Strolling around Lombard Street on a temperate Easter Sunday, the hollow roar and noisy crowd heard could have been mistaken for an over-active tourist season. As dubious childhood memories of the Easter Bunny come careening in and out of your mind, dozens of helmets, limbs, and small plastic tricycles pummel the crowded ankles lining the most crooked street in the world. Suddenly Easter Sunday has turned from a day of egg hunts and Peep induced sugar overdoses, to a plastic-wheeled, steering-impaired race of doom. Sure, Jesus and the Easter bunny were there, or at least many of the participants chose to dress up that way. But Jesus and friends were careening down the most crooked brick-paved road in the world, on plastic-wheeled children’s vehicles.

Welcome to the Seventh Annual Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race. It’s illegal and unorganized, but any adult with a big wheel - so long as it’s prone to failure when mounted by 80 pounds or more - can join in the fun. This sham of a race, filled with make-believe, takes over San Francisco tourist trap Lombard Street for a full afternoon every Easter Sunday. It’s hell on four-inch plastic wheels.

Andrew Font: It’s like the pillow fight effect. There’s like 20 people last year, twenty thousand people this year.

James Lee: It was scary because at first you’re thinking I can slow down and be fine. But then you realize there are no breaks on this thing and even if there were, there is no way to stop. There’s basically a lot of foot dragging and a lot of foot kicking to prevent yourself from running into other people or objects.
Michelle Reamy: And you only had one pedal. That probably didn’t help.

James Lee: The one rule I heard was that no rubber wheels were allowed, other than that, we saw a guy riding down on a recycling bin. He just had it tipped over with the lid coming out the front. His ploy was he was going to go down and scoop up all the carnage on his way down. I didn’t see him go down, but I wish I would have.

Erica Panasci: This is what happens when your parents don’t love you enough to fly you home for Easter. I was hoping I would break something to maximize the guilt, but no such fucking luck. This is all I’ve got to show (shows scab on her ankle).

When asked if they stuck together through-out the race
Erica Panasci: No, he tried to hurt me!
Sawyer Blazek: Not intentionally of course!
Erica Panasci: He saw me slam into a wall, I believe I heard him cackle as he spun by.

Jake Blackshear: We heard a rumor that duct tape was supposed to help your control through the turns; you need all the help you can get on that street.

When asked what they’ll be doing with their big wheels after the race
Jake Blackshear: I’m probably going to ride it to work everyday.

Ryan Christopher Dexter: Probably going to mount it as a trophy on the wall in the garage, if the girlfriend lets me.