Since today was a day off and I was able to sleep in my own bed, I slept in this morning. That meant I woke up at 6 instead of 5:30. Weeks of practice don't go away overnight.
There would be a few chores to get done today before being back on the road tomorrow. Chiefly laundry, gear drying and chain cleaning. I jumped on them right away before inertia prevented them from getting done.
The chain cleaning was long overdue. Being at home, I was able to get out a bowl and some degreaser and thoroughly go over the whole drive train. Amazingly I discovered that my chain is actually silver under all of the grime. I had a vague recollection of that from long ago and it was nice to see again. After everything was cleaned, dried and lubed it sound nearly silent again.
Since today is the summer solstice and we are coincidentally in Seattle, we decided it would be fun to go ride in the Fremont Solstice Parade. This is a wacky free-form parade that happens every solstice in a neighborhood near my home. There are not many guidelines other than no motorized vehicles. Every year there are cyclists in wacky costumes that ride ahead of the parade. This year I was going to join them.
While technically not an official part of the parade, the cyclists are a well established part of the event...and most of them are naked!
Joining the painted cyclists would be the project of the day. As I have work the same outfit each of the last 47 days I thought I should continue the trend and dress as myself in my yellow sun jersey.
This would require some paint. Fortunately, Julie was able to figure out what kind to get and the store was not far from the house. We were a bit early so we stopped at a coffee shop for a drink for a bit and then off to the store.
Wacky vehicles make it clear I am back in Seattle
The plan was to grab some supplies and head down to a local boatyard that hosts the cyclists before the parade. This is where everyone gets into their costumes. While I had seen the parade a few times, it has been a few years and I have never seen the prep that the cyclists go through. The number of riders has exploded the last couple of years and some of the prep is extensive so it was quite an undertaking.
Julie and I showed up at around 10:30 so that we could finish up by 1:00. She was so well prepared that she even brought lunch which was good because I had forgotten to eat breakfast.
Not really knowing what I was doing, I asked a couple of folks to get some idea of whether it was better to paint inside or outside. I didn't get a consensus and so we set up indoors because that's where I found paper towels and other supplies. A couple of helpful folks gave some tips on diluting the paint and we were on our way. The plan was to make a bike jersey that looked similar to the one I have been wearing for weeks.
Julie did a great job on the base jersey and then found a talented lady who could help us with a sun design for the back. While not exactly the same as my jersey, it definitely captured the spirit of my intent and received quite a few compliments.
Painted jersey
After that it was time to get set for the ride. Everyone moved out of the boatyard and on to the street to stage for the start. The group (which was at least many hundreds) would ride through Ballard before heading over to Fremont for the parade route.
Solstice creativity
It was really a great festive environment on a beautiful day. All of the folks along the route were waving and excited to see everyone. All around were folks having a good time. It was fun to see all the variety in the costumes. There are some seriously creative folks that like to ride bikes in Seattle.
It was clear that some of the folks grabbed a bike out of the shed just for the event as several were broken down on the side of the route within the first mile or so.
Colorful traffic jam
Once we reached Fremont, things slowed down quite a bit. The traffic stopped while we waited for the parade route to be ready. It was a colorful traffic jam but the sun and sweat took a toll on some of the paint.
It was pretty crazy riding through the thousands of people lining the parade route. It was an interesting mix of being in the center of what everyone was seeing and being completely anonymous/invisible in the middle of all the bikes.
I had a chance to chat with several folks during the ride and it was amazing how friendly everyone was. There is definitely comaraderie in shared craziness. A few folks asked about the touring bikes (the only ones in the ride) and they really enjoyed the story of the ride and thought painting the same jersey was pretty funny. Good, because I thought it was funny too.
Cruising along the parade
After the ride through the parade, I caught a bit of some of the non-biking participants and headed back home to shower and get ready for tomorrow's ride. I was not sure what it would take to get the paint off.
I took a long, hot shower with lots of soap and scrubbing. Everything (that I could see) seemed to come off pretty well but it made a huge mess in the shower. When I was done I came out to show Julie that it all came off pretty well. She mostly agreed until I turned around.
Uh, you missed a spot
A second shower with a little help and it was all cleaned off.
Overall it was a fun experience (and yes, the shorts were painted on as well). I don't know if I need to do it again but it was good once. It was great to be amongst such energetic folks.
With two days left to ride I was able to ditch some unnecessary gear to lighten my load. Back to the early to bed, early to ride schedule.
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