Awesomeopolis » Bikes http://www.awesomeopolis.com Welcome to Life in Awesomeopolis Tue, 22 Jun 2010 00:01:44 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.1 en hourly 1 The Shweeb: Love Child of Bicycle and Monorail http://www.awesomeopolis.com/2009/07/24/the-shweeb-love-child-of-bicycle-and-monorail/ http://www.awesomeopolis.com/2009/07/24/the-shweeb-love-child-of-bicycle-and-monorail/#comments Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:33:30 +0000 Stephanie http://www.awesomeopolis.com/?p=1344 If I could be anywhere in the world tomorrow, I would be here. Why? Because THE SHWEEB is there. It’s the world’s first human-powered monorail racetrack, and it looks TOTALLY AWESOME!!!

Shweeb

The best part? Five Shweeb pods can be linked together to form a Shweeb train for team racing! Up to ten people are able to compete against each other at any one time. I’m ready to jump on a plane right now! Watch the video after the jump and start booking your flights to visit the Kiwis.

]]> http://www.awesomeopolis.com/2009/07/24/the-shweeb-love-child-of-bicycle-and-monorail/feed/ 1 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race http://www.awesomeopolis.com/2009/05/06/baltimore-kinetic-sculpture-race/ http://www.awesomeopolis.com/2009/05/06/baltimore-kinetic-sculpture-race/#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 01:24:55 +0000 Stephanie http://www.awesomeopolis.com/?p=487 I was in Baltimore last weekend and was lucky enough to catch the 2009 Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race. I wasn’t sure what to expect at first, but I should have known to expect awesomeness. Each May, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) hosts the East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race Championship on the shore of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. The Kinetic Sculptures themselves are amphibious, human powered works of art custom built for the race. It’s an 8 hour race that covers 15 miles (check out this map of the race). The route is mostly on pavement, but the trip also goes into the Chesapeake Bay and through mud and sand. Now, the best part of the race is that SPEED is not the only way to win a prize. Participants can be awarded “People’s Choice”, “Best Pit Crew”, “Worst Honorable Mention”, and my favorite: the “Grand Mediocre East Coast Champion”.

My friend and I caught the race right outside the American Visionary Art Museum where we had a beautiful view of Inner Harbor and a perfect place to take photos as the sculptures sped past us (some faster than others). I didn’t get to see the whole race, but of the sculptures I saw, the pink poodle was my favorite (the frog behind it was awesome, too, but come on, giant pink poodle!).

12-pink-poodle

See more pictures after the jump!

Poodle side view

13-pink-poodle-side

Frog side view

14-frog-side

The rest of the photos are in chronological order, starting with “Rocky Horror Picture Shoe”.

01-rocky-horror

“Got Ice?” The plush penguins are super cute.

03-penguins

“Platypus” won People’s Choice!

04-platypus

05-platypus-side

Platypus babies!

06-platypus-babies

“Happily Never After” won the Art Award. Click here to see some water action.

07-carriage

Oregon Trail!

08-western

The elephant was one of my favorites!

09-elephant

“Hot Beef Injection”: Best Pit Crew and Worst Honorable Mention

10-meat

“Rat Rod”

11-rat

The “Cheese Racer” gave us a free bag of Cheez-its (yum!), and they won the Engineering Award.

15-cracker-barrel

]]> http://www.awesomeopolis.com/2009/05/06/baltimore-kinetic-sculpture-race/feed/ 0