tour de fat, 2006

Well it's that time again. The Tour de Fat came back through Portland again this year and like I need much of an excuse to put on a costume and ride a bike around town. Having an offer of beer at the end just sweetens the deal. I would only be reading about this, but fortunately I was relieved of Saturday duty and was able to play for a change. The only problem this year is that it was very hot--very very hot. Oh well, the heat held off just long enough to talk brian into coming with me, so we rode all over downtown with a pack of sexy bikes. Some crazy woman was yelling at us early on in the ride, but otherwise people were either rather intrigued or totally blase. I noticed that people in the pearl district in particular are really are stuck up as advertised, now that i've seen it for myself. Who knows, maybe this sort of thing happens every other day in Portland, but anywhere else I think people would go nuts if they saw people going down the street en mass on bikes dressed up like it's halloween. The guy who has the bell that sounds like a telephone rocks.

I sure am loving the road machine that I put back together. My old bike woulda worn me out long before the end of the ride, the big hunka steel monster ain't meant for going up and down hills. I was tired by the end though and the sun was coming out in force. I spent some quality time in the fountain afterwards, tried on some new beer and knew i shoulda rode around on the trick bikes, but let the opportunity evade me. Instead i watched the sideshows until it was too hot to think, then we went home for awhile and came back to see March 4th play at 5:30.

I love this event, it has all the makings of a good time. No hefty admission fees, no suggested donations of bulky items that are impractical to transport by bike, a perfectly good excuse to wear costumes, look at hot bikes, dance and drink beer. Frankly the year is just gonna go downhill from here.

Thanks new belgium.