It’s our first public test of the equipment and we haul three bikes and some of the kit the long distance down from the workshop into the back room of The Portland Arms, ready for our first gig.

The bikes take a while to set up, but with practice it can only get easier. Sound check goes ok, although we forgot about monitors, so the full band has a little trouble hearing itself.

Pedalo Folk is up first, one man, one bike, one guitar, one amp, one mic and another amp. We’d forgot about powering the mic when we did our first test with Pedalo Folk last week, so instead of a leisurely 40W ride, it was closer to a 70W slog. Still, he stepped up to the mark like a pro and pulled of a great set. He was later heard saying “You know, with exercise, you hit that line, but when you break through…”

Next up is The Delta Family, who take a slightly more leisurely approach and it’s time for some of the crowd to hop on the bikes and get sweaty. Two bikes are powering a couple of amps as The Delta Family start sampling the crowd, bikes and whatever noise they can find. Soon Paul fires up the guitar and we’re treated to a rare live performance, a single twenty minute bike powered epic.

A quick shout out about the project and Wednesday’s meeting (7pm at The Portland Arms - discuss the grand tour) and Shaun jumps on the decks for some bike powered music mayhem. Maybe not quite on top form as energies drop at one point and we loose power for a moment, for the only time during the evening.

Next up, the headliners, The Jelly Royale, a five piece which in sound check were pulling around 250W from four amps at their loudest. So all three bikes are fired up and there’s a queue of people ready to jump on the bikes if needed. As it turns out, the band probably averaged around 170W continuous, so there wasn’t much need for ‘change-overs’ on the bikes.  The Jelly Royale rocked the house, only their second gig, just a shame they didn’t have more songs.

Still time and energy left to power some more DJ fun whilst a couple of the team do their first radio interview for 209 radio in the front room of the pub. Soon it’s time to pack up and a stirling team effort means everything’s back in the workshop in minutes, certainly a fair bit quicker than the set up.

Thanks to everyone who came along… Without you and your legs it wouldn’t have been possible.