Perks of unemployment: Get a helmet, be a thug!

We are waiting at a light, my two youngest boys and me, on our bike, when she pulls up beside us: shocking-pink hair streaming behind her. It coordinates with her bike and, more importantly, her helmet: a striped Nutcase. My boys, too, are sporting Nutcase helmets. We both look at our watches. 11:35 a.m. "You're going to the photoshoot, aren't you?" she says. Yep.

The four of us, and several other scruffy-in-a-cute-way Portlanders have answered a call this blustery-cold January day, to ride our bikes in circles with smiles for a few hours, in exchange for minor fame and a free helmet. (I end up with four, one for each of us and an extra for my husband besides. The boys were really cold. The photographer had an extra.)