20 Hours Of Bike To Work Day (my recap)

Here are my recollections of how our local Bike To Work Day went down.

I must begin with a confession. I didn’t bike to work on Bike To Work Day. I took the day off from work. My day began at 4:30am as I rolled out my driveway followed closely by my Bob Trailer loaded with water, money, a change of clothes, a laptop, a book and my Bike To Work Day organizational folder. I was ready to be self contained for a long time.

I rode the six lane main road into downtown – pretty much had it to myself – and arrived in the pre-dawn shadow of Naked David to the sights and sounds of heavy preparation. It was a beautiful sight to see so much activity so early in the morning.

By 8am we estimate close to 200 people had ridden their bikes through, enjoyed some coffee and bagels, listened to some live music or talked to some vendors, and headed off to work. It was a very good, very hopping morning. I picked up a gift pack from My LBS which included a logo adorned bike bell. IT is now adorned with the bell.

Between events we replaced a faulty generator. It quit working as the morning band was finishing up. United Rental did a nice job with setting things right. We enjoyed multiple conversations amongst the committee while we made sure to keep people’s goods from blowing into the flood stage river. We also stood by while a dad pulled his drowning 2-year-old out of the river. Apparently the wind got the best of the little one. Thankfullly the river didn't.

At the end of the work day, as people were departing the office the Toby Kane Band launched their first set. Five or six brother/sister unicyclists strutted their stuff while a local artist created caricatures for all comers. Numbers for the evening event were less than the morning (and less than expected) but I got to enjoy the sounds of my favorite local band – so I was fine.

After some hasty clean up we headed out on the abbreviated two bar pub crawl, then as the sun set, I joined the FAB Starlight Ride. I logged 40 miles for the day, rolled into my garage after midnight, washed a days worth of hard work and bike ride off and crawled in to bed.

Perfect.