Report from Corvallis: Bike love at daVinci Days

[Editor’s note: This story comes from first-time BikePortland correspondent Brad Upton.]

The theme of daVinci Days this year was Motion and Commotion, and bikes were featured prominently in the celebration.

The festival is famous for it’s Kinetic Sculpture competition every year, and this year there were lots of cool pedal powered artistic creations from all over the region. Of course, these are all human powered machines, and most are based on bicycle technology (and parts!).

Exiting the river during the human-powered machine competition.
(Photo: Brad Upton)

To participate in the competition the machines must negotiate a road race, sand dune traverse, mud bog, and river race. Each team must also participate in a pageant complete with a team song. As always there were some creative entries this year (see photo above).

The ultimate city bike.
(Photo: Brad Upton)

One booth in the “Green Town” area (a segment devoted to information and demonstrations of how to live with a low environmental impact) included a Energy Efficient Transportation display. Of course, this was a bike, configured to be the “ultimate” city bike, complete with generator lighting, fenders to enable year round use, racks for carrying groceries etc., and a low maintenance internal gear rear hub.

This booth also had on display an electric assist bicycle, owned and operated by a fellow who commutes between Summit and Corvallis (about 20 very hilly miles).

There was also free and secure valet bicycle parking at the festival, run by one of the local eateries. It’s easy to relax knowing your bike is safe under the watchful eyes of other bike enthusiasts. All in all it was another great da Vinci Days celebration!