Yo Mama Earth Day Alley Cat

Ryan from Bicycle Smile organized another great Alley Cat this week to celebrate Earth Day. Sort of…

I volunteered Amanda and myself (and the kids) to help out. I was sitting at the top of Diefenbaker Hill giving out the spoke cards, while Amanda and the kidz were at our house stamping race sheets with out bicycle stamp.

Here’s a few pics:

(Remember: click on the pictures for a slightly bigger version)


The view from my location/checkpoint on top of Diefenbaker Hill. A lovely view of the sun setting over the municipal landfill and the Q.E. Power Plant… Ah… Earth Day…


Now I figured that everyone would ride around the road and up the hill on the south side. That’s what I would have done… The first fellow that showed up, however, came straight across the field…


…and clambered up the stone terraces on the east side of the hill...!! Bless him for thinking outside of my narrow little box of an idea!?


Pretty much everyone else showed up thereafter and followed his path…


I think I heard someone in this group saying “do we have to take our bike up there…?”


It was kind of funny watching everyone hurling themselves up the rack walls to get up here


I think that run up the hill nearly did some of the participants in.


And run people did !


This fellow showed up a bit later - after the first main bunch. He went around the north end and carried his bike all the way up the hill!

I think most participants headed to my location first. So most came by between 7:20 and 7:40… then there was a bit of a wait….


My there’s a lot of garbage on the top of that hill…


Maybe if there’s an Earth Day Alley Cat next year Ryan can give them all a kitchen sized garbage bag and tell them to go to Diefenbaker hill and fill it with garbage…?


This was the last trio to show up at the hill. I was about to pack it in at 8:15 when I saw them enter the park…


I think I heard one them say “will you please come down” Despite their politeness, I didn’t…


Meanwhile, over at our house Amanda and the kids were busy stamping races sheets.


Apparently the kids had a great time stamping the race sheets. The girl's fingers were still covered in green ink when she got up this morning.


When I got home the boy was still awake – he was vibrating with excitement and asked me when the next race was!?


Everyone seemed to be having a great time.


Most seemed to be traveling with groups of friends.


Fun was the order of the day – rather than any sort of “serious competition”


I love the diversity of gear and equipment used in these events.


I think Amanda said the groups showing up at her location were pretty evenly spread out over the hour as everyone took their own route around to the various locations.


The boy asked me this morning who won... I have no idea... You can probably find out in Ryan's report at Bicycle Smile..?


This fellow lost his sheet – it looks like the girl is not sure if she’s supposed to actually stamp the makeshift piece of paper he had everyone at the checkpoints sign…

Ryan’s got some more pics of the event on flickr

Thanks to Ryan for organizing another fun event, and the other volunteers who helped out and thanks especially to Dakine for providing some sweet prizes!!