Bicycling around the 'hood...

Busy, busy weekend and a whole lot of fun! Saturday morning, we met Will and Kim and over 200 other bicyclists downtown for the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Org Fall 2008 Neighborhood Bike Ride. The ride, about 10 miles long, wound through the north Knoxville neighborhoods of 4th & Gill, Edgewood Park, Fairmont & Emoriland and Oakwood/Lincoln Park. What a blast!

The ride is organized to promote alternative transportation. With this in mind we could not, with clear conscious, drive our car downtown so we bicycled the 3+ miles from John's house to the meeting point. I wasn't too concerned about the ride to the event, it was the ride home I was worried about. I haven't been on my bike in some months....whine, whine. Needless to say, it all worked out fine, the ride home was no problem.

Us at the first stop about 4 miles into the effort (yes, I am asking for an updated helmet for Xmas). Police and other volunteers were stationed along the 10 mile route, blocking traffic at intersections. Residents were great, coming to the edge of the road to take pictures, wave and generally welcome riders into their neighborhood.

Will and Kim at the first stop. They were riding great cruiser bikes that allowed them to sit upright and enjoy the ride.

This is Robin, she rode with us most of the time! We haven't seen her for a while and had a great time catching up. She is half of the couple, Robin and Dave. Dave is just back from a 700 mile bike ride in Colorado. He did it in 3 days I think and was pleased to have had 10 hours of sleep during the effort. Ugh! He was one of the volunteers for today's event as he is for many bicycling activities around town.

Some of the many bicyclers participating in the ride. The guy in the yellow vest is one of the ride organizers.
Will (left) and Kim. This picture was taken from the bike, it turned out pretty good. Some of the "in motion" photographs did not turn out so well.

A photo at stop 2. While a 10 mile effort does not appear to need rest stops, it provided an opportunity for stragglers to catch up and police and volunteers to shift positions.

Too cool! This is a boom box powered by a car battery. A young woman pulled this contraption behind her bike, blasting upbeat tunes. She rode near us for a good part of the ride and we pedaled to the beat!
Back to the start (Krutch Park Greenspace). Will, Kim and John in the distance behind the fountain, in front to the construction dumpster. The dumpster is sitting on Gay Street, the main street in downtown Knoxville. The buildings behind the dumpster are undergoing renovation as office and condo space (as are many buildings in downtown Knoxville).

This sign says it all. This is one of several such signs on bikes.

After the neighborhood ride, we rode our bikes a block or two to the Hola Festival, which was taking place on Market Square Mall (along with the weekly Farmer's Market). Knoxville has only a few weekends in the fall without a UT home football game so lots of activities are crammed into 1-2 weekends.

This is one of the incredible desserts we found at the Hola Festival. The desserts were only a small part of the fabulous Latin food available. Too bad we had munched down on free pizza after the bike ride. We will know better next year!

After the Hola Festival, we rode our bikes back to John's, picked up the car and drove to UT where his son's band was playing at the Sustainable Living Roadshow. We were disappointed at the small crowd but enjoyed listening to the band. Daniel, backwards ballcap in the above photo, is playing bass guitar.

Robin and Dave were at the event and we got the chance to talk again. Robin is riding the 26 mi route for the Smoky Mountain Wheelman Century ride on October 11. John is thinking about riding the 62 mile route. Dave is ride director for this event.

Art sculpture made from flowers and greenery provided by local florists. Event participants could (and did) add to the sculpture.

The power for the entire event was produced by the solar panels above. It was pretty incredible!