aLIVe at Bumbershoot

Best thing at Bumbershoot day one: the aLIVe H2O bike (and the rest of the fleet) visiting from Portland. Not only do its good looks draw gawking kids and adults over from near and far, it doesn’t just sit passively when parked–it collects rain water into its three tanks.

The water bike couldn’t accommodate two littles so we took our test ride on the recycle bike, with the kids sitting in the recycling bay. It only takes two pedalers so I rode pedicab-style while Nat and a ten-year old ferried us around. I kept catching the kid shirking his pedaling duty, but he didn’t want to stop and give me a turn. Not complaining, it’s nice to let someone else do the work, but I wasn’t sure how long my recyclites would last back there and I wanted a go, too.

There’s a collection of short films called ALIVE (A Low Impact Vehicle Exploration) tomorrow I’m hoping we can check out. In the meantime, here’s my video of the funny fleet. Apologies for the musical accompaniment (two-year old clanging stick on metal fence).

Otherwise, Bumbershoot doesn’t seem as bikey this year. The special treatment last year was nice, with the free bag check at the bike corral (although this year there is free bag check for everyone at the State Farm booth) and passes to a Very Important Biker booth with free bike-blender-made smoothies. This year things started out on a low note when I discovered the bike corral was a swampy mess. The map shows a second bike parking area on Mercer steet so I’ll give that a try tomorrow. Plus, the Mercer Street entrance should be much faster. And hopefully its exit will have a ramp for the stroller.

Parking swamp 11:20am

Parking swamp 7:00pm

The kids were also intrigued by the Medic One bikes by the first aid station. I’ve never seen them before, but the paramedic said they’re also used at sporting events.

I was impressed by how much stuff they hold…though I will point out that the stickers the paramedic gave us came from the ambulance, not the bike. I can appreciate trying to keep the load light. Speaking of a light load, the only thing we missed today was a picnic blanket. I didn’t end up using the Ergo, but I’m glad I had it along and will bring it tomorrow, too. The kids mostly walked, but I used the little stroller to carry our bag of snacks and kid swim stuff so happy to have had it along. Yes: swim stuff. Most of our Bumbershoot was spent in the Youngershoot Kids’ Zone playing with the Children’s Museum Legos and swimming in DuPen Fountain. Kids don’t seem to appreciate the fact that they can do that stuff any old day and should let their mom hang out and watch music at Bumbershoot.