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Cycling club .83 biked 40 Christmas trees from Westlake to a Golden Gardens bonfire Thursday

January 11th, 2010 · 27 Comments

If you happened to catch a glimpse of a large group of cyclists biking down Westlake toward Nickerson with Christmas trees strapped to their backs on Thursday evening – or if you were stuck in traffic behind them like our tipster, Stephanie Moultrie – you might have been asking the same questions she was: who were these biking renegades, and why were they carrying Christmas trees?

(Photo from sweetbike.org gallery).

After posting a story about the mystery ride last night, we heard from one of the cyclists involved in the Christmas tree migration. The ultimate destination, it turns out, was a massive Christmas tree bonfire at Golden Gardens.

(Photo by .83 member Alex).

The event was put together by .83, a local cycling club that member Jon Grover refers to as the “band of roving miscreants” he rides with. On Thursday evening .83 members gathered up their old Christmas trees – and ones they had in store especially for the occasion – and met at Westlake Center where they began their journey.

(Photo from sweetbike.org gallery).

Strapping trees to the backs and bikes, Jon estimates between 40 and 50 riders made their way through Queen Anne along Westlake to Leary, and eventually Golden Gardens, where they torched their trees in one monstrous pile.

(Photo by .83 member bott).

When asked why the group decided to pool their trees together for one big fire-filled celebration, Jon wrote,

Ill-advised, potentially illegal yet ultimately entertaining bonfires are kind of a .83 specialty. Also, it is easy to scavenge extra trees from alleys around town.

IMG_4550

(Photo by vaticloupe, via Flickr).

Read more about the bike ride/bonfire from one of .83’s member Scott’s blog, sweetbike.org.

You can watch a video of the bonfire, set to metal tunes, below.

Watch of few of the cyclists ride with trees tied down to their bikes here.

(Thanks to tipsters Stephanie Moultrie and Ben Lukoff!)



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