Except for the hassle of battleships everywhere, yesterday was a beautiful day for a bike ride. Hundreds of people met up in downtown Portland to start off the ridiculous three-week long bike festival Pedalpalooza, wending their way through town to the Pedalpalooza kickoff party we hosted at Velo Cult in Hollywood.

It's nice to be back once again to the month where you never know what kind of crazy bike ride you're going to cross paths with. I'm looking forward to stumbling across gangs of people biking along dressed as David Bowie or unicorns or Star Wars characters when I least expect it.

I want to give a shout out to the Suicide Notes, who played the party last night and whose impressive punky surf rock is matched only by the impressiveness of their matching pants.

Also thanks to beer sponsor Lompoc, food cart Four and Twenty Blackbirds for dishing up these delicious things, Velo Cult for letting us invade their space, and the 200 or so people who came to the party and didn't break things.

Now get out there and get on your bike!