Bikes galore at the Ithaca festival

The Ithaca festival parade is definitely not your average small town festival parade. It has a fire truck and a marching band, but the rest of it is more like a cross between a protest rally and a hippie carnival. This year we had a save the deer protest group, a float that drew huge cheers from the crowd protesting a proposed drilling project, and some random bits of Ithacana like the "Volvo ballet" with station wagons dressed in tutus and the chain saw marching band (my personal favorite). Bike advocacy groups of all stripes were also out in full force this year, and I present a mini-photo essay of Ithaca's bikes for your viewing pleasure.

First up, a e-bike group named the Buffalo St Chargers. I don't think I've ever seen a single e-bike in Ithaca (although it certainly makes sense, what with all the hills we have here), so I was kind of surprised to see a whole gaggle of them in the parade. Check out this e-cargo bike:

Next we have the Bike It! folks, who are biking to the US social forum in Detroit this month. The SO and I have gone on a few of their training rides, and they're cool folks. Here's a Bike It! tandem crew:

A random lady in a "bee on a bike" costume. I have no idea what group she was associated with, but the costume made me laugh:


The TCAT parade bus, with a bike in the bike rack. I love that they have racks on the buses here, although I admit I don't use them very often because of an irrational fear that my bike is going to somehow come loose and get mashed under the bus. I know, that's not actually going to happen, but it doesn't stop me from being all paranoid about it:

And last but not least, my SO, who decided to ride with the FLCC crowd this year in the parade. The parade theme was "singing in the rain" and he wanted to decorate his bike accordingly. Half an hour and a whole lot of zip ties later, he came up with this:

He strapped our watering cans and umbrellas onto the bike racks (and inexplicably, left the watering cans full of water and rather heavy. He really likes to make it hard on himself!) I helped him complete the look with a towel sarong. Amazingly, he was not even close to the most outlandishly dressed FLCCer.... I'd have to give the prize there to the other half-naked biker wearing some hot pink fluffy shorts. Ah, Ithaca.