St. Ratrick's Day

St. Ratrick was a legendary saint who drove all the snakes from Ireland, leaving the country safe for rats. Every year a huge parade is held in Chicago to honor the many Irish immigrants who settled here. But how can we forget that other immigrant to North America: the Norway Rat?

The 2003 Parade was an unusual situation for rats which usually only come out at night. This is the first time the Rat Patrol has been an official participant in the parade. To celebrate this occasion, we invited the Black Label Bike Club from Minneapolis and the Chicago chapter of the Scallywags to join us. There were even two representatives of the Minneapolis Scallywags there!

The weather in Chicago in March can be bitterly cold, but this year the icy fingers of winter loosened and we were treated to an amazing 60-degree balmy sunny day. This was important, because it turns out that participating in the parade involves far more standing around and hanging out with other parade units than ever moving anywhere.

Images submitted by Bikefreeek.




Loading up bikes to supply waiting Rats.


















Mpls Scallies picked up these nice loud horns down in Brazil.






Reddude is the Rat Patrol's senior member and font of wisdom.






Bored Black Labels.




































Gotta love a homemade wooden recumbent. You can make one too by chopping a bike in half and clamping two long pieces of wood in the middle!










The plowbike's blade is raised and lowered via brake lever. A good tactic is to get up a head of steam before you drop the blade and clear a swath.






Click here for more pictures of St. Ratrick's Day!
Johnny 6:26 AM