HeapRide brings bike-based spectacles, group rides to Seattle

On the streets of downtown Seattle last year, Seattle-based experimental performance group Heap Troupe rolled through steep inclines and dismantled their bikes, drawing the attention of people walking by.

This May, the organization will host its first large-scale performance series, HeapRide, inviting more audience participation. Outside bike shops around the city, onlookers can expect to hear the clanking of bicycle chains. The group's members, donning mechanical parts as costume pieces, will baton twirl their bikes in the air.

Taking place May 2, 9 and 17, HeapRide will feature three guided group bicycle rides and pop-up performances along the routes. The events reimagine Seattle as a car-free world, encouraging participants and the public to consider alternate forms of transportation like cycling, said Kara Beadle, co-leader and co-artistic director of Heap.

"We're like a band of bicycling people that are taking the audience, who are wanting to get away from the ‘auto overlords,' as we call them, to a safe place without cars," Beadle said.

On May 2, audience members and participating cyclists will meet at Tailwind Café at Good Weather on Capitol Hill at 10 a.m. and watch a public one-hour performance by Heap members. The cyclists will then start a 7-mile ride along Melrose Trail, the I-5 Colonnade, Interlaken Park and Foster Island, concluding around 2:30 p.m., according to a news release. Participants will meet at Free Range Cycles in Fremont on May 9 before embarking on a route with pit stops including Ravenna Park Bridge and Gregg's Cycles, before ending back at Free Range Cycles. And they'll bike from Freeway Park to Mount Baker Tunnel on May 17.

As of mid-April, Beadle said spots to join the three group rides have filled up at 20 riders signed up per route, but the troupe may open additional slots "depending on how the first ride feels."

The public can still view one-hour stationary performances by Heap members for free on May 2 and 17, at Tailwind Café and Freeway Park, respectively.

The bike-based spectacles are based on a dystopian world created by Beadle and co-founder Andy Zacek, where people, entrenched in everyday traffic, have inevitably merged with their cars, and cyclists have to adapt to an automobile-reliant society. Beadle said they've also created characters based on bike parts; the pedal, for example, connects human flesh with the metal bikes.

"It's … about how car culture invades community and has impacted Seattle, and (dramatizing) that so people can look at it and be like, ‘Oh, that's funny' or like, ‘Oh, that's way out there, but actually, here are the kernels of it that ring true for our current infrastructure in Seattle,'" Beadle said.

While planning for HeapRide, the troupe partnered with local bike shops and spoke with organizations such as Cascade Bicycle Club, a bicycling nonprofit serving riders of all ages in Washington state. Beadle said they want to engage participants and the public by introducing them to resources that are readily available. During the group ride on May 9, Free Range Cycles will do half-off bike rentals, Beadle said.

The idea for HeapRide came two years ago, when Beadle and Zacek envisioned using art as a vehicle for change. In hosting more group rides, Beadle said the goal is for participants to find community connection and the courage to try cycling in a safe environment.

"I've had a lot of people in my life be like, ‘Oh, I have a bike, but I don't want to commute because it's scary,' or 'I don't know how to get from A to B,'" Beadle said. "And so I think those are the kind of people we're hoping will go on the ride."

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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 4:54 PM.