It's a moment that Portland cyclists will be living down for years, if not decades: the challenging portion of the 2014 Worst Day of the Year Ride, which had been scheduled for this Sunday, has been canceled because the weather will be bad.

By bad we mean that there will be as many as eight inches of snow on the ground in Portland. The ride is, of course, supposedly timed to the worst weather day of the year. And just yesterday, ride organizers were encouraging riders to "have no fear about the forecast." 

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its more challenging route "for safety reasons" and will instead ask riders to pedal around flat city streets for a few miles and then warm their little toesies by the fire with a warm cup of cocoa
We remind you that Minneapolis claims to be the best biking city in America, that their best day of February is worse than our worst and that they are all going to laugh at us.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to get home before it gets dark because our office is officially closed and Portland's streets really are scary when it snows.

UPDATE: Organizers point out that, at this point, the less-challenging urban ride will go on, snow or no snow, and that there will still be a party to celebrate. The first line of this post has been clarified to reflect this.

UPDATE 2: Would-be 2014 riders are already paid up for 2015.