Wow, what an experience. Geoff and I met my mom at the start at 6pm. It was so crowded that we decided to ride in the back since riding at or below walking speed is pretty hard on a 36er. It was nearly 6:30 by the time we got to start. The route is pretty random, and we only rode until 9pm or so - covering 14 miles. Mostly it is peaceful and while many people driving cars are temporarily inconvenienced, there are few problems. Certain people (bikers and car drivers) are going to cause problems in situations like this and there was some yelling and screaming, pounding on cars and leaping out of cars. But no actual violence that I saw. One thing I saw consistently was respect for pedestrians. Bikers (and unicyclists) always stopped for pedestrians. The police did a great job, very professional and didn’t cause any problems. They kept things moving and helped avoid problems as did 99.9% of the bikers. It was the 15th anniversary - it’s been held the last Friday of the month since Sept 1992. I’m really glad I finally got to check it out.
It was great to finally meet the famous Gracie Sorbello who rode her Coker barefoot the whole way. No problem for her of course and she did most of her USA crossing barefoot last year - check out the thread: Unicyclist ( Gracie Sorbello ) Rides Across Country for the Fight Against Cancer
She was in town since she was doing the MS 150 Waves To Wine ride this weekend. She’s riding a long way (80 miles today and 75 more tomorrow) for a great cause - maybe you’d like to check out the site and make a donation in her name - I did.
Here are some photos and one video: http://nhoover.smugmug.com/gallery/3559927 with links to the route and GPS info. Here’s a news article.
I hope we get the sound system for the Coker ride at the Berkeley Juggling/Unicycling Festival next weekend!
—Nathan