Health & Fitness
Bike for Beck: Everything You Need to Know (Part 2)
The conclusion of a two-part blog information on Bike for Beck.
This concludes my previous article, giving you all the information you need to know about Sunday's event.
What to Eat
The Beck Center will be supplying bananas, energy bars, water, and other light snacks along the trails all day. At the Beck itself, a series of vendors and food trucks will offer their unique refreshments throughout the day.
Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In the morning, Donutlab will bring their mobile kitchen full of assorted mini-donuts, toppings and coffee to the Beck parking lot. For more pastry and coffee options to grab pre-ride, you can also visit Gypsy Beans and Baking Co, located in the Beck Center itself.
As the afternoon and Beck Fest begin, the Beck will welcome local favorites Fired Up Taco Truck. Daily offerings vary (check their Facebook page for news and updates), but the pulled pork in lime cream sauce and the BBQ chorizo (loaded with seasoned fries) are especially delicious. Also available for order are empanadas, nachos, a side order of the seasoned fries, and sodas.
Find out what's happening in Lakewoodwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Nothing goes better with a couple huge, filling tacos than a cold beer. To that end, Eddy and Iggy’s will bring over some selections from their extensive list of house brews. If the bold, hoppy Amarillo Armadillo IPA is one of them, it is not to be missed.
Lastly, for a cool dessert, check out Sweet Spot’s array of creamy gelatos and refreshingly fruity sorbetti (if it's offered, don't miss the key lime pie gelato).
Spotlight on… 216 Trials
In addition to the full roster of musical acts, the Beck is especially excited to present 216 Trials, an exciting four-man bicycle stunt team of Lakewood natives, who will be performing several sets throughout the afternoon.
Earlier this week, I caught up with founding member Dan Smith to talk a little bit about what to expect from the performance, his impressions of bike culture in the Greater Cleveland area, and more:
How long have you guys been performing together? Where in the area are you based?
Dan Smith: We have been performing as 216 Trials since 2006. Before that, some of us had been competing and performing since the mid 1990's. When we first started out, we were all competitors, and eventually became friends, and started doing shows. It's funny, all these years performing all over the country, we've never been invited to play in Lakewood, our hometown! I'm really looking forward to this weekend's show at Bike for Beck.
Out of all that touring, you must have some pretty great performance stories. Tell me one of your favorites.
We did a weekend of performances and skills clinics up in Canada one year, and there was this one kid, maybe 12 years old, who shows up on this total beater of a BMX bike. The bike was probably older than he was, obviously a hand-me-down from an older sibling. This kid's enthusiasm for what we did, and his level of progression during the skills clinics was astounding. The class was supposed to be about how to ride your bike up a curb and stuff like that. By the end of it, he was bunny hopping 2.5 feet! It was just amazing.
Anyway, as a part of the event, someone had donated a pretty nice mountain bike to raffle off, so we totally rigged the contest so he'd win it. That was a great moment.
What can the audience expect from your shows? Any particular stunts to look out for?
What I can say is this: The better the crowd, the bigger we go. A bike show, like any performance, is symbiotic. We feed off the energy of the audience, and the audience feeds off the energy we give back.
Any video highlights to share?
From time to time we select a "volunteer" to assist us during the demo. The "volunteer" is my wife Megan, my super supportive wife who puts her life on the line at least once a weekend to help us pull this stunt.
And here's a link to a more "artistic" piece made up of more recent training footage
Tell me a little bit about bike culture in the Greater Cleveland area. What recent development are you most pleased with/excited about?
One of the biggest bike culture changes I've witnessed in the 15 years I've been a serious rider, is watching Mountain Biking move from an "extreme" sport to a very common activity. I think that the construction and success of Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park has been a huge game changer as far as helping mountain biking become more mainstream in Northeast Ohio.
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For more on Dan and his fellow performers, including full bios and more photos and videos, check out their website at 216bike.com.
