I also finally had a chance to meet my "virtual friend" Danielo in real life, and he's my real friend now. (He shares my enthusiasm for bicycling, and we post comments on one anothers' blogs. I was going to include a link to his, but he's apparently chaning hosts.)
I've attached three photos - one before and two after. (I'm not confident enough to try to snap photos while riding, and I dearly wanted to participate. It looked that there were a couple people snapping enroute photos.)
The middle photo is of one of my favorite families... and they ride together! They are AWESOME! Team Cyclista! (Dad also blogs at http://cyclistemoderne.blogspot.com about the world of professional bicycle road racing, and they sell some cool bike stuff at http://www.cyclista.com .) They were by far the best-looking team in this year's Pedal Power Parade! (-;
5 comments:
Glad you were able to make it, Bikeboy, and I hope you guys had a great time. How was the route?
I will try to make it some year, but this year's event coincided with the Famous Potato run that I was participating in. Interesting that it also coincided with the Cycle for Independence ride:
http://tinyurl.com/2upqrk.
I guess there's just not enough weekends. :-)
Several people were there after doing the "Cycle for Independence Ride." (That's the one for the Federation of the Blind, right? The "Cyclista family" had ridden the 10-mile Independence Ride earlier in the day.) You're right about not-enough-weekends. (An hour before the Pedal Power parade started, I got home from a motorcycle "Tour de Treasure Valley" with some friends... off one saddle and onto another!
The route was okay. It was Bogus Basin to Hill Road to 13th to Franklin (just north of Boise High) to 9th to River, ending at Julia Davis. (I would've chosen 15th instead of 13th; it's wider and with bike lanes.)
Some crazy impatient driver in a little white sedan (Camry or Accord - something like that) went BLASTING past a large group, throwing up a cloud of dust and endangering both cyclists and motorists headed in the other direction. That happened on 13th, near BHS. (Switch to decaf!!!) Fortunately, no casualties. It would've been nice if the police had provided a motorcycle escort to help the group get through intersections, etc. We were quite stretched out toward the end, due to people having to wait for traffic signals to cycle, etc. (And that would've given it an air of being "officially sanctioned." A good thing, if you're trying to make a statement that bikes belong.)
Interesting idea, the police escort. I'll bring it up tonight at the TVCA meeting for next year. My only concern is that it makes it seem like we need the escort to be legitimate, rather than simply riding with the already-legal status we have. Along the same lines, I was trying to imagine how we can look more parade-like, and have a banner or something large at the beginning and end of the train. It would be a bit tricky for two cyclists to negotiate one banner together, but maybe a single trailer rigged up with a banner flowing behind?
Glad I'm not the only one who had a crazy weekend.
I, too, would favor 15th over 13th. I know there are arguments against bike lanes, but I prefer them.
I forgot to comment that the Cyclista family sure looked sharp. I've been considering making a white cycling jersey with simple black lettering, a la "Breaking Away" and the "Cutters" team. Mine would say "Commuters".
Danielo - you're right that the police escort could possibly send a mixed message. However, I'm comparing the "Pedal Power Parade" with the annual Motorcycle Awareness Rally, which gets a massive police escort. It's pretty fantastic and high-profile to ride down Federal Way and Capitol Boulevard with police blocking every intersection along the way, and the participants breezing right through the signaled intersections while the cars pile up and wait. It would definitely make the Pedal Power Parade more "visible" and high-profile, and that's at least PART of the objective, isn't it? (I'd say the media coverage was generally quite lacking all week long; I try to stay tuned to the news and I didn't hear much about it, except in the esoteric bike-geek circles mostly.) I hope the organizers count it a success. (Since this is the first year I've participate in anything, I don't have a good frame of reference.
Ah, THE CUTTERS! THAT is a fantastic movie; one of my favorites. Your take-off "Commuters" T-shirt idea is a good 'un, DB!
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