Carson vibrates with celebration of motorcycles

Carson City rumbled Saturday with the sights and sounds of Street Vibrations — the annual celebration of biker life.

Downtown Carson City celebrated family style with the Freaks of Nature Show & Shine, Street Vibrations Kids Trike Obstacle Course, a block of vendors, and the Carson City Sheriff’s Office Bike Games.

Carson City kids Hayden Steyn, 8, and his sister Samantha, 7, competed together on the trike course, sponsored by the Children’s Museum of Northern Nevada, as their parents Chris and Lori watched.

With tricycles on loan from Fremont Elementary School, the young Steyns peddled the chalked course, stopping for light-weight competitions in ball tossing, yoga poses and puzzle assembly.

“It’s really fun,” Hayden said after the race.

Samantha, sporting a face painting of a panda bear, said she really liked the ladder toss — in which balls connected by a long rope are tossed at a wide ladder so they rap around the rungs.

Around the corner, Sheriff’s Deputy Joey Trotter demonstrated how to slow-ride on a motorcycle, with a ride of 56 seconds down the half-block track.

“It’s fun to get the crowd cheering and everybody having fun,” Trotter said.

Civilian riders were invited to challenge the department for the chance for cash prizes. Anyone who rode slower than the deputies’ slowest score also received a T-shirt. Entry fees went into a fund for equipment for the Carson City Sheriff’s Department motorcycle officers.

Non-motorized bikes also were featured at the event.

Eddie Fruend and his grandsons, Brennan Plunkett, 12, and Zander Plunkett, 10, displayed and demonstrated their unusual bicycle creations.

Brennan rode a bright-orange double-decker, which he helped create. Fruend demonstrated that his upside down & backwards bike — a double-decker assemblage requiring a talent to peddle backward — really was functional.

“I just got bored,” Fruend said of his reason for the creations. “I had an idea. The first one, the yellow one, I just started putting things on.”

Relaxing nearby and watching the action John “Grumpy” Johnson, a member of the Nevada Chapter of the Lords of Iron.

“We support Carson City because we live here,” said Johnson, who has been riding for 40 years. “(Street Vibrations) brings a lot of money into Carson City before winter sets in. …

“We meet a lot of people here, different clubs.”

Across town, Carson City Harley-Davidson took over several blocks with music, vendors, a beer garden, motorcycle stunt performers and rows and rows of chrome and leather.

With Santana covers playing on one stage and Liv-Fast Motorcross Stunts performers in the nearby arena, Brian Pachuilo, from Salinas, Calif., admired a display of custom-built bikes.

“As a regular guy, I look at these bikes and it gives me inspiration with what I’d like to do with mine,” Pachuilo said. “These guys are really, really great.”

Pachuilo said he’s been riding for a long time and has a brotherhood of friends and fellow riders. Coming to Street Vibrations provide them with new views to enjoy.

“It’s the most beautiful ride from Reno through Virginia City to here,” he said. “A phenomenal ride.”

The Carson City Harley-Davidson event continues today from 9 a.m. to closing.