National Bike Month is upon us. What that means for many cities is a challenge: to come up with bike rides that are more fun than anything done before.

Fun bike rides do more than just give you, the rider, a chance to show off a new helmet or refurbished bike. They also very strongly build bike communities of all types.

So, who’s got the best bike ride this month? Opinions will vary, naturally, so below we’ll just put out a smattering of rides that we think epitomize the definition of fun. Tell us your own choices in the comments below and don’t forget to include links.

Photo courtesy Tour de Cluck

Urban Tour de Cluck, Des Moines, Iowa and others – This bike ride starts at a restaurant called The Chicken Coop, visits a dozen local backyard chicken coops, and ends up with a lot of talk about chickens and the benefits (fresh eggs, fresh manure) of chicken husbandry. Other cities, such as Davis, California, and Austin, Texas do Tour De Cluck or Tour de Funky Chickens rides.

Let’s hope the dog floats

Kinetic Sculpture Race, Baltimore, MD – Kinetic Sculptures are human-powered works of art that must also (try to) be amphibious. Because of the human-powered rule, many of the sculptures are built on top of bicycles. The 14-mile race is mostly on pavement but the sculpture must make it in Chesapeake Bay waters and also mud and sand.

Photo Joshua Yospyn courtesy Dandies and Quaintrelles blog

Seersucker and Lace Harrisburg, PA and others – These rides are a spring-to-summer variation of the Tweed ride theme. Instead of warm, wooly tweed, bicyclists on this meandering ride compete to see who can have the best ‘antique’ riding costume featuring cotton seersucker and extensive lace and millnery (i.e. hats). Lots of fun!