Third Annual Fiets of Parenthood
Third Annual Fiets of Parenthood
- This Sunday, September 16 from noon to 4 pm
- Outside of SE Portland bike shop Clever Cycles, located at SE 9th and Hawthorne
How many people can you carry on your bike and still complete a challenging obstacle course? Feats of parental prowess are expected this Sunday with an event lineup including a family bike obstacle course, kid’s races, a bike-centric haiku competition, food vendors, and more.
Clever Cycles management and a crew of enthusiastic parents want to demonstrate what cargo bikes can do when it comes to hauling families. They want to share knowledge with each other and with kid-carrying novices. And they want to determine, for the third year, which child-toting mom or dad is the mightiest.
Attendees should plan for outdoor fun in typical Portland fall weather: it should be hot, unless it rains. There will be on-site areas for diaper changes and nursing mothers, along with bathrooms, food vendors, shade/rain tents, and water. Activities and race registration start at noon, races and competitions begin at 1 pm, and prizes will be awarded. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Bicycle Transportation Alliance.
The name of the event is a play on the Dutch word fiets, meaning bicycle. Event sponsor Clever Cycles pioneered the import of family-carrying bikes from the Netherlands and elsewhere when they opened in 2007, in particular popular bakfiets (box bike) and oma fiets (granny bike) models. So when the team was trying to name their family bike competition, wherein cargo bikes were used by parents to perform feats of strength, Fiets of Parenthood seemed a natural fit.