Tour de Carbondale

Finally Friday! It had been a long, tough week, with loads of stupid stuff swirling about my desk, so when it was over I stopped by Rich's office, had a couple of beers and shot the shit for a little while. After that, Adriane and I went to the Pour House to meet a couple of friends and to have one of the best burgers ever; the green chile, bacon, cheddar burger made from prime Nieslanik beef and served with home made potato chips.

A burger like that and you really aren't in much mood to whoop it up, so we went home and settled in for the night.

I had just finished watching Star Wars: A New Hope when off in the distance I heard the sound of pounding dance music. Now, living by the park we get quite a few Mexicans cruising with the Oompa music cranked, but that is usually all bass. This was something different. It was accompanied by bicycle bells and horns and all kinds of people hootin' and hollerin'.

FULLL MOON BIKE RIDE!!!!

I had totally forgotten that it was the full moon, but we quickly recovered, grabbed a fleece and hopped on the bikes. The peloton headed down Euclid Ave to 2nd Street (passing Rich and Kat's house along the way). We turned down 2nd, passed KDNK giving a nod to the dj and headed down Main Street.

For those that don't know, the full moon bike rides have become regular occurrence in 'bondale often drawing more than 200 people in the summer. The winter, well, it usually draws about 20 hardcore fools in the winter. The rides have no set path and meander through town at the whim of the crowd.

After a quick lap down Main Street, with people gawking at the mass of riders and a couple of laps through the Black Nugget (a tradition that has earned the scorn of the current owner), we headed east to the bike path that takes us down to the skate park in Carbondale South. The bike path is the dark, so the long line of riders condensed into a very large pack. Once we hit the street it spread out again. 

A quick stop at the new light on 133 (new lights are sprouting up around here like thistles in the fall) and it was into RVR to rouse the suburbanites. When people hear the mayhem of the pack cruising down their street, one might think that they get annoyed. Not in 'bondale. The come out on their porches and start flicking the lights on and off, ringing bells and shouting.

It does get pretty dark on the back streets of River Valley Ranch and has been the scene more than one wreck. Of course, by this point a few beers have been drunk by some riders and a few shots have been passed around. Now, I'm not Mr. Safety, but I know better than to haul ass around in a pack of bike riders in the dark. If you were to only to wreck yourself, then I would say go to town, but inevitably some idiot takes out some innocent rider, usually the girl they are trying to impress with how reckless they can be. Of course, exactly this occurred a couple of times back there.

After the carnage of RVR we headed down 133 to the new RFTA park and ride where the ride stopped momentarily to become a dance party. I mentioned the music earlier. Well a couple of these guys, they call themselves the Stomparillas, have attached sound systems to the racks on their bikes and lead the pack like a band of minstrels. So when we stopped, a bunch of people got off of there bikes and began to dance. This gave me the chance to talk to the guy riding the recumbent trike just like the one I want. He let me do a few laps and, of course, this lead to him letting several other people do a few laps. It was awesome. Adriane is now hooked and we are looking for ones that we can afford.

After the dance party, music by KDNK, we headed back down town and over to KDNK to thank our dj for the bike riding music. Another successful full moon bike ride. Only a couple of wrecks, and mostly by dolts that deserved it, a few people annoyed, but mostly the whole town entertained by the tour.

Next week: Mountain Fair or How I Learned to Love Wood Splitting.