This Portland relay (not a race) invites you to bike 500 laps around Ladd Circle

Under the rallying cry of “Let’s do something stupid,” hundreds of people will gather Saturday at Ladd Circle Park to ride 500 bike laps around the tiny, circular park located in the middle of a Southeast Portland roundabout.

It’s called the Ladds 500. And for organizer David Barstow Robinson, the event is a celebration of creating community around biking.

“In a lot of ways, this is a love letter to Portland, to the tradition of scrappy artists just having fun unabashedly,” he said.

Five hundred laps ridden along the edge of the approximately 1.1-acre park would equate to about 74 miles. (Portland Parks & Rec says the 1.62-acre size listed on its website includes the four diamond-shaped rose gardens adjacent to the circle.) Riders who take the outer loop will travel even farther.

“The fun part is that it’s a secret long ride, but you don’t go anywhere, so people aren’t quite as scared of it,” Robinson said. “You’re never more than 20 feet from a park that you can stop and take a break in.”

Teams of riders switch off after multiple laps. Ambitious cyclists can do the entire 500 laps solo, but in the spirit of the event, they must make 10 switches to a second bike through the relay.

Inside the circle, teams gather to cheer on the riders, who include unicyclists, tall bike riders, and people using a variety of human-powered means of transportation.

“It’s a picnic, carnival, reunion, party, extravaganza,” Robinson said. “The atmosphere is something that I couldn’t have predicted, but one of my favorite parts of the event, and one of the big reasons why it works.”

The other big reason?

It’s a relay, not a race. Prizes are awarded not to the fastest finishers, but to “whoever looks like they’re having the most fun,” Robinson said.

The inaugural Ladds 500 in 2016 saw somewhere between 30 and 50 riders, and attendance has steadily grown. Though the relay was canceled in 2020 and 2021, it’s always held the Saturday after the second Friday in April.

“It is very much a coming out of hibernation celebration of springtime,” Robinson said.

Participants and spectators are asked – obviously – to bike and not drive to the event. Ladd Circle Park is in a residential area with limited parking.

“This is a biking event. It is in a neighborhood,” Robinson said. “Part of the reason that it works is because we’re not just trying to fill up the entire neighborhood with cars.”

While streets are not closed to cars during the relay, remember that people inside a traffic circle have the right of way, and plan your driving route in the area accordingly.

The event starts at 10 a.m., and the majority of riders finish between 2 and 4 p.m.

No pre-registration is required. Attendees can show up the day of the event to find a piece of plywood with some index cards, Sharpie markers and a staple gun.

“You write a team name on a card, and you staple it to the board, and you’re registered,” Robinson said. Riders tally their own laps.

“Keeping track of scoring is not the main thrust of the event,” he said. “This isn’t something to be taken particularly seriously.”

Kids are welcome at the relay, as long as parents are OK with them hearing profanity. (Participants can get a sense of the vibe by following the event’s Instagram page.)

The Ladds 500 is a project of Umbrella PDX, the nonprofit that provides fiscal sponsorship to a number of Portland street events, including Pedalpalooza, Breakfast on the Bridges and Better Block PDX.

It’s free to participate in the Ladds 500, but donations are accepted to help cover event costs.

“I try to let it remain anarchic and wonderful and community driven,” Robinson said. “It’s a reminder that futility can be made fun if met with the correct attitude.”

If you go: The Ladds 500 starts at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ladd Circle Park, Southeast 16th Avenue and Harrison Street in the Ladd’s Addition neighborhood. No registration is required, and it’s free to participate, but donations can be made via Umbrella PDX to support the event.

-- Samantha Swindler covers features for The Oregonian/OregonLive and Here is Oregon. Reach her at sswindler@oregonian.com.

Our journalism needs your support. Subscribe today to OregonLive.com.