Image courtesy of knehcsg | Flickr.com
If you haven’t already noticed, Vancouver is a very bike-friendly city. So much so that in June, a huge bike festival is organized with 80+ events to promote cycling and bring like-minded people together. Velopalooza, the Vancouver Festival of Bikes, starts today and runs until June 28th, bringing you two weeks of fun, friendly bike rides.
Velopalooza was first started in 2010 based on the much-loved Pedalpalooza in Portland. Organizers were inspired by the community-driven bike fun of the Portland festival, and decided to bring it over the border to Vancouver.
The Velopalooza biking festival has grown since its early roots in 2010 and now features tons of rides and tons of participants! The list of 85 events is a bit overwhelming, so we’ve listed 5 of the most interesting events of the festival below:
1. Roll the Dice Ride
Happening on Monday, June 15 at 8:00pm, this bicycle ride is led by chance! Dice are rolled to determine how many blocks to ride, and which direction to turn once we get there (Odd total = Turn right, Even = left). If you’re into spontaneity, this is the ride for you! Full details are here.
2. Summer Solstice Ride
Happening on June 20th at 5pm. Start from Pat’s Pub then roll west towards Spanish Banks on this ‘longest day of the year’ ride! If you can only come to one ride this year, make it this one! Full details are here.
Image courtesy of chanteron_ | Flickr.com
3. Tour de Book Exchanges
Happening on June 23 at 8:00pm. A tour of the many neighbourhood book exchanges spread around the fine city of Vancouver. Participants will search for the weirdest book. Bring some books to leave behind if have ‘em. Full details are here.
4. Cyclehack Vancouver
CycleHack Vancouver will run from Friday evening (19th June) through to Sunday afternoon (21st June). Participants will discover all the things that stop people from getting on a bike, work in teams to prototype new ideas and get out into the city to test them. We’re taking a grassroots approach to innovation and tooling up citizens to take a pro-active, DIY approach to making cycling more accessible, safer and fun for all road users. The event will end with presentations of all the hacks that have been prototyped over the weekend! Full details are here.
Taking over the Granville Street Bridge. Photo Credit: Dooq | Flickr
5. Critical Mass – Velopalooza Edition
Happening on June 26th at 5:00pm. One of the biggest ride and rolls of the year, the June Critical Mass Ride closes out Bike Month. Join fellow bicyclists, skaters, and bladers for this leisurely and spirited celebratory ride and roll through the streets of Vancouver! Meet at the Vancouver Art Gallery on the Georgia Street side between 5:00 and 5:30 p.m. — and roll and ride at 6:00 p.m. Costumes and decorated bicycles, trailers, signs, flags, noisemakers, gettoblasters, sound systems, drums, and wildly modified bicycles are all highly encouraged! Full details are here.
Not enough events for you? Check out the full list of the Velopalooza community-organized events at their full event calendar.
