Cyclovia Videoblog

We took our bicycles downtown Sunday morning to ride in Cyclovia, a twice-yearly ride and street party. We’ve participated in six to date and so far each route’s been different, exposing us to parts of Tucson we don’t normally see. This one started at the old Mexican presidio in the heart of downtown and went south through a colorful barrio before doubling back to the start.

I strapped the GoPro to my helmet and recorded most of the ride. The three short clips embedded here are roughly in order, from the start south and then back again.

Here and there along the route organizers had set up activity and information tents, and food trucks were out in force. We passed a portable zip line ride and a climbing cliff. There were live musicians here and there, but mostly DJs playing recorded music. We started early, so at first there weren’t too many other riders on the route. By the time we reached the south end and turned back north, it was starting to get crowded.

Crowded, as you can see, with families on bikes and walkers too, many of them obliviously stopping in bottlenecks. I used to call them oblivitrons, a word I think I made up, but which seems increasingly dated. Should I go with oblivibots?

Most of our serious riding friends won’t do Cyclovias, and I can see why. I quit participating in motorcycle poker and toy runs years ago, partly because of all the unsafe once-a-year riders who come out for them, partly because a lot of the participants are drunk after the first couple of stops. Drinking isn’t an issue with Cyclovia, but unsafe and unskilled riders absolutely are.

Still, we always enjoy the outings, and occasionally I’ll get an idea for a future bicycle Hash House Harrier trail. This time around I was intrigued by that colorful old barrio, but if you look close at the section of the second video clip where I’m riding through it, you’ll see a flour mark on the street … other hashers have been there, and not too long ago.

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