Bridge Pedal 2013

Sunday was the best day of the year: the day bike's take over Portland's bridges. Yippee!

Sarah and Joel joined us for the Bridge Pedal. 

Of course, Dad and Eryn were there, too!

Brad brought along his GoPro for its maiden voyage:

After a slow start, we finally got going. Second bridge: Ross Island:

Marquam Bridge - it's not every day you get to stand on I-5:

Fremont:

St. Johns:

Finish line!

Refueling with buy-one-get-one Chipotle:

Event Review:

I had fun, especially hanging out with my friends! However, the event itself was a bit disappointing.

It's just gotten too big. Organizers know it too, and every year they try something new to fix the congestion. But it's just not working. 

Because we had to wait for the 10-bridge riders to clear the start, we started very late. And the way the course was routed, we merged with the 10s at our very first bridge, causing a huge jam right after we finally got going.

There were several more jams that caused slowdowns or complete stops, including at the very end when the Kids Pedal merged with the big bikes at the east end of the Steel Bridge. I felt so bad for those little kids!

The big rest stop before the Fremont was right in front of Widmer Brewery, and it smelled HORRIBLE. I assume it was beer-making exhaust. Yuck. Kind of ruined the cookie experience. Also, the route went right through it this year, and it was crazy-congested.

Bridge Pedal is still awesome. I love making cars wait while we cruise around the bridges and freeways. But when it was smaller, it was just more fun. I think we might be sticking with Portland's Sunday Parkways next summer :)