Providence Bridge Pedal 2016

     For the past twenty years, Providence has been holding an annual biking event in Portland, usually in a morning in August. The event, called the Providence Bridge pedal, closes ten of Portland's bridges for half the day and gives cyclists the option to ride six, eight, or all ten of the closed Portland trans-Willamette bridges. This excluded Portland's newest bridge-- the Tillikum Crossing, a designated transit bridge. It was featured in the 2015 ride, but omitted this year by TriMet, the bridge's owner. Dad and I attended this year, and despite my ability to ride nearly seventy miles (albeit unintentionally, and not wanting to touch a bike for several days afterwards) we chose the shorter, 13-mile six bridge ride.
     The Bridge Pedal provides a cyclist the opportunity to take many bridges less traveled, and also to safely navigate certain bridges I am scared to drive, let alone ride on the narrow sidewalk of. The start and finish line are located on Naito Pkwy on the Portland waterfront. Despite the tendency to visualize this as a race, the scene at the start is anything but-- groups of people, families, friends, adults, children-- all metaphorically revving their engines to go, before being started off in small, relatively slow-moving groups. First was the low and normally accessible Hawthorne Bridge, then back over the dangerous Ross Island. They closed one lane, but even so I watched a child nearly wander towards the 40 MPH traffic heading East. From here, the route navigated the closed routes of I-405, onto I-5, back to surface streets, and then back to I-405 via the Freemont Bridge, which carries I-405 across the Willamette. From here it was downhill towards downtown where the course ended after passing Union Station. All routes end here, but some also covered the St. John's bridge, a Green replica of the Golden Gate in North Portland. The route takes longer, and so starts earlier, one reason that we chose the ride that we did. Neither of us are what might be called morning people.
     While it did get crowded, the route affords the opportunity to not only legally ride on freeways in Portland, but provides the opportunity to own the freeways, stop at the top to get a bike fixed or watch Portland's fireboat shoot water from all sides to entertain riders. There were stops and activities on top of both of Portland's main freeway bridges-- the Marquam (I-5) and Freemont (I-405,) with fabulous views of the Willamette River, and, for those interested in railroads, a bird's-eye view of Union Pacific's Albina Yard.
     If the Bridge Pedal has one advantage, it is that it has enough courses, that one of them is likely to be a cyclist's speed. There are rides of various lengths as mentioned earlier, and it is by no means a formal event--even children should be fine riding the shorter eight-bridges run. However children and their families also have the option to take a shorter children's ride, and there is even a walk, for those who would rather not ride. There truly is something for everyone.

From their vantage point atop Marquam Bridge, participants watch as Portland's fire boat puts on a show for the participating cyclists

Local Events - Issue 64 - KPO