We’ll start off at the 15th Annual Dead Baby Downhill, the greatest party known to humankind. We promise an amazing performance, passion and power, and fire. The Dead Babies are a freakbike club in Seattle that have been gracious enough to welcome us into their caring arms for performances at the Downhill 5 years running. The party also includes pedal-powered carnival rides c/o Cyclecide, bands all night, burgers and dogs, and bike games and jousting. Check out a video of last year’s performance:

On the 6th, we’ll be doing some renegade shows in Seattle: watch out, noble denizens of Seattle! Your capacity for fun is about to expand by leaps and bounds!

On the 7th, we’ll be performing with Cyclecide‘s band and clown show in Olympia, Washington (and if we’re lucky, we’ll also see some amazing interpretive dance from Oly’s own Dance Lab!). We’re still nailing down the details, but this free show will include chaos, crowd participation, and collaborative performances. Check out our shows page for details.

Finally, on the 8th, we’ll be back in good ol’ Portland, Oregon for a show with Cyclecide at the Red Fox.

We’re looking forward to seeing you at one of these shows!

We were fortunate to call Pete and Lili’s place home base for our stay. Thank you so much for sharing your space, your Fat Tire ale, your record collection, and of course Sabbath, the black Lab.

We want to take a step back here to make certain that anyone who reads these posts really grasps why we have been participating in Tour de Fat for three years running. On Sunday morning, Sarah from New Belgium gave us a full tour of the brewery, and we were able to learn some of the company’s history and current business practices. This reminded us, again, of our shared sense of peaceful and positive activism to promote health, sustainability, shared power and decision-making, and bikes (among other things). The wind-powered, worker-owned brewery is filled with original art celebrating the employees and their adventures, and natural-light pours in to fill the entire place with warmth and an energizing glow. The operation utilizes energy-efficient machinery, they have compost and recycling bins all over, and they collaborate with other companies with like-minded business practices for things like merchandise production. So if you wonder why we opt to leave our hometown during so much of the summer to do the tour, know that it’s because we so strongly support this company that grows and grows but does not lose sight of its mission to treat workers fairly, leave as small an environmental trace as it can, and give free bikes to employees on their 1st anniversary working there.

May we suggest, to any who might pass through Colorado on your travels, a stop for the brewery tour? You will learn so much about craft beer production as well as the innovation that keeps a philosophically-minded company thriving.

If you’re not going to Colorado this month then, please check out our “Shows” tab for info on 2 upcoming Portland shows. In October we wrap up our time with Tour de Fat 2009 in San Diego.

And, dare I say it, we got three (yes, three) animal mascots for this stop of the tour. Maisy, Anya, and the big, black lab (sorry, girl, I’ll get your name) kept us company at our host house just outside of Boise. We stayed with some family of Seattle’s Jryde, who treated us just like family. When we weren’t trying to catch up on sleep or stare at the gorgeous, expansive landscape, we toured the garden, admiring their lavender and incredible veggie patch. On the side, they run Long Dog Lavender Farm. On the other side, they also love picking fresh berries and making huckleberry pancakes for a tired crew of girls in hot pink and black. Thank you Jon and Debi! While we’re on the subject of family and eating, we were lucky enough to pack in two family visit/food fests with Agent Sweetpea’s grandparents in Eastern Oregon, and we can’t express enough thanks for that as well!

While we were in town, Jryde and the Idaho Movie House set up an outdoor screening of Veer at sunset for Boise. It was really well received, and we were thrilled to be in attendance to watch the film with a whole different crowd of cyclists. After the film, we managed to somehow bump into the entire MarchFourth Marching Band making its way down the street to a club for a late-night party. Of course, we joined Boise in the parade and sneaked in one last dance in Idaho.

We’re back home, recovering from one-hour time difference jet lag and the hot, cloudless days east of the Cascades. Some girls are headed to Burning Man, others to toodle around town or travel around the Northwest for work or play. Next stop: Ft. Collins, CO, home of New Belgium Brewing!

Of course the solar-powered Tour de Fat festival the next day was fabulous, even in the cloudy and 60-something degree weather.  And we’ve got another one coming up this weekend, y’all.

You know they sell New Belgium beer at Tour de Fat, with 100% of the money going to local non-profits. But did you know if you go to a grocery store these days and purchase a pack of Fat Tire that you’re buying an heirloom? Look carefully at the Fat Tire carrying-case-box-thing artwork because there is, in fact, a hot little Sprockettes bike resting in the grass just begging to be picked up and danced upon. On that note, we’ll see y’all under the Hawthorne Bridge this Saturday afternoon.

Keep your eyes on the “Shows” tab on this site. Here’s what August has in mind for us….

August 8: Tour de Fat, Seattle at Gas Works Park around 2:25pm

August 15: Tour de Fat, Portland at Waterfront Park by the Hawthorne Bridge on the West side around 2:25pm

August 16: Sunday Parkways, Col. Summer Park SE Belmont and Se 20th

August 22: Tour de Fat Boise, ID at Ann Morrison Park

We’ve been dancing at around 1:30-2:30pm at Tour de Fat shows, and Sunday Parkways should be 1pm. Don’t be late. We take names, and if you’re tardy, you might have to stay after school and clean our chains.

Once again, Daniel wowed us with his driving prowess, carrying us across another state line and another time change into MN. We arrived to warm greetings from Nate, Jake, and Tommy who had recently returned home from their month-long Minneapolis to Portland round trip bicycle tour. We crashed on the front steps, looked fruitlessly for the elusive Minneapolis mascots, Corrina and Rudi the cats, and then hit the Hard Times Cafe for some veggie dinner. Next stop was down the road at Medusa for their regular drag night dance party. The Sprockettes have long been proud of our face glitter at performances, but these Minneapolis folks brought us to our knees with their glittering skills. The dance/performance party was in a tightly packed little space, the night’s theme was sci-fi, and we were the opening act of the night. Due to some space constraints inside, we ended up dishing out just a little teaser performance instead of our full set sometime near midnight. Dancing with a fog machine, bubble machine, and strobe light was really fun if not slightly blinding.

The next day was Tour de Fat, and it was chilly.  (I hesitate to say it was full on cold, as Minnesota residents would laugh at us for thinkin 60 degrees is cold. But Ok, we felt cold.) Some of us spotted these bizarrely puffy gray and black things hovering still in the sky. We don’t know what they were, but they were somehow blocking the sunlight. Fortunately, the day stayed dry, but it was rather autumnal.  An amazing crowd showed up, given the cool, windy weather. This was a pretty heavily costumed crowd, which made it a lot of fun. We met a few MDCs (I’m not spelling out the name, just to be a little family friendly, y’all) who talked about using street performance as activism. While the Sprockettes are not as overt as MDC in using dance for political activism, if you’ve seen this summer’s set, you know that we have a public transportation agenda in addition to some song lyrics such as “Let’s go out for a bike ride,” and “Do you wanna ride my bike?”

After a fabulous Tour de Fat afternoon, we taught Daniel some acro-balance moves and headed back to our homebase, the incredible, old house where Jake and Brie live. That night, there was a fundraising benefit for Bedlam Theatre, which is conveniently located right next door to Medusa, the performance space from the evening before. That place looks like the love child of Imago Theatre in Portland with a rooftop bar. Gorgeous. We were lured there by our dearest friends, Mucca Pazza, who performed at the Chicago and Minneapolis Tour de Fat shows. They brought the house down and coaxed the last little bits of energy out of our bodies on the dance floor.

Right around waking up time (7:30 am on Sunday!), Corrina the cat finally forgot she was terribly shy and let a few of us pet her.  Much like her and Rudi, we felt the bittersweet tug of sticking around for more love and attention and burrowing away for a moment of stillness and the comfort of home. The fact that we had plane tickets for Portland already paid for might have been the only real thing that ended up pulling us out of that fine Minneapolis house and our friends’ loving arms.

Tour de Fat goes on into October, and we have five more stops with them. But we did bid farewell to the absolutely gorgeous Midwest, and we bid a hearty “see you later” (not good-bye) to the folks who housed us, fed us, cared for us, cheered for us, danced with us, and showed us a miraculous time. Agent Curse, Agent Trouble, and Daniel were thrilled to meet up with family and friends from back home. The rest of us were so grateful to finally have made it to that part of the country to see the natural beauty and soak in all the love. We have undoubtedly returned to Cascadia with much more love than we started with. Please stay tuned for more updates in a couple weeks; right now we’re shifting back into our routines, and we’ll pick back up with Sunday Parkways and Tour de Fat soon!

“From Cascadia with Love.”

If we ran out of something you wanted, please email us at sprockettes@gmail.com with a description of what you wanted (black with pink print, pink with black print, black with white print, stars, moons, size, male or female style, etc.) and your contact info. When we get back home from the tour next week, we’ll work out the best way to get those things to you. It may end up being a PayPal thing or a send us a check and we’ll mail it thing. We’re not sure yet how that will roll out, but keep in touch with us, and we’ll let you know soon, soon, soon.

Some folks have asked about the music and artists we dance to. The music you’ve heard this summer is:

Get Serious by Portland’s Euromotion

Burning Coal by Portland’s Here Comes a Big Black Cloud

Anthem by Rad America’s Show Me the Pink

Bike Ride by Trucks

Ride My Bike by Triangle

Bike Rack by Transportation Authority of River City (Louisville, KY)

S.O.T.I. (Sexy On The Inside) by Olympia, Washington’s Romanteek

(and a couple others, wink, wink)

After about 8 hours on the road and a fabulous lunch at Mr. Salsa’s in Oglesby, Illinois, we pulled into Madison, WI ready to rock. Where, oh, where was this rocking to take place, you ask? Well, we really didn’t even know until we had arrived in town. All the graceful magic we’ve manifested (and have had enormous help manifesting by all the indescribably amazing hosts we’ve had in each city) brought us to Angela the artist, photographer, and neo-burlesque performer. Sweet, sweet, daring Angela in the house so gorgeous it could be a museum, the one filled to the brim with art, costumes galore, and fresh produce from her back yard. Not only did she appear from the ether just to host us, but she immediately took us on a night tour of beautiful Madison, stopping at a bar to drum up excitement for our show, and heading down to a sandy beach lake for the night.

The next day found us chalking the dedicated bike/ped paths with announcements for the show, stopping at the coffee shop 40 hundred times, admiring the community garden that lay directly behind Revolution Cycles, and spreading the word (with the awesome flyers Angela designed and printed on hot pink paper just for us). Both before and after a huge organic brunch at the house, Angela took part in a first-ever event. She learned an entire Sprockettes dance number, SOTI, to be performed at our show. And did she ever perform it! How do we thank you, Angela, for being gutsy enough to just jump in and for doing it in your very own hot pink and black? And thank you Jeff, for bringing the peeps to your shop for the party!

We got to the show, and of course, the crowd was already pumped and ready to see some fabulous bike dancing. Folks filled the parking lot and the roof above Revolution Cycles. We danced our hearts out and brought Angela up for an encore presentation of SOTI, which she ruled. The DJ did a bang-up job morphing the end of our set into a dance party. There was a live band inside the shop and a DJ in the lot. Madison, we love you. We love your bike paths and organic coffee and bursting berry trees and bushes and swimming lakes and your food. The food. Right, the food. Onto the food.

After the dance party, Chris took us to his outstanding restaurant, The Weary Traveler and treated the Sprockettes (and Daniel, Agent Tippy Tappy, and Angela, Agent Olive Talique) to dinner and drinks. Amazing. Amazing. He serves local and organic food and has a beautiful menu. There isn’t a website, but if you are ever hungry and thirsty while you’re near 1201 Williamson St in Madison, you will love this place. Do be sure to check out the Specials board, as there is now a very special little souvenier to be found right at the top. Thanks, Chris, for feeling the vibe and treating us to a wonderful meal at the end of our very busy day.

After dinner, it was another night ride out to the lake for a bonfire. I would write more about that, but it’s only just now happening so who knows what the night has in store! You’ll just have to check back to see.

I forgot to mention our town mascot! This time around, it’s Velo the cat, who lives at the bike shop (which is 2 blocks from where we’re staying). He’s a long hair and has his summer shave on, making him feel like a velveteen rabbit.  Velo regularly receives postcards and updates at the shop that Angela writes for him about her travels and adventures. He’s a well-rounded little black cat, Velo is. Now that he’s seen the Sprockettes, he’s ready to relax, content knowing that if a mini-bike dance team can roll into his parking lot and take the town by storm, absolutely anything is possible. Anything.

Speaking of hosts: Agent Curse’s mom in Michigantown, IN, had a 12 course vegetarian buffet ready for us when we got to Indiana Monday. We ate, caught some rays in the grass next to her garden, dozed on every piece of furniture in her living room, and hit the road. Daniel flew us past corn field after corn field in our great white van all the way to Bloomington and our temporary home in the Near West Neighborhood, whose motto is “Living in Diversity since the 1880s.” Love it.

We showed up in town and flew to our show at Boxcar Books. The world’s best crowd awaited us there and cheered us on through a fantastic set in the parking lot. We’re thrilled with the love and excitement. As we rolled through the streets to find some dinner later that night, folks drove by, cheering us on, and that just energized us all over again. Steven, you did an outstanding job making this event happen and for bringing the masses out to see the miracle of bike dancing.

So picture this: on a Tuesday morning out front of the Bloomingfoods Market & Deli co op, over a cup of organic Love Buzz coffee, a conversation is overheard. Two people. A pink bike with hot pink chain.  The woman says, “A pink chain! If I was gonna ride bikes, it would be a bike with a hot pink chain.” The man says, “Yeah, me too. If I was gonna ride bikes.” Then, they departed in their Prius. Hey y’all, we love supporting local co ops, driving fuel efficient cars, and talking about bikes.

We swam out at the lake, after a short hike through Indiana hardwood forest.  The sun was amazing, the water warm, and the limestone rocks so wonderful to lie on.  On our way back to town, Daniel stopped at a roadside stand and treated us to fresh, local peaches, sweet corn, and watermelon. This place is absolutely gorgeous.

Tonight’s performance at the Farmer’s Market in front of Bloomingfoods was great. We had a huge crowd and were interviewed for the local Herald Tribune.  Thanks, Herald Tribune. Word has it, this was the largest crowd the Tuesday night Farmer’s Market has seen!

Right after we roll out of town tomorrow, looks like the festivities begin to celebrate the 30th anniversary for “Breaking Away,” fimed in Bloomington in 1979. Go, Cutters!

Onward to Madison!