The inaugural Menagerie in Motion event—one of only a handful in the United States—starts at the GRU Power District Warehouse on Saturday morning and follows a route around Depot Park.
Healthy relationships are based on, among other things, trust and communication.
That being the case, Flo Turcotte and Helen Warren will be putting their relationship to the test today during the inaugural Menagerie in Motion Kinetic Derby.
The Gainesville couple will be one of about 20 entries in the event that showcases human-powered (i.e. pedaled), custom-built vehicles. At 10 this morning, the Kinetic Derby will start at the GRU Power District Warehouse, 625 SE 5th Ave., and follow a 1.5-mile loop around Depot Park before returning to the warehouse for an awards ceremony.
Among the entries are five from Raymond Rawls in the form of animals—a shark, an elephant, a goldfish, an alligator and a horseshoe crab. Thus, the name Menagerie in Motion. However, entries were not required to have an animal theme.
One requirement of the Kinetic Derby was that entries be powered by no less than two participants. So Turcotte and Warren came up with the novel idea of a “push-me, pull-me” contraption in which conjoined Roadmaster bicycles face in opposite directions but still can move forward.
“We were joking around how riding in a canoe together causes relationship issues,” Turcotte said, remembering a forgettable paddling adventure with Warren on Juniper Run, the picturesque but treacherous canoe run in the Ocala National Forest.
“The idea of ‘push-me, pull-me’ came from that need to cooperate,” she added. “Facing in opposite directions but going in one direction is an opportunity for that cooperation.”
They approached Rawls, a local artist and designer who is also one of the organizers of the Kinetic Derby. Rawls considered a couple of designs but settled on one in which the opposite-facing bicycles are connected by 4-foot-long rods welded to each bicycle’s rear-wheel frame.
Lorraine Duerden, Rawls’ wife, said they drew inspiration from the double-headed llama in the 1967 movie Doctor Dolittle. In that film, the peculiar animal was known as a “pushmi-pullyu.”
Turcotte and Duerden took a test drive on the dual-bike last week in the parking lot outside the Northwest Gainesville shop where Rawls works on the kinetic machines and where he and his wife design and fabricate education exhibits. Warren, a Gainesville city commissioner, had business to tend to.
It’s all about building teams and, ultimately, building communities.
— Joseph Floyd of Menagerie in Motion
The person pedaling forward barked instructions, such as “turn left.” The person pedaling backward attempted to process those instructions while thinking in reverse. It was determined that instructions such as “turn toward building” led to better communication.
There was a learning curve. The tendency at first was for the attached bikes to “fight” each other. Eventually, however, Turcotte and Duerden got the “push-me, pull-me” bike rolling smoothly.
During today’s Kinetic Derby, the women’s entry will include small banners that read “Helen ‘Wheels’ Warren” and “’Go With the Flo’ Turcotte.”
“It’s all about building teams and, ultimately, building communities,” said Joseph Floyd, a Menagerie in Motion Kinetic Derby co-chair and executive director of Active Streets Alliance.
Floyd will have an unofficial entry in the Kinetic Derby called the BikeBoat he built with Craig Carter, another city commissioner. It’s a one-person kayak that can be pedaled down the street but, alas, not paddled in a lake or stream. (It would sink.)
Rawls, meanwhile, will help pedal his 20-foot-long Alligator bike,” which made its public debut during the 2013 UF Homecoming Parade on University Avenue. Last year, ESPN placed a Go-Pro camera inside the papier-mache reptile’s mouth during the parade and aired cut-ins during the televised football game the next afternoon.
To build his Shark Bike, Rawls used the mold of an actual shark as well as mostly recycled materials. To keep the bicycle-powered float lightweight, he used a minimum of wood and metal in attaching it to a tandem tricycle.
The couple’s latest creation is the horseshoe crab bicycle. Like all of their custom-built creations, the pedaling activates movement. In this case, the horseshoe crab appears to bob along high above the street. Also, its eyes glow blue.
Other entries in the Kinetic Derby include a yellow submarine that pays homage to the 2004 movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, a hornet’s nest and an airboat on wheels built by Mike and Diana Adams. Also, four unicyclists from UF’s Objects in Motion juggling club will operate a snail-like creature along city streets. Most of the human-powered vehicles to be pedaled today were on display Friday night at the Power District Warehouse during the monthly Artwalk.
“We’re modeling this derby after other derbies that go on around the country,” Floyd said.
Gainesville is currently one of nine U.S. cities to host kinetic derbies. Baltimore and Philadelphia are the only other two east coast cities to have such events.
The Kinetic Grand Championship is a three-day race along California’s northern coast from Arcata to Ferndale each Memorial Day weekend. (For further info, visit http://kineticraces.com/)
“These other cities that hold the derbies look like they are having incredible amounts of fun, and we want that to happen here,” said Rawls, whose other designs can be viewed at raymondrawls.com.
Duerden said the Kinetic Derby is like a modern Soap Box Derby in that it fosters creativity on many levels.
“We’re hoping to get kids involved through partnerships with local schools,” she said. “You will use every part of your brain in figuring out how to make these things.”
Floyd said the Menagerie in Motion Kinetic Derby already has aspirations for a second year and beyond.
“For us, it’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot of potential.”
— Noel Leroux
For further info, visit the Menagerie in Motion website.
To discover how Joseph Floyd and Craig Carter built their BikeBoat, read the article at MakeZine.com.
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