan Martin.