Adrich bicycle parking sculpture with classic Schwinn Hornet
Sunday, October 4 was the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum’s Bike Festival — celebrating the opening of its exhibition, Bike Rides. A series of well organized group rides (11-24 miles) — Le Tour d’Aldrich — were sponsored by Sound Cyclists Bicycle Club. We toured the rolling terrain of this picturesque section of southwest Connecticut that is just south of Danbury, and arrived at the museum on main street of Ridgefield just as the afternoon activities were starting. The festival outside the museum actually dwarfed the official exhibit inside.
Child category winner of Primp my Bike contest
Piragua bicycle cart
Maybe it was because of the warmth and sunshine (and stunning contrast to the downpours from the previous day), that many of the special guests whose bicycles were on display inside were hanging out outside on the terrace, in the sculpture garden (where Edward Tufte’s pieces are on display), or amidst the tents in the museum parking lot. Big draws included Miguel Luciano preparing shaved ice treats (called Piraguas in his native Puerto Rico) from his beautiful orange bike cart, the Primp-My-Bike contest, and the freeriding bike stunts show by Jeff Lenosky.
Purple Pedal project bike with solar powered camera (on handlebars)
One of my favorites was participating in the “What Makes You Happy” project by Purple Pedals— a bike equipped with a solar powered camera that travels around snapping a photo every 60 seconds and instantly posting to a Flickr album — (my official photo — and a candid camera shot (note – new Hincapie top!)
Another highlight was wild edible foraging with the creators of the Greenhouse-a-go-Grow tricycle. Colin and friends had biked up from NYC in the rain, but they were all dry and smiles at the festival.
Greenhouse-A-Go-Grow
Colin pointed out some wild lettuce that was growing right along the parking lot; I couldn’t believe how tasty it was! I hope their pine tea (made from boiling pine needles) kept them warm at camp in the evening.
On the “green” front, there was a bicycle (and step by step demonstration of the process) with a bamboo frame with linen and carbon fiber joints from the Bamboo Bike Studio. They do weekend workshops where you arrive on Saturday and you leave Sunday with your very own complete bike using a bamboo frame! These workshops support the Bamboo Bike Project, whose mission is to bring similarly designed cargo bikes to Africa.
Creators of the Greenhouse-a-go-Grow bike - Colin and Huong
One of the strengths of the exhibit is its use of multimedia; there are videos (including David Byrne’s helmet-cam while he’s riding in downtown NYC), a short film, and a mural summarizing transportation issues.
Massachusetts has a strong presence with demo bicycles from Seven cycles from Watertown, PARLEE Cycles from Peabody, and Richard Sachs Cycles from Warwick.
What a wonderful way to celebrate a New England autumn day…
Boneshaker
another primp my bike entry
Crab sculpture and bike parking
Freewheeling stunt show
Aldrich sculpture garden
Bicycle spin art
Bikeskort 