Hey, remember that time I interviewed bike culture "merciless realigner" Bike Snob about his new book? Well, now we've got even better news for the book nerd-bike nerd Portland crowd: Bike Snob is guest blogging for Powell's all week, in preparation for his speaking gig at the City of Book on June 20th (same day as the "unicycle for n00bs" ride!)

Check out his first entry, all about the several hours he spent running around Portland in 1998 as a lowly assistant on a film about how terrible Nike is:

Basically, the filmmaker wanted me to get the biggest sneaker I could find, paint it in garish colors so that it looked like a hyperbolized Nike, and then use it as the basis for some sort of Oscar- or Grammy-esque statuette. As I understood it, this would somehow shame Phil Night into making a public apology, after which he would announce the company was moving production from Indonesia to Michigan and replacing Michael Jordan with Ralph Nader as their celebrity spokesman.

Having minimal artistic ability and no knowledge of Portland, I was at the mercy of a driver who, while good-natured, did not exactly share my sense of urgency when I told him that I needed him to help me find the necessary materials to build an ironic sneaker trophy.