I love biking. In all seasons, it’s clean, cheap, and radical. And it brings people together. Today, for instance, I had free breakfast on the Hawthorne Bridge with volunteers from SHIFT. Did you know this happens every last Friday of the month? Yeah, bike culture!

Here’s another great way to get involved in Portland’s bike culture: go see the Bicycle Film Festival (BFF) at Clinton Street Theatre at SE 26th Ave and Clinton St. BFF celebrates all manners of cycling through a variety of film media (animation, documentary, historical reinactment, etc). Now in its ninth year, BFF is a global film festival touring 39 cities, including New York, London, and Paris. This is the third year we’ve hosted in Portland. Not only is BFF celebrating bike culture, but it appears to be spreading new modes of cycling across the globe. According to founding director Brendt Barbur, it was BFF that brought the fixed gear to Tokyo. Wow.

BFF09 will screen numerous a wide variety of short films centered around the bicycle starting at 7 pm tonight. There are a total of five programs tonight and tomorrow. See the full lineup here. Tickets to each program cost $8 and a full festival pass is $23.

Get tickets now. Right now. I guarantee they will sell out really soon. There’s only so much room at the Clinton.

There’s more to do than just sitting and watching movies, though. After Programs 1 and 2 on Friday (or if you can’t get tickets), get moving at GOLDSPRINTS, a roller racing event going down at 10 pm tonight at Rotture, 315 SE 3rd Avenue. There’s an alleycat race Saturday at 4 pm, and an afterparty to follow Saturday’s screenings. The party starts at 9:30 pm at The Branx, 320 SE 2nd Ave.

Let’s ride bikes!