The Bike Temple is hosting a Thanksgiving-ish potluck dinner for the community on Sunday, November 22nd at the Temple Come by to eat, drink, and be merry with your fellow bicycle believers. Food and beverage of all types welcome. This is an all-ages event. Please confirm your attendance and add your name and what you are bringing to our sign-up sheet here:
Just a quick note to let everyone know that we have begun regular staffing of the Bike Temple shop starting today! As of right now we are open every Wednesday from 6:00-8:30pm, hours are expected to increase as more volunteers and time surfaces.
Stop by if you need your bicycle blessed, have some spare bikes/parts/tools to donate, or just want to hang out with your fellow believers in a naturally air-conditioned environment.
If you are interested in becoming a regular Temple Shop staffer send us an email and let us know when works for you.
Stop by! The Bike Temple NE 9th and Going (Basement level door on NE corner of big white church building)
Freak bikes, ministers, young, and old all converged on the new Bike Temple location this weekend to celebrate its grand opening in an inspiring and uplifting event.
The celebration started early as the Freak Bike Fall Alley Cat racers showed up out front, the undisclosed finish line to the annual checkpoint challenge that pits tall bikes, long bikes, mini bikes, and even a shopping cart cargo bike against each other. The racers showed up panting, lipstick smeared, and ready for some healing. Soon after people started flocking to the temple from high and low, each one rolling their blessed bicycles into the temple doors to park against pews in the sanctuary.
Pasture Ted and the Kernal graciously cooked up some food for the masses, which was pleasantly accompanied by some communion thanks to Josh and the Deacon, and, after some great fellowship with our bicycle brothers and sisters, we headed into the sanctuary for services.
The services in the sanctuary started off with everyone in attendance rolling their venerated transportation tool down the aisle to the alter, where the Pasture and Padre Joe blessed their chains with holy anointing oil while the Deacon sang bicycle-themed Gregorian chants. After everyone's bicycles had been blessed, and The Door Prize was proudly displayed on stage, the congregation sat down for a sermon.
Deacon Amos started off with a short introduction to the Bike Temple, Pasture Ted than told us the history of his mission and how this whole thing came to be, and the Kernal blessed us with a wonderfully inspiring sermon, a vision of a cycling utopia in real life, an uplifting message for the believers, who sat with heads bowed and eyes closed. After the sermons we took a few confessions from the congregation, who repented of recent transportation transgressions, and who were forgiven by the Temple.We followed the confessions with a recital of the newly-authored (still a work in progress) "Bicycle Pledge of Allegance", which was manifested that very day by sister Lauren...
I pledge allegiance to my bike, in the anarchist state of Cascadia, and to the fun movement for which it stands, one cycle, under your mom, do-it-your-damn-self, with free love and helmets for all!
After the pledge the crowd joined Rev. Phil on stage with hands linked and heads bowed, who lead us in a group recital of the Bicycle Lord's Prayer.
It was a truly awesome and inspiring sight to see so many people committed to the cause who weren't afraid to bare themselves and have fun doing it. The sound of bike bells ringing through a church was a first for us, and it just sounded right.
Brothers and Sisters, the time has come to open the doors and start healing!
Hallelujah!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 9TH 7:00PM NE 9TH & GOING
After much planning and preparation the Bike Temple is ready to unveil it's first physical home, located at the Lotus Seed Ashram on NE 9th and Going in Portland, OR. The space offers many facilities for members and bicycle believers, including access to sanctuary and meeting spaces, and our very own bicycle healing shop. The shop, which is located at basement level on the northeast corner of the building, will serve as headquarters for the Bike Temple as well as a space for members to build, repair, learn, and teach about bicycles.
Our grand event will feature bicycle-themed worship and ritual, communion, (yes... that means beer) food, and a very special blessing of the new space. We will be riding as a group to the MMR at the end, to round out this very blessed night. This event is open to the public, whether you are interested in becoming a member or are just curious about what all these weirdos are doing. Join us there!
This weekend the templers and a few good friends got together to clean, organize, build, paint, and hang out in the Bike Temple's new shop.
The space started out small, dark, and dirty, so we are doing our best to set it up and brighten it up in a way that changes that as much as possible. Josh got an early start on things by coming by earlier in the week and sweeping and vacuuming out the space (not an easy or pleasant task), then at the work party Saturday morning we were blessed to have Bob, a friend of the Temple stop by with tools and materials, soon creating a beautiful and solid work bench to grace the Temple Shop.
After the work bench was installed we set to organizing parts and tools and painting. At the end of day on Saturday we had a few parts of the room and the outside door painted white (although visitors will now find the almost all of the room has been painted, thanks to some free time spent by the Deacon and his lovely wife.)
We are excited that the space is finally starting to look like a usable shop. We are still in need of some tools, a pump or two, more paint, and any parts and pieces you may have laying around. We will announce the next event at the Bike Temple Shop soon.
The Bike Temple has just wrapped up a very blessed day here in the bicycle holy land. Pasture Ted, Deacon Amos, Kernal Loose Nut, Josh, Halley, Padre Joe, and several members and followers made the intersection at NE 17th and Going a very spiritual and bike loving place.
We brought out the mobile shrine, of course, which recieved ooos, ahhs, and plenty of photo sessions by the passing throng of thousands (over 20k?) of cyclists, walkers, stroller pushers, skateboarders, rollerbladers. As the riders took the turn to follow the coarse they were welcomed to this sacred place by the soothing and skilled music of Halley the Harper,
our holy harpist on-site.
Just past Halley the Holy Harper riders were greeted by an authentic church pew that we borrowed from the Lotus Seed Ashram and planted under a shade tree for all to enjoy. A few feet from the pew riders were greeted by this...
The role of the priest was played throughout the day by Padre Joe, Pasture Ted, and for a few glorious minutes, member Chris (Fool) Mccraw, who all did a wonderful job of both blessing and cooling off passersby.
It was certainly a blessed day in Portland. I have never seen so many people on bikes, and I have never seen so many smiling faces... coincidence?
The Bike Temple founders have been constantly scouting and searching for a place to call their own since day one. We set out to find a place that would accommodate a small bike shop facility, as well as provide the members of the Bike Temple a safe haven to practice and promote religion and cycling.
How does something like this look?
Yes, our friends at the Lotus Seed Ashram, located in a massive and beautiful old church building on NE 9th and Going have offered us a space in the basement with just enough room and and outside access door for the Bike Temple to call home. The Bike Temple would also have access to the sanctuary, meeting spaces, and outside yard of the building on a scheduled bases, giving us ample space to hold bicycle services and other events.
In order for the Bike Temple to be able to accept the offer and move in on August 1st, we are actively seeking members and supporters of our project. Any tithes from you will go directly toward monthly rent, tools, and supplies for the shop.
Membership includes access to the Bike Temple shop and facilities during open hours and use of community tools and parts. And because this is a new venture for the Bike Temple, becoming a member now will allow you to help shape and form this new project. A member should be able to tithe at least $10 for each month of membership, but no strict requirements will be made as long as they have the intention of helping out. To become a member email us at biketemple@gmail.com
If you are not interested in a membership but would like to donate to the Bike Temple simply send a check in any amount to the Lotus Seed. This will literally be helping to pay our rent at this building. Be sure to reference that your donation is going toward Bike Temple Rent. The Lotus Seed is a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
The Lotus Seed Ashram
4635 NE 9th Avenue
Portland, OR 97211
To help us track and thank you for donations, please let us know if you have sent a donation in and how much you have contributed by emailing us at biketemple@gmail.com
We are all very excited about the prospects of moving in. With your help we can finally have a place for the Bike Temple to call it's own. We will be sure to announce when things have been made official. Thank you in advance for your support!
Yesterday the Bike Temple embarked on it's highly anticipated debut event, The Joy of Sects Ride, a Pedalpolooza ride designed to teach your average citizen a little something about a religion and it's facilities that they possibly knew nothing about.
We started at Colonel Summers Park, allowing a little time for mingling and late-comers before getting started (one great practice I learned from Brad and Heather of Easy Riders is to start a ride 30 minutes after it's posted time, giving those on bike time a chance to show.) At the park The Bike Temple introduced itself and it's intentions to the group, which at it's strongest was somewhere around 40 people. We explained the ambitions and vision of the Bike Temple and answered questions from the crowd, who was very eager to learn about the great things that are coming from this group.
We left Colonel Summers and headed to our first stop, the Metanoia Peace Community, a United Methodist Church that is located in a large, beautiful house in the Irvington community. Many of the members live in the building and help to maintain the building and run the small publishing business therein, creating books that help those facing tragedy and loss. We were greeted by the Pastor, John Schwiebert, who sat us down in the living room and gave us a brief summery of their faith and practices, as well as answered questions from the group. More information on the Metanoia Peace Community can be found on their website.
After Metanoia we headed southeast to the Multnomah weekly Quaker Friends meeting at Stark and 43rd. A representative named Lew came out to the front and told us all about the history and practices of the Quaker faith, which includes the practice of total consensus when making decisions among other things. Lew also answered some questions from the crowd and would have taken us on a tour but sadly we ran out of time at that stop. You can learn more about the Quaker Meeting here.
We then headed to the Dharma Rain Zen Center, where Jyoshin met with us and led us into the building. We all took off our shoes and sat in the beautiful building while Jyoshin talked to us about the Buddhist practice of meditation and inner vision. The Dharma Rain Center is open to the public and designed to give the everyday person a chance to envolve themselves in the teaching and practice of Buddhism. See their website for details and schedules.
From Dharma Rain we headed downtown for a quick stop at the First Unitarian Church and the Beth Israel Jewish Congregation. Due to some unfortunate and very last-minute events these facilities were unable to provide us with a representative to speak to the group, but we took the opportunity to explore their campuses and talk amongst ourselves about what good could be done within the cycling community by a religiously-focused group like the Bike Temple. This sparked some great conversation and discussion by some very intelligent and forward-thinking people. It was a great experience.
For our final stop we rode up to NE to the Lotus Seed Ashram. The Lotus Seed is a community of residents who practice and teach yoga in a large and beautiful church building that was formerly home to Portland's first black congregation. The leader of the community, Wren, brought us into the chapel and talked to us about what the Lotus Seed does and it's goals for the future. It was great to sit back in a pew and take in the light from the stained glass windows. The Lotus Seed site has more information on classes and event schedules.
It was a great pleasure to lead this ride with such an amazing group of people. Everyone was respectful and open-minded at each stop, and the questions and discussions that stemmed from them were very inspiring. After Wren wrapped up at the Lotus Seed many of us stood around outside talking about what could be done next, and Pasture Ted collected contact information and passed out membership forms. If you are interested in getting involved in projects and events like this, feel free to email us.
Thanks to everyone who came and all of the representatives at our stops. This was a very fun and informative ride for us all.
For more (better) pics and coverage see those by bikeportland.org here
The members of the Bike Temple have been diligently working on and enjoying the many sacred practices and rituals of the bicycle community this weekend. Some great times were had and some wonderful people met.
We started off on Friday with a visit to the Lotus Seed Ashram (Grand Master Morgan and Pasture Ted stayed in Vancouver to show off some fine bike art), where they were presenting the community's first ever Bike Show. The event was a blast, starting off with an
immaculate performance by The Sprockettes (possibly their first ever Church Building performance), followed by some great music, which at one point included involving the crowd by handing out kid's toy instruments and stuffed toys to be rhythmically battered and beaten in a marvelous cacophony of sound. A few of us rounded out the night with an awesome rock show by local favorite, Tango Alpha Tango, and some communion at Crow Bar.
Today the Bike Temple was represented at the Blessing of the Bikes, where a Catholic Priest blessed and sprinkled with holy water the cycles of commuters, police, children and roadies alike. Moses was even able to get his Zoobomber blessed, to help ward off any unfortunate experiences on the hill.
After the Blessing of the Bikes we went for a dry-run of next week's Joy of Sects Ride to iron out travel routes and times. I can't tell you how excited I am for this ride. Everything is looking great and, following some finishing touches to the Mobile Shrine, we are well prepared. After the dry run we stopped back in at the Lotus Seed and had some wonderful conversation with the people there. We are looking forward to introducing them and their work to you. They will be involved in the Joy of Sects Ride, but the details are still a secret.
All in all it was a very blessed week. This town and it's people are doing some great things, and we feel fortunate to be a part of them.
Yesterday the Bike Temple held it's bi-monthly organizers meeting, and some great progress was made. We made plans this week to collect materials and tools for the building of MR. E, and a few work-parties on the schedule. We are currently looking to buy or borrow a welder and equipment, please let us know if you have any leads for us.
After the meeting Deacon Amos, Pasture Ted, and Josh (yet to be titled) rode over to the Lotus Seed Ashram, a yoga studio and multi-purpose community based in a beautiful old Church of Christ building at 4635 NE 9th. We met Paige and Johnny, who were very kind, welcoming people, and who host a weekly dinner at the building every Wednesday evening ($3-5 donation with music and great company.) They will also be hosting a Chautauqua Vaudeville Variety Show on May 29th that will surely be worth checking out.
We will be meeting with the Lotus Seed again soon and hope that our paths will align in the future.
The Bike Temple is hosting a Thanksgiving-ish potluck dinner for the community on Sunday, November 22nd at the Temple Come by to eat, drink, and be merry with your fellow bicycle believers. Food and beverage of all types welcome. This is an all-ages event. Please confirm your attendance and add your name and what you are bringing to our sign-up sheet here:
