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The Do List

The Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race is Back, So Dust Off Those Plastic Trikes

Rae Alexandra
The ridiculous race is returning to the Vermont Street wiggle on March 31. Get out those knee pads, everyone!
An adult riding a children's tricycle extends one leg as he takes a steep turn. He is wearing a helmet.
The Bring Your Own Big Wheel race is for adults who know the value of good, clean fun ... and who probably don’t have back problems. (Tristan Savatier/Getty Images)

Dust off your squat, plastic vehicles and knee pads, Bay Area, for the time is once again upon us: The annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel race is happening on March 31, 2024.

For those unfamiliar with exactly what BYOBW entails, it’s a hallowed day on which howling humans gather together to watch adults climb onto plastic children’s trikes and hurl themselves down San Francisco’s real crookedest street. (That is, of course, the tight little Vermont Street wiggle that starts near 20th Street in Potrero Hill.) The event is free, ridiculous and organized by a small group of enthusiasts who could really use some donations to keep this thing going.

In case you’ve never attended, this is what NBC Bay Area caught on camera when it attended last year:

You might be wondering at this juncture how in God’s name this annual Easter Sunday tradition got started. For that, we have to go all the way back to 2000 when a man named John Brumit decided to ride a children’s big wheel down the (infinitely more famous) Lombard Street wiggle. Why? Because San Francisco, that’s why.

After Brumit drew a small crowd, he decided to perform the hilarious stunt every year. This gradually grew into a full-blown race because in this magnificent jester of a city, there can never be too many ways to potentially embarrass and injure ourselves simultaneously in a public forum.

Here’s what the race looked like back in 2006:

The calamitous competition moved to Vermont Street — with its tighter turns and less pristine paving — in 2009, marking an even greater challenge to racers. There it has remained ever since, save for a short break during the COVID pandemic.

Registration is now officially open for anyone who wants to try their luck in the race. Kids under 13 get to test their hill skills (under close adult supervision please!) 2–3 p.m. Adults ride between 3 and 5 p.m. As usual, plastic trikes are the preferred mode of transportation. Anyone who wants to participate on anything involving a metal frame is asked to pad or tape their conveyance “so that the possibility of fingers being mangled and legs being impaled is lessened on your fellow riders.” Fair.

If you look at the speed of these 2009 riders, those rules absolutely make sense:

Bring Your Own Big Wheel 2024 takes place March 31, 2024, starting at 2 p.m. Registration is open now. Check out BYOBW’s FAQs and code of conduct to make sure you actually want to do this.

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