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Fact: everything is better in a costume. Riding a bike is great, but riding a bike while drooling fake blood with a wooden stake sticking out of your belly is awesome. Sipping a beer is just an average day, but sipping a beer in a torn-up tuxedo surrounded by an army of the living dead—that's my kind of Friday night. On June 19, a herd of about 25 Portlanders who reject the vapid drone of the ordinary donned white face paint, fake blood and tattered clothes and took to their bikes for the Zombie Cycle Outbreak, one of many outrageous revelries on the Pedalpalooza Calendar.
The gristly procession took off from Tom McCall Waterfront Park, winding its way over the Hawthorne Bridge to hit a pub crawl whose lineup included The Lucky Labrador Brew Pub, Slow Bar and My Father's Place, to name just a few. Participating zombies drank and made merry, claiming new converts along the way by biting the living with mouths full of fake blood. For a bunch of dead people, these zombies sure know how to party.
Nothing says "Portland" like a bar full of costumed lushes wearing bike helmets. It's the kind of delightfully freakish occasion that heeds the call to keep our city weird. Catch more ridiculous carousing in the final week of Pedalpalooza, including Pedal Car Karaoke, another screening of Bike Porn 3, the Bikini Bike Wash, and a final Naked Bike Ride. For a full listing of events, visit the Pedalpalooza website.
WWeek 2015