----Click the spoke card for some pix---
After a short furlough, the blog is back on two wheels cruising the streets of the internet, sipping a PBR.
Scads of folks showed up at Gannon's considering the cold. All told, we had about 24 which would likely be about twice the number last year. Summer rides top out at over 50, so this was a great showing. Go FBC, kick some ass!
Anyway, had a bunch of new faces and a bunch of old faces were missed. We passed a quick time at Gannon's then took off south with Marcus (returning to his role as ass-captain), PJ and someone else...I forget who...leading a cool route down Elston. For part of the ride it seemed as though we had the city to ourselves. Not much milling about going on south of Fullerton on Elston for certain. Note to self and others: a good stretch of street for some organized sprints.
We made a quick stop at the Hideout for a refueling stop but found it closed. While there, we found a dude packing up from a photo shoot on the street. Apparently this guy takes photos of himself all over the place while wearing a bubble suit. Had we shown up a half hour earlier, his latest opus would've featured THE FUCKING BIKE CLUB. That would've been sure to seal his fame in the bubble suit photography circle.
Locking up outside the Matchbox, I couldn't help but do a rough estimation of the amount of space we took up outside the bar and whether or not we'd fit into the smallest bar in Chicago. Elbow to jowl, we crammed into the joint. PBRs and the Matchbox's famed margaritas poured across the hardwood. The regulars were soberly determined to hold what bar real estate they had. One guy made me think of the indignation of Walter Sobchek in The Big Lebowski: "I'm finishing my fucking coffee."
One last word about those margaritas: they make you see through time.
Self-appointed co-ass captain Marcus gathered everyone still there late on the median of Ogden Ave for a good photo. There's no bubble suit, but I'm not sure if that one butt is waving a white flag or holding a note. I'm thinking it was something involving a faulty wiping technique. At any rate, hold your breath for the Full Moon Over Ogden Ave:
