Riot Fest (Commute) Recap

Riot Fest was two weekends ago. I didn't even want to see anyone this year but it has become a time for friends to come in from out of town and other social fun, I wouldn't miss it for the world. 

This year, my little brother and three of his friends were staying at my place (in Logan Square), in from Cincinnati. They brought me some Rhinegeist beer, Skyline Chill, and other Cincinnati delicacies, which was very kind. 

But the only actual 'charge' for staying was they had to let me take them to Riot Fest in the PX50. They had to be the guinea pigs for my little experiment. I think Cincinatti has even less bike culture than Chicago, and they were skeptical. 

But their skepticism was quelled once they all mounted up in the back of the Pickup Trike. The 500W motor in essence just shrugged at the (over)load. I believe the rated payload of the trike is 661 pounds (300 kilograms), but as I've stated in other posts, one should be skeptical of "specs" on product coming from China... rated continous often means "this one time we were able to...". But I digress. 

The initial payload of 4 (+me, total of 5 adults), was definitely pressing up against if not slightly surpassing that rated payload. Though she was a bit sluggish on the way down, she made it. 

And most importantly- I unlocked a personal achievement. When we got to Douglas Park, there was a cab parked in the bike lane. I pulled up behind him- cars were zipping past us creating a dangerous situation. But I have a horn- so I start laying on the horn to get them to move. They waive me around. I shake my head, "No." and beep more. Finally, they take off and flip a U-turn to the other side of the road. I effectively got a car to vacate the bike lane! Let me say that again for the folks in the back:

I Made A Car Vacate the Bikelane!

I'm super bummed I didn't have a bike camera, but I bought one when I got home (actually, a motorcycle camera). The install will be an upcoming blog post. In addition to me creating a YouTube account (and/or maybe TikTok?) about me getting cars to move, I plan to put on my computer engineer hat and write an expedited way to report violations (read obstructions) to 311.

So we went, had a fun fest Friday. On the way home we weren't taxing the poor bike quite so much. Just three (different) friends. The little brother and his buddies decided to get an Uber (sidebar: earlier in the week when I was taking reservations, my little brother took forever to get back to me and other friends "booked"). 


So here you see me unlocking from a tree. Also, the rear brakes are disc, and I got one of those fun disc brake lockups you see for scooters, not sure how much of deterrent it was but no one stole my whip.

So the four of us (three passengers + me) rode home. There were a couple of un expected detours, and the story ended with me overcharging a hot lead-acid battery. 

The main point: if you've ever tried to leave Riot Fest at close you know what an absolute nightmare that it is. We were at a bar getting tired two hours later, about to go home- while texting my brother what he was up to - they were still trying to get an Uber back in Douglas Park. 

So here is my first post about why trikes > cars that has nothing to do with damage to the climate, dangers they pose to everyone else, why they are much to expensive, or the 5,000 other reasons cars are horrible. Hope you enjoyed.

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