Two bikes and two riders, each with one hand on the handlebars and one hand on a water balloon — it’s the Denver Bicycle Water Balloon Jousting League!
Holding a water balloon while riding a bike is no easy task. Harder still is hitting a moving target (an opponent also on a bicycle) while riding at them on a grassy plain. And yet that’s what these folks do every other Thursday during the summer in the south end of Denver’s Washington Park.
One of the centerpieces of the event is the preparation of the balloons, which involves filling and using the ingenious Pumponator Balloon Pumping Station, which lets jousters fill balloons with virtually any kind of water source around instead of relying on having a nearby hose bib.
Interesting tidbit: blades of grass are sharp enough to cut a filled water balloon, resulting in frequent premature exsanguination. Yes, I made that word up — but I’m pretty sure the Oxford English Dictionary folks would agree that it means ‘releasing the water’ or something like that. I’m keeping it.
