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Parker · 06-26-2012, 06:58 AM

Pride was so much fun this year. My friend, Michele missed it last year and she decided that come hell or high water, she was making the drive in her trike up from SE Washington to ride in the parade with me. She isnt gay, she's an ally, but no one seems to care if you are woman, man, gay, straight, or bi when it comes to riding with the Dykes on Bikes - if you have a bike and love Gay Pride, come on and ride with us. lol

Since it rained pretty hard on Friday, Michele drove up on Saturday, but it rained even harder on her drive up - she said there was rain, high winds, and some hail - and at one point, she had to pull over!

She also had some bike issues - her heater went out, her gear shift didnt want to work, and eventually, when she was in Seattle, her trike overheated to the point that I had to bring her some water - even though she had no clue where she was ... that was an adventure.

Her husband was worried that he hadnt heard from her since her road trouble, so he called and when she told him she overheated and her radiator was tapped out, he was concerned enough to make the 4hr trip out here to look at and fix her bike. Turned out, it was a blown fuse that just needed replacing. He spent the night and left Sunday morning.

So with Michele's trike in running order, all that was left was the weather - and just like last year, the Seattle skies decided that instead of opening up and pouring rain on all of us, it would instead push the clouds aside and let the sun peek through for a few hours.

We got there early enough to talk to a few people, wipe our bikes down, chill out before the start of the parade, etc. At one point, this woman (she is right behind me in the first pic below) walked up to me and asked me how long I'd been doing this. I told her 3yrs and she then asked what color my bike was ..... um, blue. She told me I was supposed to say something like cobalt blue, so I told her it was cobalt blue; and when she asked me my bike's name, I told her "for sale."

The DOB ride was wonderful - I knew it very well could be my last, so I rode slowly while all the crotch rockets zoomed on by and lapped me a few times lol. I gave high-fives to the crowd and found my friend Alan so I could toss him my Pride necklace again this year - and he took a couple of good pics of me. Towards the end of the ride, I kept seeing this woman - a tall butch with salt-n-pepper hair who was so excited to see us all. So when I lapped around for the 2nd to last time (I snuck in one more circle before going off to park), I grabbed my other Pride necklace, pointed to her as I drove towards her and tossed her the "beads" - she was so happy and it was so freaking awesome.

After the ride, we watched part of the parade and then left to go get a couple of Jimmy John's subs since she had never had one (they are SO much better than Subway, seriously). Then we went back to my house and took naps bc we are old and that evening, we went to a restaurant that we both thought might be interesting - the Celtic Bayou - which serves both Cajun and Irish cuisine. It was good.

The coolest thing is that I not only remembered my helmet cam this year - as well as the batteries and memory card to go with it (I forgot the card last year lol) - I was able to set it to record while it was strapped onto my headlight, so it caught the whole Dykes on Bikes ride from the rider's POV - save for the last 30 seconds or so when we all pulled around the corner and parked near the festival entrance.

Below are a couple of pics of me, a couple of Michele in her trike, and the whole 45 minute video of my ride - but feel free to skip the first 3 minutes because we are all just sitting there, honking our horns and revving our engines as we wait to get started during that time.

Oh - I try to look a little different each year - 2 years ago, I wore a fedora type hat, last year was my ball cap (CUBS!) and this year was my ball cap backwards. I am also wearing a shirt Michele got for me at Portland Pride last weekend (she took some LGBT youth from her area) - it says Veterans for Human Rights (VfHR.org).

06-26-2012, 06:58 AM	#34
Parker Timed Out - Permanent How Do You Identify?: Butch. Lesbian. Dyke. Woman. Female. Preferred Pronoun?: She, of course! Relationship Status: Content Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Small Town Life Posts: 2,880 My Photo Gallery Thanks: 7,858 Thanked 11,727 Times in 2,429 Posts Rep Power: 0	Pride Pride was so much fun this year. My friend, Michele missed it last year and she decided that come hell or high water, she was making the drive in her trike up from SE Washington to ride in the parade with me. She isnt gay, she's an ally, but no one seems to care if you are woman, man, gay, straight, or bi when it comes to riding with the Dykes on Bikes - if you have a bike and love Gay Pride, come on and ride with us. lol Since it rained pretty hard on Friday, Michele drove up on Saturday, but it rained even harder on her drive up - she said there was rain, high winds, and some hail - and at one point, she had to pull over! She also had some bike issues - her heater went out, her gear shift didnt want to work, and eventually, when she was in Seattle, her trike overheated to the point that I had to bring her some water - even though she had no clue where she was ... that was an adventure. Her husband was worried that he hadnt heard from her since her road trouble, so he called and when she told him she overheated and her radiator was tapped out, he was concerned enough to make the 4hr trip out here to look at and fix her bike. Turned out, it was a blown fuse that just needed replacing. He spent the night and left Sunday morning. So with Michele's trike in running order, all that was left was the weather - and just like last year, the Seattle skies decided that instead of opening up and pouring rain on all of us, it would instead push the clouds aside and let the sun peek through for a few hours. We got there early enough to talk to a few people, wipe our bikes down, chill out before the start of the parade, etc. At one point, this woman (she is right behind me in the first pic below) walked up to me and asked me how long I'd been doing this. I told her 3yrs and she then asked what color my bike was ..... um, blue. She told me I was supposed to say something like cobalt blue, so I told her it was cobalt blue; and when she asked me my bike's name, I told her "for sale." The DOB ride was wonderful - I knew it very well could be my last, so I rode slowly while all the crotch rockets zoomed on by and lapped me a few times lol. I gave high-fives to the crowd and found my friend Alan so I could toss him my Pride necklace again this year - and he took a couple of good pics of me. Towards the end of the ride, I kept seeing this woman - a tall butch with salt-n-pepper hair who was so excited to see us all. So when I lapped around for the 2nd to last time (I snuck in one more circle before going off to park), I grabbed my other Pride necklace, pointed to her as I drove towards her and tossed her the "beads" - she was so happy and it was so freaking awesome. After the ride, we watched part of the parade and then left to go get a couple of Jimmy John's subs since she had never had one (they are SO much better than Subway, seriously). Then we went back to my house and took naps bc we are old and that evening, we went to a restaurant that we both thought might be interesting - the Celtic Bayou - which serves both Cajun and Irish cuisine. It was good. The coolest thing is that I not only remembered my helmet cam this year - as well as the batteries and memory card to go with it (I forgot the card last year lol) - I was able to set it to record while it was strapped onto my headlight, so it caught the whole Dykes on Bikes ride from the rider's POV - save for the last 30 seconds or so when we all pulled around the corner and parked near the festival entrance. Below are a couple of pics of me, a couple of Michele in her trike, and the whole 45 minute video of my ride - but feel free to skip the first 3 minutes because we are all just sitting there, honking our horns and revving our engines as we wait to get started during that time. Oh - I try to look a little different each year - 2 years ago, I wore a fedora type hat, last year was my ball cap (CUBS!) and this year was my ball cap backwards. I am also wearing a shirt Michele got for me at Portland Pride last weekend (she took some LGBT youth from her area) - it says Veterans for Human Rights (VfHR.org).