ONLINE CHATTER >>>

Today's comment comes from claire in response to our story on the Tacoma Bike Project's first road race and the fine folks at Second Cycle.

claire writes,

i do not think that the writer of this article did justice to this shop! They built me a FULLY FUNCTIONAL bike from scratch that works great! They arent a bunch of half-***ed mechanics with low standards. It's low cost enables all of us to have a safe bike, and they are invaluable to the tacoma community.

UPDATE >>>

Tacoma is on the cusp of a new era in how we get around town. This city is poised to transform downtown biking from a simple recreational activity into a legitimate form of transportation for residents. Downtown On the Go and the City of Tacoma have made bike parking a priority this summer, culminating with the official opening of the Bike Cage in Park Plaza North Garage at 923 Commerce. A ribbon cutting and group hug (in spandex spadex shorts we imagine) will happen at 8 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31. The public is encouraged to attend.

Here's the scoop via a statement released by the Tacoma Chamber:

Tacoma's newest bike parking, the Park Plaza North Bike Cage, is conveniently located on the 5th floor of the garage, directly across from the skybridge to Broadway. Designed to remove barriers to bicycle commuting by providing a secure area to store bicycles, the bike cage was a collaboration of Downtown On the Go and City of Tacoma staff. Early studies found that many offices in downtown do not allow bicycles to sit in offices and do not provide bicycle parking, yet there are many downtown employees who like to commute by bike.

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FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2011 >>>

1. DJs dAb, Suga Jones, Mr. Clean, Chris Savenetti, and rotating guests spin new wave, '80s, funk, pop and club classics during Beat Boxxx at the Tempest Lounge beginning at 9:30 p.m. Don't be an airhead and miss this bad party.

2. Bike-to-Work Week continues today with a bike fashion show and picnic from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Wright Park. All attendees to the picnic will receive a free box lunch from Marlene's Marketplace.

3. The Thurston County Food Bank Benefit Show goes down at the Black Lake Grange from 6-8:30 p.m. featuring Burdman and friends, Jabi Shriki, Scott Taylor, 5 Stings and The Walrus, Marnie, Trick Cowboy, Momenti Rubati, Good Wood and The Brown Edition.

4. Stick Soup, A Steilacoom Indian Story - the story of a girl struggling to find her place in the local community, and written by Steilacoom Indian tribe leaders Danny K. Marshall and his daughter, Lacie. B. Deck - debuts at 7 p.m. at Pierce College Fort Steilacoom.

5. The Don't Stop Crew presents a night of all-ages hip-hop featuring Night Fox, Never Sleep, Free Whiskey, Billy The Fridge beginning at 8 p.m. inside the Capitol Theater in Olympia.

LINK: More arts and entertainment events in the south Sound

LINK: New movies open today

BICYCLE BOOZE CRUISE >>>

Doing its part to keep Tacoma's Halloween celebrants from choking on family-friendly pabulum, the Tacoma Mob Riders will resurrect their Reaper Ride this Saturday. The ride marks the group's one-year anniversary.

You might have seen the spectacle last year: a large group of bicyclists keeping it weird, looping around the north end of Tacoma, in costume, popping into bar after bar, tossing back Flaming Dr Peppers and Irish Car Bombs like there's no hallows' eve ever again. We previewed it on Spew last year here.

I caught up with Tacoma Mob Riders organizer Kristofer Nystrom for the latest scoop on his death on two wheels ride.

WEEKLY VOLCANO: Happy anniversary Kristofer. One year, huh?

KRISTOFER NYSTROM: Yup. It's been a great year. We've been averaging about 30-plus riders. We had nearly 50 riders last time. This past year we've seen all kinds of bikes - road, mountain, single-speed, fixies, banana seat, antique cruisers, hand-welded trikes, you name it. The joy for all continues to be simply riding in a big pack. A mob ... Tacoma Mob Riders.

VOLCANO: Where is this year's Reaper Ride launch venue?

NYSTROM: We'll meet up is at The Acme Grub Cage at 7 p.m. We never give out the route beforehand. Each destination is announced when we mount up.

VOLCANO: What was the best costume last year?

NYSTROM: Hmmm, the best costume was probably the Skeleton Girls. They were head to toe in full skeleton attire - complete with skull face paint.

VOLCANO: Is there a trick or treat aspect to the bike ride?

NYSTROM: No trick or treat aspect. Well OK ... alcohol is the treat I suppose.

VOLCANO: Did anyone wipe out after his or her costume caught a spoke?

NYSTROM: Strangely enough no one's costume was consumed by spokes or crank. Most crashes involve folks failing to put a foot down when stopping.

VOLCANO: So, will there be another year of rides?

NYSTROM: The Mob Rides will continue. We own the streets! Stay tuned for an alley cat series, which will announce soon.

Reaper Ride

Rain or shine, come in costume
Saturday, Oct. 23, 7 p.m., no admission fee
The Acme Grub Cage, 1310 Tacoma Ave. S., Tacoma

WHEN GALEN MCCARTY TURNER JUMPS ON HIS BIKE, THINGS HAPPEN >>>

When Bobble Tiki was a kid he would ride his bike over empty soda cans so they caught on the tops of the tires, making a buzzing noise nothing at all like a motorcycle, but to a 10-year-old tiki, Bobble Tiki might as well have put glasspacks on his Huffy.  Some of those same nutty kids have graduated from Pepsi cans to ... jumping their bike through neon tubing.

As promised, Tacoman Galen McCarty Turner jumped his bicycle through neon tubing last night, just as Weekly Volcano editor Matt Driscoll previewed in his Prefunk column Friday. What Driscoll left out was that the alley would be packed with more than a hundred people in an atmosphere that felt like a high school keg party, that the Tacoma Police force would arrive as the neon tubing was about to be lit, that Patricia Lecy-Davis would convince the police to slow their walk toward Turner to a crawl so that the Tacoma daredevil could skip his pre-jump ritual and jump his bicycle through the tubing before the event was shut down.

And that's exactly what happened. The crowd cheered Turner on as he skipped the pre-jump theatrics (fortunately not skipping the steps where he lights the sparklers on his helmet and bike) and went right for the gusto before the police cleared the alley.

It was spectacular, to say the least.

Check out the few photos we snapped of the event in our Photo Hot Spot.

FRIDAY, AUG. 13, 2010 >>>

1. The Off the Chainring Tour - a traveling bikestravaganza if you will - rides the Olympia Timberland Library from 7-11:30 p.m. offering bike chats with the Bike Tech Olympia folks, bike stories, bike zines, slideshows, and short movies about transportation activism.

2. Local artists and community members chalk up the sidewalks around downtown Tacoma's Frost Park from noon to 1 p.m., then vote on the art at FeedTacoma. As always, free chalk will be available.

3. A grand opening celebration for the new B2 Fine Art Gallery/Studios in Tacoma and its first show, Expressive Facets of Nature, will go down between 5-8 p.m. at 711 St. Helens Ave.

4. SweetKiss Momma, Jar Of Flies, Klover Jane, Vile Red Falcons, J. T. Philips and Rane Stone will perform during The Northwest Convergence Zone's Summer Crush show at 8 p.m. inside Hell's Kitchen.

5. The film Maltese Falcon is back in your life this time screened outdoors at the historic Lord Mansion around 9 p.m. Bring a blanket or chair for comfort.

LINK: New movies open today

LINK: Concert go on sale this morning

GO FOR THE GOLD ... AND GLITTER >>>

The Tour de France might be one of the coolest things on two legs operating two wheels, but it's such a commitment of time, effort and frequent flyer miles to check it out. Then they ride by and it's over. Fortunately, there are other options in bike racing-whether you're a participant or a spectator - a bit closer to home.

The Tacoma Twilight Criterium is a breakneck loop around Pacific and A Streets between 8th and 11^th Saturday June 12 from 3-11 p.m. Grab a cooler and a lawn chair and watch amazing athletes do their thing. With $3,000 in cash and prizes to winners in seven categories, the stakes are high and the competition stiff.

The event also includes a kids' bike race, beer gardens, live music, DJs, a logical appearance by U.S. Olympia speedskating bronze medalist J.R. Celski, and an art bicycle parade.

An art bicycle parade?

Yup, a gaggle of human-powered art bicycles will parade through downtown Tacoma Saturday, no doubt including at least three gorilla men on bikes and a bicycle pulling a canoe tented in green fabric and supporting a large Egyptian head. They might be bicycles built for two, or four, or maybe just involves the cannibalized corpses of multiple bikes welded into a towering hulk, but whatever they'll be, they'll undoubtedly going to be fabulous.  Tacoma's "first" Art Bike Parade will launch at 7:10 p.m., riding from South 8^th to South 12^th Street, in conjunction with the criterium cycle street race.