Bike Rave – May 2015

Last night the first official Auckland Bike Rave was held (the earlier one was just a trial). It had been delayed a week after rain the week before and thankfully the weather held out this time. Around 300 people young and old turned up for the event which started in Mission Bay and made its way to the Harbour Bridge – with a detour around the Viaduct due to the Wynyard bridge being closed due to maintenance. A number of bikes also had trailers to carry speakers to add to the atmosphere.

Overall it was a fantastic event and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and it seems so too did those we passed. On the way there were a lot of toots and cheers from passing cars. Through the city there were lots of smiles as people enjoyed the site lots of lots of bikes decked out in colourful lights and many in costumes. I happened to be wearing a suit and one of my favourite comments from someone not on a bike was “How can you ride a bike in a suit”. In many ways it highlights that one of the issues we have is that cycling is seen by many as an activity only undertaken by those wearing Lycra and doing long rides.

One of the most impressive bikes was probably that ridden by our friend Niko made a large scorpion like contraption to hold up a disco ball.

Here’s a video I made of all riders passing by along Tamaki Dr. In real time it took about 7 minutes for everyone to pass by across the three waves of people.

There are some more photos on twitter and facebook. If you have some photos or videos please chuck them or links to them in the comments below. Overall it was a great event and one day it would be great to be able to continue on over the harbour bridge thanks to Skypath.

Lastly I’d like to a huge thanks to those who organised the event. A lot of time and effort goes in to planning events like this not to mention wrangling 300 people. Also thanks to the sponsors Lescykill

p.s. the next event will be some time after winter.

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