The Ditty Bops bike into town (without jugglers) Tuesday.

The Los Angeles-based Ditty Bops are not going to cruise into Monterey inside an air-conditioned van for the first stop on their national tour. Rather, the quirky acoustic singer/songwriters, Amanda Barrett and Abby Dewald, will ride into the Peninsula atop two bicycles after (hopefully) successfully navigating the mountainous twists and turns of Big Sur’s Highway 1.

By phone from Los Angeles, Dewald says she came up with the idea for the tour, which has Barrett and Dewald biking from Los Angeles to New York City over a three month period, while riding her bike. Though Dewald has never undertaken such a lengthy ride, the songwriter has been using a bicycle to commute in Los Angeles ever since a friend borrowed and totaled her car five years ago.

While most groups just practice their songs before heading out on tour, Dewald and Barrett, a former international model, have the added pressure of getting in shape in preparation for this trip across the country. For the last couple of months, the duo has been training by riding 30 to 65 miles a day for as many as six days a week.

Along the way, in addition to performing in concert halls like San Francisco’s Slim’s, Dewald says, The Ditty Bops hope to book shows in some unorthodox venues, too. “We are going to try and play in some bike stores,” she says.

Luckily, Dewald and Barrett will not have to tote their instruments while riding up steep hills. The band’s piano player, Greg Rutledge, will transport the band’s instruments and equipment in a car that runs on biodiesel.

It is not surprising for a band like The Ditty Bops to take the road less traveled. Since forming the band three years ago, Dewald and Barrett have become known for their eccentric stage shows, which can feature jugglers, puppet shows and interpretive dancers. Meanwhile, The Ditty Bops are the only band whose music has been deemed “unclassifiable” by my iTunes player.

Their latest CD, Moon Over the Freeway, which was just released on May 23, is a mix of gypsy jazz, bluegrass, pop and cabaret with off-kilter lyrics about contemporary times. (“We will frolic in the pesticized grass beneath the smog.”) “Angel with an Attitude” sounds like it is being sung in a ‘20s era supper house by a pair of female vocalists wearing sequins and feathers, while “It’s a Shame” is just vocals, mandolin and acoustic guitar. Best on the album is the superbly strange “Aluminum Can,” which veers from classical-sounding violin and guitar playing to driving acoustic riffs to catchy harmony vocals.

Also included on Moon Over the Freeway—which is produced by Mitchell Froom, who has worked with Los Lobos and Suzanne Vega—is a somewhat unexpected cover of the Everly Brothers’ “Bye Bye Love.” Dewald admits that The Ditty Bops were prodded by their record label, Warner Brothers, to include the song on their release. “It was basically a compromise,” she says. “I like [the Everly Brothers’] version better.”

Now, with the release of the album, The Ditty Bops’ bike tour, which begins in Los Angeles on May 25, is looming large. Dewald says she has not had much time to worry about the huge ride, but she thinks she can predict what will happen when she slides off her bike in New York City. “I will probably want to eat a lot of food,” she says.

THE DITTY BOPS play Monterey Live, 414 Alvarado St., Monterey, Tuesday, May 30, at 8pm. $7/advance; $10/at the door. 375-5483.