This article is the fifth in a series profiling the varied and amazing nominees for the 2009 Alice B. Toeclips Awards, which will be presented to five winners at the Alice Awards & Auction on March 7th. You can also read the list of nominees online. This profile was written by BTA correspondent Stephanie Chase.

Most bands take to the road with the single-minded focus of promoting a new album. Portland-based Blind Pilot decided to take that concept to a new level with their 2008 West Coast Bicycle Tour. While promoting their album Three Rounds and a Sound, band members Ryan Dobrowski and Israel Nebeker also promoted a new way of life by transporting themselves and their equipment only by bike.

Joined by Kati Claborn and Luke Ydstie, (whom we hope were told that they would be pedaling their upright bass, banjo and mountain dulcimer before they signed on to the gig), the group started in Bellingham, Washington last August and traveled down the West Coast all teh way to San Diego, along the way playing in little towns that often get skipped by touring bands. They stopped in Portland to perform at Bridge Pedal for thousands of happy, sun-drunk bicyclists:
Blind Pilot performs "We Are the Tide" at the Providence Bridge Pedal in Portland, OR from IAVIDEO on Vimeo.

Nebeker noted how receptive audiences were to the idea of cycling, and to choosing an alternative to gas-powered transportation, “even if they weren't cyclists.” With bikes “never out our minds or conversations very long,” the band hopes to expand their bike-powered show doing smaller festivals around the U.S or even in Europe.

For those of you curious to see how an upright bass can travel a couple thousand of miles on the back of a bike, a documentary crew followed Blind Pilot on tour and will release their film this spring (the Bridge Pedal video is a trailer for the full-length film). Bike touring, Nebeker says, “started as the perfect compliment to what we were trying to achieve with music,” creating a sound captures that enjoyable and enrapturing act of riding your bike.

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