Metro Parent Magazine August 2014 | Page 44

[ Time Out ] Training Wheels: No cars + lots of bikes = a really good summer Sunday. Rainy weather will be back soon enough, so get out for a family bike ride this month while the getting is good. Balance bikes, tricycles, training wheels, cargo bikes, unicycles, trailer bikes, ride-along bikes and tandem bicycles — all are welcome at the Sunday Parkways in SE Portland. Seven miles of road are closed to cars, so kids can bike as fast (or, more likely) as slow as they want. Along the way, neighborhood residents set up lemonade stands and snowcone machines — be neighborly, and partake. Better yet, there are convenient pit stops every couple of miles, at parks along the route, where kiddo entertainers have set up shop. Our pick is Laurelhurst Park, where the Joy Now project, a motley crew of circus arts performers usually camps out, giving free juggling lessons and hula hoop demonstrations. There’s food for sale too, from Portland’s trusty army of mobile food trucks. Sunday, August 24, 11 a.m-4 p.m. FREE. Meanwhile, the Providence BridgePedal attract hordes of serious cyclists to downtown Portland to coast over the bridges that span the Willamette, mostly all closed to cars for this once-a-year event. It can be overwhelming for the youngest pedalers, which is why the BridgePedal folks came up with KidsPedal, a shorter, three-mile route that only crosses the Hawthorne and Steel Bridges. Adults can ride this route only if they are “chaperoned” by a kid 8-years-old or younger. There’s no charge to ride, but there’s only room for 1,000 participants — and every one of them needs to be wearing a bike helmet, organizers say. The KidsPedal starts at a familyfriendly 10 a.m. at SW Morrison and Naito Parkway. FREE. 44 August 2014 | metro-parent.com COURTESY OF THE PORTLAND BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION Picture break, on top of the Fremont Bridge. Ready to put the pedal to the metal. COURTESY OF PROVIDENCE BRIDGEPEDAL. COURTESY OF PROVIDENCE BRIDGEPEDAL.