Bicycle Music Festival: Pedal Powered Tunes and Some Exercise, Too

With everyone under the sun boasting their carbon reduction
initiatives, including laughable entries by oil giants like Chevron and
ExxonMobile, it's nice to see an event that walks the walk, or pedals
the pedals, as it were.

The Bicycle Music Festival is an all-day musical event tomorrow that runs entirely on human power. The sound system is powered by several people riding bicycles connected to a generator. As long as there are pedalers, there's a party.

Event organizer Paul Freedman, a.k.a Fossil Fool of Rock the Bike, emphasized that the bicycle is really only a tool in project; the primary goal is having fun with one's community.

"It's about the power of music to inspire people to make change. It emphasizes the positive message and not the guilt trip. The main message, though, is to get to know your neighbors. There is a community movement in this country that is bigger than the bicycle movement but includes biking. It's one amazing tool to tap into community, but it's only one tool."

Over the course of the day, Freedman expect upwards of 2000 people to take part, either dancing at the stationary locations in Golden Gate Park in the morning and Dolores Park in the afternoon, or riding along the two one-hour mobile concerts.  For the mobile events, Freedman and Rock the Bike have built a bicycle towed stage.

The morning event starts at at 9:30 am at Marx Meadow in Golden Gate Park near the 25th Avenue and Fulton entrance. The Dolores Park concert kicks off at 2:30 pm, with a roving show in between the two park events. Get more route and band lineup information here.

See more photos and watch a video of last year's event after the jump.

A video of Bicycle Music Festival 2008, produced by the San Francisco Bay Guardian:

All bicycle powered Ginger Ninjas frontman Kipchoge rockin' the tall long-tail bike. Photo alwaysupndown

Photo: ppl.

The new hub attachment translates into less power loss from the bicycle wheel to the generator than the previous power set-up. Courtesy, Bicycle Music Festival.