| Everybody Loves A Parade |
| Written by Phil Snider |
|
With a live audience estimated at 20-thousand, and thousands more watching on TV, 18 “clubbers” showed off the joys of bicycling. It was undoubtedly the slowest club ride of the year taking more than twenty minutes to cover the mile and a half parade route.
The idea to participate in the Three Rivers Festival Parade originated with Rich Swihart and club prez Dave Lehman. “We have this beautiful banner. We should show it off.”
There were a variety of bicycles, showing the various cycling activities of club members. Mountain bikes predominated, but race/tour, recumbent, loaded touring, folding and stretch bikes were also represented.
The overall pace was slow but it wasn’t boring. Cyclists rode in circles and figure eights within the parade boundaries and often shouted greetings to friends in the crowd. Chad Miller said that he managed to stretch the route to eleven miles.
Was it a good time? Was it worth the time and effort? Judging from the many suggestions about next year’s parade, most would say, “Yes.”
(Sorry for the low quality of the picture. The original source was not available - webmaster)
|
