Nekkid Jousting

I was in San Francisco a few years ago and stumbled completely by accident onto a Critical Mass ride. There were hundreds and hundreds of riders. However, there was one rider in particular among the masses that really stood out - he was wearing a Lone Ranger mask and was completely nude. I was standing in Union Square, one of the busiest places in SF, especially on a Friday night, so there were thousands of on-lookers. As this chap passed, I snapped a quick picture and he flashed me a peace sign. It was pretty awesome and has stood out as the craziest thing I've ever seen on a bike. That is, until this afternoon.

I was looking at the calendar of events for Pedalpalooza and noticed there was a little something called the 'Sunny Nekkid Ride'. The starting point was only about 60 blocks down from me, so I wandered down to check it out. Slowly clothed riders trickled in and slowly each disrobed. Some down only to underwear, but most, nearly all, completely nekkid, as the name would suggest. It was insane. Keep in mind, the ride started on a busy, heavily trafficked round-about in the middle of a very busy area. This was not an out-of-the-way location at all. The point was to be seen and by as many people as possible. It must've been legal, because a couple of bike cops came over, and laughing, started high-fiving the nude cyclists.

The ride got underway and since I was still clothed, I went off in different direction, headed towards another event called 'Stumptown Joustdown' - which is exactly what it sounds like, but way funnier. I snapped some pictures, which can be seen here along with Nekkid Ride photos, and shot several video clips in addition to the one below, which can be seen here. And yes, they did this naked, too.

Tonight is the World Naked Bike Ride downtown. The website says they're expecting between 1200-1500 people to participate.

Vegan Prom

Dani and I had a good time. It wasn't as well attended as I would have hoped, but it was a first time event, so maybe next year it'll be even bigger. James and Rachel from the Veg Meetup group were there, as were my co-worker Connie and her cousin Jennifer. I tried my hardest not to dance, but Jennifer wasn't having any of it and dragged me out to the dance floor a couple of times. Thankfully, I was holding the camera so no one got any pictures of it.

There was some food, which was all really good and lots and lots of late 70s and early 80s music and clothes. We made a relatively early night of it and left around 11. Dani was going to Seattle today and trying to get an early start, plus I'm just not the party guy I used to be, so 11 is late for me.

I've posted a few pictures here.

Pedalpalooza Kickoff

Tonight was the Pedalpalooza kickoff ride downtown. Pedalpalooza is basically two weeks of all kinds of bike related stuff. There's even a vegan cyclist pub crawl, but I won't be able to attend because I'll be at the Vegan Prom. The route for the ride tonight wound around from NW to NE all through downtown. I racked up 18 miles altogether, but the actual ride itself was probably only like 6 or 7 miles. I've posted a few photos of the event here.

The odometer on my bike reads 97 miles - which means I've actually been more like 110, since I installed the odometer late. I've already racked up over 100 miles and I'm not even halfway through the month. That's pretty awesome.

I'm also trying to remember to take photos of Portland in my travels. I'm off to a slow start, but you can see what I've collected so far here.

Bad Yoga, Bad Hand

Man, I did not want to go to yoga tonight. I had to ride right by my apartment after hand therapy and it was so tempting to just forget all about yoga. I went though and I was glad I did. It was a really nice evening and the ride down was really quite lovely. Afterwards I stopped by Tiny's for coffee and read a little. I was also on and off the phone acting as liaison between Every Creature Counts in Denver and Doll at Project Hope in Mississippi. It's crunch time for the transport this weekend and I was still trying to get the final tally worked out.

Hand therapy went pretty much as I had expected. Mel extended me for another three weeks. I'm not thrilled at this prospect, but as a pregnant little birdie keeps telling me, "better to fix it now than deal with the aggrivation later." Thanks mom (or mom-to-be.) It's true, I guess, as long as there's still hope of it getting better, probably best to keep trying. Mel acknowledges that I won't get back full functionality, but if we keep going, it should at least improve from where it is now. And so I go.

Out My Window

Yeah, that's rain. I wouldn't mind so much if Pants and Bonnie had some cat food. But sadly, they do not. So I have to run to the store. They're also running low on litter, but I think that might be too much for me to bear in a single trip. Besides, I also need a few things for myself - like another couple of pounds of sauerkraut.

It'll be alright. That's what I keep telling myself to get motivated. Truth is, it will be alright, but it might suck a little, too.

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I'm back - and it wasn't that bad. It did rain - a lot, but I was prepared. It was actually kinda nice. Most importantly Pants has food so he can stop his 'alms for the poor' bit.

Dani stopped by with her broken laptop. Fortunately I was able to at least get it working again (for now.) The screen had gone out on it, but it has an external VGA port, so I plugged in a LCD monitor and voila! I loaned her the monitor and a flash drive to get her by. Man is her computer a piece of shiznit. It's an IBM Thinkpad that's probably 6 or so years old and looks like it's been dragged through a war zone. Hopefully my patch will get her by for a while longer. Keep those back-ups current, Dennenberg, because it's just a matter of time.

Hand Therapy

I just got back from what is supposed to be my second to last hand therapy appointment. My guess is we're going to extend it for another few weeks. Progress has been really slow and my damn hand still hurts, too. I can't believe that some 4+ months after the accident my hand is still sore - and not just at the break, but my ring and middle fingers as well.

My therapist, Mel, is ever optimistic and tells me it's getting better - slowly, but is improving. I don't really see it. I see the numbers and they're different from the numbers I had when I first arrived, but my hand is still a constant source of pain and frustration. I still can't count coins in my left hand without them dribbling out all over the floor. Gripping handlebars is also a real problem. I suppose we'll just keep moving along and hopefully, eventually it will at least stop hurting.

On the biking front - I caved and bought a new helmet. I finally got tired of the old one leaving black shit on my forehead and in my hair. I bought a Giro Pneumo - this helmet is bad ass. It's super comfortable and has a ton of vent holes. Honestly, I forget I'm wearing it most of the time. I think the reason it's so comfortable is I bought a medium. I have a tiny peanut head and usually go for a small, which is tight because a medium has always felt too big. The Pneumo is big like a medium and close to being too big, but it fits and seems to fit really well. It wasn't cheap, but having a comfortable helmet can make all the difference in the world.

I also stopped using the CO2 air cartridges for filling tires. I read in Bicycling Magazine that the environmental impact of producing them is significant, plus the waste of spent cartridges. So I'm back to using strictly a pump. Of course, I hope I don't get another flat tire, but if I do I'm prepared. Just doing what I can to cut down my environmental footprint.

Bennie Rosario

Bennie is a friend of mine. We met at the Norfolk SPCA, he is the husband of Selina, a girl I worked with at the shelter. Bennie, or B-Nasty as I called him (he called me E-Money or E$), helped me on a few projects at the SPCA. I loved working with Bennie because he was really funny - our senses of humor were similar. Although he was younger than me by a decade, we got along quite well. At an age when a lot of guys are full of machismo and bullshit, Bennie was sensitive and caring. Although he'd probably prefer I didn't write that. Not a lot of folks could pull this off and garner the kind of respect Bennie did. He is without a doubt one of the genuinely nicest people I've met. Bennie was killed in a motorcycle accident over the weekend. He leaves behind a wife, three young daughters and a lot of very sad people who will no doubt remember him in much the same way I do.

Spawn of Bodmer

Such a beautiful day today - total contrast to yesterday. Today was 70 and sunny. Unfortunately, I was terribly unmotivated to do much of anything. I finally got off my ass and went for a ride. Man, was I glad I did. I cleaned and lubed the chain and gears before I left and it made all the difference in the world. The Shimano 600 shifters still suck, but the bike sounded so much better and did shift a little better.

I rode down to Food Fight to pick up a few things to mail to Doll in Mississippi. She's a huge fan of the Stonewall's Jerkee and needless to say there is nowhere in Mississippi to buy it, so I like to surprise her every now and then by mailing off a bunch. She's got a big transport coming this weekend to Denver so I'm hoping if I mail tomorrow it'll arrive in time for her trip.

I spoke with Doll today and she was telling me they are swimming in animals. Lots of puppies, cats and kittens at the moment. She told me people keep dropping cats and kittens at the front gate and driving off - at least one has been killed by the 'grazer' dogs at the sanctuary. The desperately needed transport this weekend is to Every Creature Counts in Denver. They're a terrific group and help out a lot by taking quite a few animals from Project Hope. Hopefully Doll can get a lot of the young ones out this weekend. Of course the never ending problem is there are more coming in right behind them - especially in Mississippi.

After Food Fight, I rode over to Hawthorne to have a coffee and read a little. It was only like 4 and I had a movie commitment downtown at 7:30, so I decided to try and stretch it out rather than run home. It worked out pretty well - although I was at the coffee shop for longer than I had planned. I arrived at the movie a little early, so I returned a call to Mr. Bodmer, where he informed me that Gretchen was preggers. I was shocked. I mean look at that photo for chistsake! Does that look like a man that would get a woman pregnant? As it turns out, that photo of Bill was taken years before he enrolled in a course that turns homosexuals straight. They've got classes for everything these days.

Of course, I'm just kidding. Bill is straight as an arrow (I think.) Congratulations Bill and Gretchen. I didn't think it would happen this quickly, but I'm happy for you both.