We had a great time at Bikemania this year. Last year, both kids fell asleep in the double trailer on the way there and slept through much of the fun stuff. This year the little guy took a nice long nap at home before we headed over (tired him out at Wallingford Playfield where we ran into friends with a Madsen cargo bike). I attached the double trailer to my city bike so I could drag the two balance bikes to the event. We arrived nice and early and got to the bounce house before a big line formed. We watched the first round of BMX tricks, but then didn’t make it past the bike-decorating station to check out any of the carnival games.

The boys warmed up for the bike parade by riding their decorated bikes up and down the hill by the sidewalk. The little guy only wanted to run up and downhill with his bike. And then without the bike. And that’s when he tripped and bloodied his lip. At least he won’t hold the bike responsible. He didn’t want to take part in the parade after that, but the four-year old was eager to ride. He thought it was another criterium and zoomed around and around as fast as he could and flopped down exhausted after four laps. The parade was pushed back from 7 to 7:30 so some kids ended up going home, but there were still lots of little riders. It seemed to go on forever. I eventually loaded up the kids to go home and it was still going so we took a lap around the course for one last hurrah. A Cascade photographer took a lot of shots of the event, which I hope they’ll post soon.

They were just about to start the Cyclefest portion of the evening as we left–projecting the queen stage of the Tour de France on a big outdoor screen. We’re two stages behind in our TV watching (as always) so we had to hit the road quickly, before hearing any spoilers.