BYOB... Wheel

Bring Your Own Big Wheel, or BYOBW as the cool-folk know it, was how I spent the last half of my Easter this year. My 16 year-old son was baptized in the Catholic faith (15+ years a little late) that morning after Easter Mass. Since my older 2 kids were going to spend Easter with their father's side of the family, I really didn't have any plans. I decided to head out to San Francisco and see how crazy this BYOBW really was.

It was a gorgeous sunny day out in the City. No fog, no traffic, no idiot drivers. Perfect.

My friend Lisa turned me on to this event. Every Easter Sunday afternoon in San Francisco, people get dolled up and ride Big Wheels, toddler bikes or anything with wheels down a narrow, curvy street. I found a great parking spot facing downhill within a couple of blocks from the end of this race. Once I parked my STICK-SHIFT car and turned the wheels inward in a 90 degree angle, it hit me. SHIT. I have to get this thing out of reverse without stalling or hitting the car in front of me. DAMNIT!

Anywho, off I skipped with glee to witness grown-folk careen down the steep, curvy street looking like over-grown children on Big Wheels and such. I found a safe spot on the sidewalk to watch these crazies... in front of a utility pole - hehe!

--DAMMIT! Appointment to show homes to get to. Will continue later...--

(Days later - hahaha!)

Now, where was I? ... parking my stick-shift car down a narrow street within inches of the car in front of me... finding safe spot on sidewalk... Oh yes! There were TONS of adult spectators, but you would have thought they were kids on Christmas morning. The majority of us could not control our laughter as we watched in anticipation of someone biting it royally down that last sharp turn.

(This guy went down the hill in a heavy duty garbage can on wheels. I voted him Best Costume/Ride.)

The event doesn't last more than a couple hours. Winners are announced towards the end of the event as the last of the riders careen down the hill. Towards the end, we noticed riders going down the hill multiple times. I guess they don't have an issue with that, since it IS a free event. My friend Lisa and I are going to participate in this next year. I'm on a mission to find an AWESOME kids bike to deck out... and a costume.