Bring Your Own Big Wheels 2007

Can you think of a better Easter tradition than going down the famous windy part of Lombard Street in San Francisco on plastic kid Big Wheels? Apparently this has been a tradition in SF for the past six years, where grown men and women dress up in costume, get liquored up (optional, though it seems to be a popular choice), and ride plastic Big Wheel tricycles down the hill. Luckily, I found out about it just in time today and was able to walk the two blocks from my apartment to the top of Lombard Street for the start of the “race” at 4pm.

It was a madhouse of people at the top of Lombard Street at Hyde. The traffic was snarled very badly, as cars waited in long lines, stopped at an incline along the steep hills. As 4pm neared, we anxiously awaited the arrival of the Hyde Street cable car, which would stop at the corner of Lombard and Hyde and block traffic. As the trolley clanked up the hill, the Big Wheel riders (drivers? navigators? captains? jockeys?) ran into the street and jostled for position. The rest, in pictures:

Hundreds of people lined the hill for the seventh annual BYOBW

Waiting for the cable cars

Costumed drivers (I love the two guys with big Beaker heads)

“Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into?!”

Dozens and dozens of spectators can only smile in amusement as they watch the plastic wheeled carnage.

Heat One is barely over but they’re ready for round two.

Wakka wakka wakka

Sir, I dare say that tricycle is too small for you.

Mario and Luigi took some time off from their usual (plumbing and saving Princess Toadstool) to drive a few heats.

I took a video of the start of the first heat with my camera and uploaded it to YouTube. The quality is kind of crummy after processing but hey! My first YouTube upload ever and over 3,000 clicks and even 1 five-star rating :)