Police on Tallbikes!

“Wow, what a view from up here!” Officer Lou Fulmer, a member of Central Point, OR’s Alice Award Winning bike patrol unit was so impressed by his view from atop this tall bike that he now wants one for parades down in Central Point…and maybe even patrolling!

It was our second day of statewide instructor training for Safe Routes to School curriculum. We had just spent hours in Liberty Hall discussing the minutia of teaching kids to navigate intersections, cross streets, and adjust quick releases. To the befuddlement of neighbors, we had already taken multiple laps around the same few blocks in a line of 30 bikes, calling out “stopping!” and “left!” or “right!” at every little uncontrolled intersection and twist in the road. The sight of Twitch Gump coming up the street on his tall bike while we sat on the grass eating lunch was a welcome one. Twitch, being the friendly fellow that he is, saw all the bikes, hopped off his towering steed, and introduced himself.

Like most of my friends with unconventional names, I know Twitch through Zoobomb. Though young, he’s got an amazing wealth of experience building beautifully impractical bicycles and riding them all over the city. His tallbike is an ever-changing project that currently sports a hand lever-actuated dragon head on the front and two items rarely seen on tallbikes: multiple gears and working brakes.

He was happy to allow our instructors and coordinators to give it a whirl around the Liberty Hall parking lot and down the street. Despite the usual “how do you get up on this thing?” dilemma, with Twitch’s instruction, all mounting attempts were successful. Whether you think tallbikes are the ultimate bikepower statement and make the rider “closer to God” or if you consider them “like a tandem only way more stupid,” I’m proud that our instructors aren’t too straight-laced to give something like this a try. Many of them even remarked on the tallbike’s visibility advantages for urban riding and surprising stability. If we start developing a Walk and Tallbike curriculum, I’m going to give Twitch a call.

Thanks Twitch!