Bike Huggers Unite

Seattlest's heart's cockles always get warmed when we see a bunch of people who choose to ride their bikes to get around get together, so we were predisposed to love Northwest Film Forum's Second Seattle Annual Bike-In last night. (Almost getting slammed by a driver opening her car door while riding over probably added to our joy at making it there.)

Unlike most communal bike events in Seattle (Critical Mass, Bike to Work Day), the Bike-In's organizers didn't try to broadcast a message. It was just a community picnic and that was fine by us.

Folks spread out blankets, ate dinner and tossed Frisbees while the kids worked on their wheelies. Bands played, Seattle Bike Polo played a few games and green organizations and businesses gave out some schwag. (Best Schwag award goes to 2020 Cycle for their pedal-powered margaritas). The only thing strange about the scene were the piles of bikes beside all the blankets. It was almost as if it were normal to ride bikes to an urban event. Imagine that.

The night was capped off with the world premiere of The Golden Bicycle, a feature-length film made by 16 different film makers. One of Seattlest's friends summed up the movie and the event perfectly afterwards: "I loved seeing so many people I know up there just from riding bikes around town."

Riding home afterwards we took side streets until merging onto Broadway and heading down to the University Bridge. We actually had to wait for a line of bikes to pass by before we could go. For that second, we lived in a city that does take biking as a serious transportation alternative. One can dream anyway…

Photo was taken by Kyle Johnson. It's of the pedal-powered Margarita Maker in action.