Ideas for 'Theme' Bicycle Rides
 

I've been asked to attend a meeting to help plan some "themed" social rides for this summer. These are not 'club' rides but just fun rides for people of all ages and ability levels. Most of them are under 10 miles long and range from less than 50 to over 200 participants. I feel that being invited to the planing meeting is a huge honor for me and I really want to bring some great ideas to the table. I've listed a few of the ideas I have come up with as examples but I'd love to hear your ideas as well.

Poker Ride-
At each of 5 (or more) stops along a route, each rider is given a playing card. At the end of the route, prizes are given for the best poker hand(s). This is a pretty common type of event for motorcyclists but I think it could easily be applied to bicycles as well.

Hawaiian Ride-
Bust out the lei's and Hawaiian shirts. This ride would have a tropical feel with a riders in grass skirts and maybe some tropical fruit served to participants at the end. A pig roast would be even better but I'm not sure what kind of budget the group has.

Pirate Ride- (could substitute Ninja's as well)
The last event this group put on was a Christmas themed ride with over 200 riders showing up decorated with lights, tinsel, even a full santa's sleigh. I think a Pirate theme would lend itsself well to dressing up and decorating the bikes. As you all know, Ninjas are not as cool as Pirates but they could be substituted if need be.

Bike-In Movie Night-
If cars can have drive in movies, why can't bikes? This event would consist of an evening ride with the end point being one of several outdoor amphitheatres around town where there would be a screening of a cycling-themed movie. (Pee-wee's Big Adventure, The Unknown Cyclist, The Flying Scotsman, etc.) Again, depending on budget concerns, there could be popcorn and gatoraid served during the movie.

Comments and sugestions about these or other rides are welcome.

Pedal your okole for Jesus day? :D

Night rides on the O&E towpath are pretty popular around here. We do anywhere from 15-30 miles, regrouping every now and then, followed by some food and drink at the Winking Lizard. We get riders of all types and skill levels, including families.

"Dead Celebrity" - Dress as yoru favorite dead celebrity (up to ogranizers of a dead career, counts as "dead")

you have Pirate Ride witch means you have to have "Ninja Ride" ...it's a rule somewhere.

"Christmas tree Ride" - You've heard of people describe a well lit bike as a christmas tree... well just how much lighting can you get on a bike?

"Formal Ride" - Wear your Top hat and tails, put your hair up, and wear your "nice" jewelry... Ends with a formal dance. (best on a "cool" evening) (could aslo just be "high school prom Ride")

Is the "early 90s" ride with day-glow spandex in or out?

Cinco de Mayo ride. Wear your sombreros and meet at a good Mexican restaurant fro dinner and drinks.

Red Army Day ride. Break out the old Soviet uniforms and the big guns. Let the motorists know just how tough cyclists are.

One idea I've had for my club is a geology ride. I'd plan the ride to take us to a number of geologically interesting features in the area. Features that are easy to observe from the bikes. I'd then talk a bit about what we see.

Hockey Night ride. Put on you hockey gear and ride with your team to the rink (wearing skates on the ride is optional) Play some hockey, drink some beer, eat some wings, bingo, the perfect evening.

I was gonna say scavengar ride (scavengar hunt), but sounds like you want a more organized ride together type deal. The scavenger things could work to get a large number buzzing around a town. Sounds like fun to me.

Halloween.. easy.

Cops and Robbers? If you have a bank with a separate in and out door... have the robbers walk through, followed by the cops. Or maybe just hang outside to get a couple looks and not cause a REAL ruckus.

Cowboys and Indians?

Superhero ride? Dress as your favorite or made-up super hero

Greasers and Pink Ladies? Watch Grease afterwards.

Dress as "what you want to be when you grow up"... can get interesting even for the "grown ups". :D

Rock the Ride - everyone brings their bike radios (or make some), bonus points for something large enough to require a trailer ;) . Either require everyone be on the same station... or BETTER... have someone rig a transmitter, and broadcast your biking related songs. I know a couple people who've built transmitters, and two of them have the transmitters on their bikes. You can even have someone prerecord the "DJing". Shout-outs, humor, dedications etc instead of JUST music. ;)

I would have to lean toward no to Ninja, since part of the Ninja mystique is to not be seen... The opposite of good cycling practice. :)

A ride based on local industry or history would be interesting.

For examples in my area a ride could visit one theme, or a sampling, coal mines and breakers, breweries, Planters Peanuts, the first cable company, historic battle sites... Promote civic pride and cycling.

I've been involved with a Progressive Dinner for several years. This is an event where you go to one house and eat appetizers, go to another house and eat salad, next house and eat main course, last house and eat dessert. The problem is you get totally bloated by the time you're done. Solution: Do it on bicycles with about 10 miles between houses. (We've done this as a Christmas thing, by the way, with a gift exchange at the end).

Go to these organized rides and everyone is there on the latest bike, mostly road-type bikes. How bout an event specifically for single-speed-cruiser bicycles? This assumes the course is not too hilly, and you need to give everyone enough time to scrounge up their bicycles. Either $60 at Walmart or less at a garage sale or CL or whatever. The point is that it would be something different. You could make this a "50's Ride" and wear clothing from the 50's or period of your choice as well.

You have the Hawaiian ride up there already. Suggestion: Bicycle to a public swimming pool or lake, give everyone a chance to take a dip before getting back on the bikes. Might take some arranging with the city or whoever (getting reservations for a pool, etc. And let them know a bunch of sweaty people will be jumping in- they may not like that). This could also be a Swimsuit Ride if things didn't get too out of hand.

The few group rides I've been to, everyone had on their full cycling gear. So how bout a "Jeans and T-Shirt" ride or something along that lines to get people looking a bit less like the typical cyclists?

The Tom Sawyer Ride- everyone takes their cane poles and goes fishing!

That reminds me of what we used to do in Japan on our rented benjo bombers...BIKE DEMO DERBY! Bunch of drunk jarheads all trying to knock each other off our bikes. Then the survivors would all go benjo jumping. :D

A Light Ride. Everyone mounts every last light they can lay their hands on, on the bike. Flashlights, lanterns, especially glow sticks, you name it, tape 'em on and light up the place. Glow sticks on all the spokes would be great.

They sell glow sticks at Walmart, but I'll bet they'd run out fast if 50 different people all went in trying to buy a dozen each.

Great idea. You can even have different groups of people with the same color lights

How about a ride where you either bring your pet or dress up like one? inspired by the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1wnOUH2jk8

Well, we've had Chocolate, Burrito, Taco, and Pizza Rides. Bike-In Movies have been huge successes. We also have Pedal Potluck Picnics where everyone brings potluck food and the ride route is a mystery. Then at a certain point, we stop for dinner. There have been Bike to Skate rides, Bike to Dance Party rides. ****s on Bikes (and their friends) rides, B is For Bicycle rides, and on and on. The Shift site has all the past Pedalpalooza rides plus descriptions. Check it out. There's something about keeping the ride route a "secret" that gets people enthusiastic. Music is good, too.

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

The meeting is this evening and I've made a list, including many of your suggestions, to bring to the table. My personal creativity is once again humbled by the collective creativity of the BF.net!

Medieval rides. Get some trash can lids and windsurfer masts and have jousting competitions.

This is a little longer than what the OP asked for, but it could be modified. We had a Frightful 50 Halloween ride ... 25 and 50 mile routes on rural roads that stopped at 3 or 4 old cemeteries. Rides were done in daylight.

Another area club has a progressive dinner ... roughly 25 miles around the city with stops at 3 or 4 restaurants. Takes a little organization in that it requires advance signup and contacting the restaurants for buffet setups.

So did y'all figure out if you're going to do any of these yet?

my favorite ride was a halloween cemetery ride. it was a big full moon ride at midnight, and we all rode to different historical cemeteries in the area. we didn't actually go IN the graveyards, but each one was a stopping point. it would be fun to do again, only during the day so you could go in and explore and spot the local heroes, or the oldest grave, etc.

My club did this for many years but we did it at Halloween...in costume.

History rides are good. Ride to a local cemetery or a rail trail. Tell some good stories about the history.

Geology rides are good and they can be either road bike or mountain bike. I have it easy since I live in a state where the geology is rather prominent;)

Skills class rides are great ways of introducing people to cycling. My local club does mountain bike skills rides where we take newbies out and teach them how to ride. At the end of the ride, we flatten their tires and teach them how to change a flat...you'd be amazed at the number of people who don't know how.

Our club even has a friendly competition up to the Alpine Center on Trail Ridge Road. The mountain bike riders do the shorter, slightly steeper dirt road route (Fall River Road) while the road bikers do the longer slightly higher road route.

I was going to say a scavenger hunt type ride. I recall a news blurb about one here a few years ago that was some sort of fund raiser I think but sounded fun. Organized into teams that had to ride around town getting pictures of themselves with various land marks. Some specific, some a little more inventive where the team had to come up with something that met certain criteria.

http://www.atxbs.com/?q=node/108

There ya go...

If you're looking for some ideas for your Scavenger Hunt list, I've uploaded my recent list. You'll have to modify it for your town though.

http://www.alternativecommutepueblo....nger-hunt.html

It's a bit late to organise for this year, but a halloween ride might go down well. Participants can dress up in halloween costumes and ride around at night, similar to a ghost tour of town. I'm picturing someone with a handlebar-mounted pumpkin illuminated by a headlight :P

Zomg zombie thread!