Saturday afternoon Sue and I were sipping coffee and tea with our friend Jeri, at Dunn Bros. on Lake Street in Minneapolis. It’s right by West River Parkway on the Mississippi, one of the most popular biking routes in one of the country’s most bike-intensive towns. Saturday alone, hundreds of bicyclists rolled by our perch in the front of the coffee shop.

Anyway, I looked out on Lake Street, when this apparition of bicyclistic inspiration appeared on the opposite side of the street. It kind of floated majestically across Lake Street, came up on the sidewalk, and parked near Longfellow Grill (a popular eatery).

It was a tricycle inside a little canoe, pedaled by a guy in a Viking helmet. In lieu of a dragon head ornament, the Vike Bike’s captain–who built this vessel–had welded bicycle sprockets on both ends.

After I took a few shots, I walked away, wondering what it might have been like, to see a fleet of these things descending on some Saxon village in 900 A.D. Imagine Hallvard the Hideous, pedaling madly, waving his axe. Coming to pillage and plunder. But in an environmentally friendly way.