Results tagged “Kinetic Sculpture Race” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Freda Moon gives us the scoop on some not-so-common forms of kinetic transportation.

You could imagine this past weekend's Kinetic Grand Championship as Tour de France meets Burning Man. But really this 3-day bicycle race in Humboldt County, California is an event all its own. In place of traditional bicycles, racers pedal "kinetic kontraptions"-- part sculpture, part bike. Instead of smooth road or velodrome, racers navigate land, sand, mud and water in people-powered art machines built to look like everything from Octomom (an octopus with a baby gripped in each tentacle) to a fire-breathing metallic dragon constructed from discarded aluminum, to a tie-dyed Hippy-Potamus with wiggling ears and batting eyelashes.  

The event, which celebrated its 40th anniversary this year, began when one local sculptor, Hobart Brown, challenged another to a race down the main drag of Ferndale, California. Forty years later, the route is 42 miles long, and takes racers across sand dunes (including one called "Deadman's Drop"), across a bay, up and down a mile-long hill with a seven percent incline and across a river. The race, which draws thousands of spectators each year, has spawned similar events across the country and as far away as Perth, Australia.  

To mark the release of our March issue (now on newsstands), we're celebrating cities over the next few weeks, and we've asked our readers to share what they love most about their towns. Would you send Rome a bouquet of roses? Did you get Miami a box of chocolates? Is it Rio you're snuggling with in the back of the movie theater? Declare your love for that special city in your heart!

We've put together a list of fill-in-the-blank questions that should help get you started. We'd love it if you would copy and paste the list into an email, fill in your answers (as many as you like) and send your responses to IntelligentTravel@ngs.org.

Today's city-lover is Anne Ditmeyer, of Baltimore, Maryland, who writes the lovely Prêt à Voyager blog. 

Baltimore is My City

The first place I take a visitor from out of town is the American Visionary Art Museum.

When I crave crabs I always go J.P. Steamers.

To escape B-more I head to D.C. on the $7 MARC train.

If I want to see a movie I go to The Charles.

For complete quiet, I can hide away in Peabody Library.

If you come to my city, get your picture taken with the Cosmic Egg @ AVAM.

If you have to order one thing off the menu from Tapas Teatro it has to be spinach and crab.

Sideshow is my one-stop shop for great random gifts.

Locals know to skip the Inner Harbor and check out Hampden instead.

When I'm feeling cash-strapped I go to Trinacria.

For a huge splurge I go to Housewerks.

Photo ops in my city include the Kinetic Sculpture Race and the best vantage points are the water entry in Canton.

If my city were a celebrity it'd be John Waters.

The most random thing about my city are snowballs with marshmallow fluff on top (trust me, it's delicious!).