At last we made it to the start of the parade and the freedom and space of Columbus Avenue! Before Sept 11, the parade was held down State Street in among the towers of the loop. I miss that street canyon claustrophobia, but it sure was nice to have the whole space of wide Columbus Avenue to circle and show off. Passing by the review stand, the parade announcer introduced us: "And here we have the Rat Patrol Bicycle Club! Well, uh, where's the rat?" Everyone motions to the Rat King reclining in his chair. "Uh...Okay....If the Rat Patrol would move along..." |
Note the Ninja turtles working the crowd.
The biggest tallest chopper I've ever seen, brought by the Black Label.
Everyone was crowded up near the front of our unit, but there was really a lot of room for circling in the back. We held off the marching unit of the Fraternal Order of Police to give us plenty of space. Next year we should do more circling, its a great way to get a look at all the spectators and enjoy the moment.
All that waiting for the thing to start and then the actual parade only seemed to last 15 minutes. This was the end.
The cops told us to clear out, so we headed down to the dank cellars of Lower Wacker Drive to have a look at the dyed river. Yep, very green river. Somewhere along the way we lost the Scallywags, and another tall bike had a mechanical breakdown, but it sure was fun tearing along on the newly repaved Lower Wacker. No more slow parade pace! I was amazed that even Mark on the little Urban Bikes snowplow bike kept up with us.
After some confusion and some decision-making, some folks headed homeward and some headed to Cal's, which was too crowded. Eventually, many of us ended up back at Johnny's place to hang out on his roof or go find food.
This is the Black Label method of locking bikes: a bike is always safer in a herd. Who would take the time to untangle one of these if they wanted to steal it? |
