New media artist Jessica Thompson held a bicycle noisemaker workshop at Calgary's Good Life Bike Shop in Eau Claire Market as part of the Mountain Standard Time (M:ST) Performance Art Festival.

Coined the Bike Hack + Soundride, it was part of the month long Ride On! bicycle-based workshops put together by M:ST, Good Life and the TRUCK's TR:AFFIC residency program. Thompson's makeshift mufflers for peddle bikes consists of little more than a playing card, tape, wires, contact mic and a pocket-sized guitar amp. It's similar to the ones kids attach to their bikes, only louder. The cumulative low growl it produced when a dozen cyclists rode down Calgary's downtown streets had the riders smiling and wide-eyed bystanders' heads twisting and jaws dropping.

The group will saddle up again with dozens of other cyclists on Friday, July 31 at 5:30 p.m. outside Eau Claire Market for this month's Critical Mass bike ride -- "a mass-cycle event that asserts the rights of non-car traffic to share the roads."

Good Life will also be celebrating its one year anniversary after the Critical Mass ride by staging a licencsed, all-ages “One Year and Pedaling Strong” shindig at the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Centre (1320 5 Ave. N.W.) 8:30 p.m.

The event will include musical performances by The Fake Mustache Drag King Troop, Omage, Cheers From Afar, and DJ Cosmic, as well as door prizes and a silent auction for (you guessed it)... bikes.