We left our house this morning on our bikes around 10 a.m. First we headed down to the Warm Springs neighborhood yard sale. There were lots of people walking up and down the avenue. I only found a CD of French songs and a bike tube (which I had just bought three the day before). Frank found some tools. Anna found nothing.
After browsing we rode downtown to get lunch at the very busy Brick Oven Bistro (or The Beanery as some of us still call it). Saturday market was going on so Anna found something after all, a pendant.
After lunch we went to the Green Expo which was right there at the Grove as well. We got several brochures and stickers. The day was heating up. We were getting ready to leave when I saw my front tire was flat. Good thing I had just bought those tubes (I had a flat earlier in the week which is why I knew we needed some. My rim liner was punctured which was causing the flats).
Fortunately, they had bike people there to help with repairs and stuff. They had some electrical tape we could put over the rim spot. Frank changed the tube, but they had a nice pump to use (so much easier than the portable pumps we have on the bikes that take forever to pump up). Once fixed, we headed down the river a ways. . .
so we could put our feet in the freezing water. It felt good but was the kind of cold that makes your feet and legs numb.
Who's that handsome guy?
Since Frank and Anna had split a lunch and Anna was hungry again. We went back downtown to get some croquetas, a local Basque specialty that Anna just loves and we don't get that often.
On her arm, it says "Keep it local. Think Boise First." That was from the Green Expo. We also got a sticker (which you can kind of see on the top of Anna's visor) which says we were carbon neutral because we had ridden our bikes there.
When snack time was over, we headed toward Bogus Basin road where the Pedal Parade was starting, as we were planning to participate. The mention in the papers wasn't specifically clear about times. So when it said Pedal Parade at 4 p.m., we thought that meant the parade started at four. We were there about 3:15 p.m. because you had to sign a waiver and we thought there would be tons of people.
There was nobody there yet. Across the street we went to get a cold drink from the coffee shop (smoothie and italian soda). It was a very hot day today. After a while we started to see other cyclists trickle in. I think they meant start gathering for the parade at 4 p.m.
We were hoping there would be hundreds of cyclists. Frank estimated that there was maybe around 100. We were also a little disappointed because we didn't see many "crazy" or homemade bikes. We did see this guy with his old fashioned bike. Anna and Frank were one of three or four tandem bikes.
I think around 4:30 is when we actually set off for the parade. We all rode down 13th St. into downtown , up 9th street and over to Julia Davis park. I was hoping we would have a police escort so the group could stay all together to make a bigger impression (and the silly motorcycle rallies always get traffic stopped for them). But no, not even the bicycle police. So the group got divided by stop lights. There were kids and adults of all ages riding.
At Julia Davis park, they had free pizza, salad, strawberries and drinks for us. We also received a free t-shirt when we turned in our waiver.
After dinner, they had a drawing for some small items and a drawing for a bike and Bob trailer. The drawing for the bike and trailer included every participant throughout all the events of the week and you didn't have to be present to win those. Of course, we didn't win anything.
I had Anna take a picture of me and Frank, just to show that I was along for the ride, too. Sometimes I remember to do that. Just ignore the helmet head hair!
It was 95 degrees today and we were riding up Shaw Mountain road during the hottest part of the day. We arrived home around 6:30 p.m. A great way to end bike week.
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