Let's Party!!

If you were going to have a party to thank the volunteers of a community bicycle shop wouldn't you include a bike ride in the celebration? And that is exactly what the Bicycle Commuters did this past Saturday evening - one of our city's first weekends of the year with hot, sunny weather.



The group rides through downtown

My daughter and I rode through downtown to reach BikeWorks North where we hoped to meet up with all the other cyclists and together ride to the party location in the west end.  A contingent of cyclists riding a variety of wheels were ready and waiting when we rode up to the shop.  I could see the BBQ bike parked off to the side and a crazy looking home made bike with an bizarre inflatable seat consisting of dozens of spiky air pockets.


The BBQ bike

 



The spiky seat

With Chris in the lead pulling a trailer with a powerful sound system, our group snaked its way through the inner city and the cluster of residents in front of a weathered looking church all turned their heads wondering where the loud 1980's music was coming from. From a bike?

Riding past the church

At the party site it was discovered that the BBQ bike had the BBQ but no charcoal briquets to use as a heat source to cook something I'd never heard of before - JAPADOGS.  A Japanese take on the standard summertime fare of grilled hotdogs but smothered in seaweed, Japanese mayonaise, Teryaki sauce, Japanese noodles or grated daikon.  Choices range from Terimayo, Yakisoba or Ume (sliced onion with plum sauce which apparently has a light, refreshing taste).  To everyone's delight, another BBQ was found and a stack of hot, juicy Japadogs disappeared in a matter of minutes while Chris and Robert provided musical accompanimant with a tiny accordion and accoustic guitar.

Loaded up Japadog

What with the warm weather, it was a choice of being eaten alive by the hungry mosquitos or joining in a miniature bike race where the mossies would not be able to stick to your flesh as you ripped around the westend backyard on a child's bike.

The miniature bike race begins