The Fun Continues

So, to update/continue the weekend wrap-up...
Friday Sept 21 - The Bike Porn event was a scream. After work, it was raining, so I waited a bit for it to improve before heading to the W.I.S.E. hall. I went catch the 98, but instead of the 6-10 mins frequency Translink claims, no bus for almost 1/2 hr. I was about to ride away when it finally approached, I could see that it had only 1 bike on the rack, good, but it was not in the curb lane, bad. It was jam-packed and just kept on rolling, so I saddled up and rolled myself. The reason I didn't just ride initially was that I was carrying a lot of stuff with me. Some for me, some for Bryce.

I arrived in time despite the bus, to see a large group of cyclists outside the hall milling about, many of them Portlanders & Seattlites. I locked my bike and went inside. Hanging out before the show, taliking to lotsa peeps, having a couple drinks, then on with the show. The presenters were RevPhil & Ifny, who were in very good form. The live performances were great. I especially like "The Creaking Planks". I've seen them before (but they're never the same. I mean that the performers vary a bit, not just the material). The songs are absolutely hilarious, not to mention good music. Then came the headliner, RevPhil's movie "The Pornography of the Bicycle" ( see bikeporntour for more blogging of its travels). Ummm, how to describe it.... I can't really. There were many bike short films, some by Rev Phil, some by others, and almost all involved bicycles. The one that didn't, about the San Fernando Valley Illegal Soap Box Derby, was pushing the edge of technicalities, as some of the 'soapbox' racers were made with bicycle wheels. But it was good. OK, so there was another that to the untrained eye might not have appeared to be about bikes, but the fist was just the warm up for the saddle. I leave it cryptic intentionally. OK, I can't resist, it was bikeporn. After that there was an auction, and I outbid, Turbo I believe it was, for a pack of Portland goodies, but I lost out to a combined effort for another one that included a bunch of legal papers from RevPhil's arrest/trial etc from last years World Naked Bike Ride (Portland edition). Then we did a little clean up (other volunteers did the real clean up) before the Naughty Negligée Night Ride. Nobody was naked, a bit to cold, or not enough fortification. I wore (besides my helmet, gloves & cycling shoes & socks) my thigh-high cycling leg warmers, underwear, & back-pack. I think it had the right effect because I did get a few comments/looks/shouts from some passers-by.
We ended up at Trout Lake after a while, socialised, some people went in the lake (what else would one expect when there are Zoobombers present). Later we went for pizza @ Commercial & Broadway and hung around there for a while. I had 2 full cans still in my pack, and not wanting the extra weight on the ride home, I gave them to Morgman, put on my duds, and rode.

As always, I love my solo rides home in the wee hours. They are great. I would love to share them with others (1 person at a time). Everyone should do a solo night ride. 1 minor glitch this time. I misread my watch, and didn't realise the implication until I checked it when I got to Whalley. 03:05, 50 mins more to ride, no time left for a pre-workbound-ride nap. And the wind picked up when I had another 15 mins to go. So, after getting home, I fed & watered the cats, had a big drink, changed to fresh cycling togs, and was gone again.

The ride to work was not too bad despite the wind and my very tired legs, until I hit the Alex Fraser. I had a really tough battle to stay upright. The cross-wind was almost the worst I've had to fight going across a bridge (the worst time was when going over the Patullo a couple years ago. I almost ended up on the road infront of heavy truck traffic). When I got to the Westminster Hwy,the wind was head-on. The best I could manage was 19 km/h, as low as 12 km/h at times, instead of my usual 28->32 km/h. So, I ended up 30 mins late.

Sat Sept 22 - Work was the usual. Went to Pedalfest riding the mini, saw some people, but it was just a pause on my way to CARcass, which was already in full swing. I got there in time to see some events ("tubes of despair", "panty racing" [no, that is not racing panties]) and participate in the "Balloon Smackdown". I came pretty close in the smackdown. I was in the last three going when I got body-checked off my mini (while going pretty fast I might add) during the 'audience participation' part (we 3 were finding it hard to get at each other), and decided to rescue my partly broken helmet blinky rather than remount my bike and carry on before someone popped my balloon. It was lots of fun, even with the bloody knee & elbow. CARcass isn't CARcass without blood. The "main event", CARcass itself, was injury/blood free this time, oddly enough.

After CARcass came the "G'Day Mate! Almost All Aussie Hustle Alley Cat". It was my first Alley Cat style race, and I did it on the mini (of course, only having the 1 bike with me), and it was fun. I missed one check-point. I mis-understood the instructions AND my passport style manifest. There was a small-wheeled exempt check-point, and I thought it was that I could miss 1 of the 6 check-points, my choice. Oh well. I still got a prize for my paper airplane making skill at one of the check-points. I picked a reaallly cooooool high pressure 700c tire from the goodies pile when my turn came.

(more to follow, gotta go)