Star Trek Pedalpalooza highlights some dedicated Trekkies

Star Trek isn’t just about the series or the movies. 

As all of us Trekkies know, Star Trek goes way beyond the series you can find on Paramount+ or any of the movies. There are conventions, collectibles like action figures, one-on-one video chats with some of your favorite actors, the cruise, and now, for the second time, there’s the Star Trek Pedalpalooza held in Portland, Oregon.

The ride started out with a round of Trek trivia, and, according to bikeportland.org, at least two of the questions were easy for any Trekkie to get right. “What does IDIC stand for? And what class of starship is the USS Voyager?” After that, the group of pedal pushers zoomed through the streets of Portland, dressed as some of their favorite characters, to the tunes of a playlist with songs like Worf’s Revenge by Aurelio Voltaire off the album BiTrekual.

Star Trek fans came out decked in some of their finest for the ride.

Some wore Geordi LaForge socks while others carried their S.S. Botany Bay bag. And then there were others who went all out, like my favorite, the Khan biker, who truly put some effort into the costume. They pedaled around town looking they’d just beamed in off a starship while greeting onlookers with the phrase Mr. Spock made famous “Live long and prosper.” (Unfortunately, we don’t have access to the images, but you can see all of them at the bikeportland.org link above.)

Once the bike ride was over, the cyclists were entertained with a performance by the USS Improvise, which is a Star Trek themed theater troupe, with performers dressed as the main cast from Star Trek: The Next Generation like Worf, Commander Will Riker, and Dr. Beverly Crusher.

A big fan of Star Trek, ride leader Joe Gavrilovich started the ride last year and told a local reporter that “Getting together with other Trekkies makes me feel better about where we’re headed as a society.” And this makes perfect sense to us Trekkies. In fact, it sounds like an activity more cities should consider implementing. It would be fun to see Trekkies cycling down the street while wishing us long life and prosperity.