ninevirtues | Will Work For Santa

So, the Spin Cycle (local bike shop-- hereinafter abbreviated LBS) put a float in the local Raleigh holiday parade. This is the selfsame LBS that sponsors the bike club of which R is president. We were asked to be on the float.

Now, I'll bet you're thinking "Oh yeah. They sat on the float and waved to parade spectators, right?" Oh no. We were on the front of the float, on our bikes which were mounted on bike trainers, in full race gear, pedaling our way down the parade route without actually going anywhere.

Oh yeah. Full race gear with the addition of ELF HATS, because it was a holiday parade, of course. (See below for a link to incriminating pictures.)

It was fun: Between watching parade spectators, waving to the said spectators, trying to keep our balance when the float jolted over potholes or turned corners, and hamming it up when someone yelled "FASTER!"... I was quite nicely entertained.

We seemed to attract a lot of attention, too. Because this was a civic parade, there were plenty of high school marching bands, floats with sorority sisters, marching church groups, and floats with community group members riding them. Compared to that crowd, we were... Distinctive. Unusual, even.

The N&O (local paper) photographer took plenty of pictures and took down our names and club name. (Good!) I managed to talk to the photog, promote the club to her, wave to the crowds, and keep my feet moving simultaneously. (Go, me!) Here's the pic that appeared in the local paper:

http://www.newsobserver.com/859/v-pop_gallery/gallery/512479.html

TV cameras were there too; when the float turned the corner onto Fayetteville Street, I could see the overhead camera ahead (near the final turn). Hmm. THAT is where the camera is, with the TV announcers and the judging stand. Clearly, any grandstanding we planned to do should happen where the cameras could see us. And that's what we did: R and I faked a sprint, and we crossed an imaginary line where the cameras could see us. I got to "win", so I raised my arms in mock victory.

Keep in mind, bike racing is about sponsorship: When you wear someone's name on your uniform, you are a rolling advertisement for them, and you are responsible for representing the sponsor positively. I'm happy to say that my antics achieved that: the cameras gave us plenty of time (and clearly showed me and my "sprint finish"), then moved to R, and showed us both waving and riding. The announcer gave us some great airtime, including float name and club name (and club mission). Goal achieved! (Bear in mind, 50,000 people watched the parade, plus more people watched the TV broadcast and will see us in the N&O. Now, that was a good day's work.)