First FBC of 2017!

January 11th, 2017! 8pm-ish!

Come meet us at The Grafton, 4530 N. Lincoln Ave. It will be cold but they have hot toddies! 

It's the Full Wolf Moon! Meet, eat, drink and howl!

We plan to have a park stop so bring the woolys and the fleeces.

Cold Moon

Cold Moon lived up to it's name with a thick layer of crunchy snow on the ground and feels like -7 temperatures at meeting time.

FBC lost a friend a few days before the ride. So the ride was dedicated to our friend and people poured out for hugging, consoling, sharing stories and drinks.

Apple Schnapps

A toast

Most people chose to leave in warm vehicles after the bar but a few rode on to Village Tap. 

Cold butts

1am full moon shot on Roscoe, not a car or bike in sight. A few confused smokers to our right. 

December Ride

Tuesday, December 13th!

Meet at Laschet's Inn, 2119 W. Irving Park Rd.

We ride and celebrate December's Full Cold Moon.

Last full moon of the year! Be there or be square.

Beaver Moon

I missed all opportunities for Beaver Moon jokes and I apologize for that.

What makes for a good park stop? Good view of the moon? Hidden from streets? How about

BEES!

The bees were sleeping/dead but we still had

BOOGER TREES

Or sap leaking. 

We saw a good photo op close to the gross trees and bees so we stopped for some photos. 

Someone had feelings about people not participating in the photo

After that we went through a bunch of alleys and no one got a flat! We found some real good junk. 

Still in the plastic!

Just missing a motor

The alley led to 439 Nightclub which was strangely quiet. So we took over the jukebox. 

We had to head back north so we had just enough time for one more stop. We had exactly 10 minutes to order and finish our drinks before Ola was finished with us. 

And now your moment of Zen

November Ride

Next ride is Monday, November 14th!

We meet at E-Z Inn, 921 N. Western.

Not to be confused with an athletic endeavor, we meet for a couple of drinks and ride to another dive somewhere with a park stop along the way. Meet up at 8, ride at 9. Destination is always TBA. See you there.

Hunter's Moon

Anyone else watching American Horror Story? They know all about fucked up things happening during the full moon.

We started at Red Lion, home of spotted dick jokes and fried fish.

Then we took a meandering ride to a spot down by the river.



No one did any sick tricks in the Garden but we did hide from the moon in the trees.




And we decided this would be a good location to take our photo.



We took the pic on a ramp which gave it a nice "field of asses" look.

After that we headed to Lizard's Liquid Lounge for surprise karaoke! I unsurprisingly massacred a song but others saved our group with some Weezer and Jane's Addiction.

Lots of skull themed artwork

There was one song that I haven't seen in a karaoke book before and it decided to lodge itself in my head all week. So I share it with you. 

October Ride

Next ride is Saturday, October 15th!

We meet at 8pm at Red Lion Lincoln Square, 4749 N Rockwell. There are multiple Red Lions, make sure you go to the right one!

We meet, eat, drink, socialize, ride, and repeat...there will be a park stop, a surprise destination, and as usual, a great photo opportunity! As the cold weather has descended, and because we have not done so in a while, there is a good chance that the ride will head in the direction of warmer temperatures (or at least there is likely to be someone blowing hot air by the end of the evening). It is a weekend, so there could also be a bonus stop.

Harvest Moon

angry bartender

eyes frostier than your mugs

are you a drug front

Welcome to the September edition of FBC! 

Our starting location this month was Leadway bar, home of salty pizza and a nice empty patio for us to take over. We had a good size group come out which I credit to good weather, weekend moon and Neil Young. 

The bartenders also don't care if you sit on the ground.

spilling out onto the sidewalk

From there we headed to The Magic Hedge. 

The hedge is a good place to watch birds and cruising guys but I didn't see either. Then we headed down a narrow, poorly lit and paved harbor path. 

affection?

bike lights and city lights

affection

Then it was on to a bar that may or not may not be open!

It was open!

The bartender seemed honestly confused by customers on a Friday night. Also she wouldn't serve mixed drinks even though I could see the mixers in the cooler! We had new people but I forgot to make them drink Malort. I'm not even sure they had Malort. 

What did they have?

Butts!

And shortly after that, the bartender decided the bar was closed for the night. I'm sure it was a coincidence. 

Reminding you one last time, if you want email updates when I post, sign up on the sidebar. 

September Ride!

Next ride is September 16th! Leadway Bar! So much excitement!

Leadway is at 5233 N Damen Ave. You like fried things? They have fried things.

We meet around 8 and leave around whenever.

We'll do a park stop and end at a fine dive.

You want email updates when I post? Sign up on the sidebar!

Sturgeon Moon

I added a Follow by Email button on the sidebar below the full moon dates. Get email notifications when I put words on this page!

I wanted to join the haters for our new new location but Gio's ended up being a good spot! They had cheap wings, good service and we took over almost the entire front patio (except for a guy and his dog named after Rosa Parks, wtf). The group also seems to like moving around to new spots so we haven't settled on a permanent start location.

Taking over the patio

ActionTandem

Sometimes social rides are more about the social than the rides. We ended up staying late at Gio's, even for us, so we skipped the park stop and headed to Windy City Inn.

Enthusiastic bar decor

It started to rain right as we ran out of for a photo. Soggy moon!

New New Location for August Ride!

Next ride is on Thursday, August 18th for the Sturgeon Moon! Meet at Gio's Bar, 4857 N. Damen around 8. Leave sometime around 9.

Enjoy a summer evening with some old and new friends, food, beer, a bike ride, a park stop and a surprise destination (TBD), and also see some full moon(s).

Buck Moon

Is Malort the official initiation shot of Chicago? The last couple times I remember drinking Malort was when I joined a new group. Before that I just ordered it to trick suburbanites and out of towners into thinking I was taking a shot with them so I could see their Malort face. A good $3 wasted.

We had 2 new riders this month so we handed out 2 shots of Malort. Altogether we had 27 people meet at O’Shaugnessey’s and 22 people ride with us. I don’t know if it was the new start location, the weather or just luck but we had a great turnout! We convinced one bikeless person to take a Divvy on the ride and it worked out pretty well so remember that if you ever find yourself with a broken bike on FBC night.

Our first stop was by the Diversey driving range.

It’s really hard to take photos when one side of the group is bright lights of a golf course and the other side is a dark field.

Talking hammocks

After that we headed to Delilah’s and took over the 2nd floor.

Around midnight we headed out to take our photo. It wasn’t easy to get everyone across both lanes when the street was empty. Safety 2nd!

Bonus SFW version

Next full moon is August 18th! We haven’t decided if we are going to stay with O’Shaugnessey’s as a meeting place but I will post when I know.

New Location for July!

We will meet on Tuesday, July 19th for the Buck Moon. Bring your best buckin jokes. 

We will meet at O'Shaughnessy's Public House, 4557 N. Ravenswood. They have bike racks and food. $2.50 PBR's on Tuesdays! 

School night so plan is to leave at 9:15pm. We'll do a park stop and then end up at one of my favorite bars in the city.

Strawberry Moon

The unofficial greeting of FBC is "Do I have time for a beer?" You roll up to Gannons 10 minutes before the intended departure time, scanning the level of beer in each glass on the table. You spot the slow drinker with a half full glass and the bartender actually makes eye contact with you as you walk in! You have time for a beer.

This full moon coincided with the summer solstice. We head out to celebrate the solstice and end up in a bunch of wood chips along the river. It was a very nice garden but not really what we were looking for so we headed to California Park.

Talking bikes, beer, and twerking witches.

After the park we headed to a bar that FBC has not been to before. They also have a patio and allows dogs! We were the only people in the bar so we took over the patio which is dangerously close the the neighbors. Sorry, we were trying to be quiet. There are a couple dart boards outside with some chalk that is probably supposed to be used for keeping score but is actually used for graffiti. 

Butthole commentary

We were joined by a new rider so after he was properly Malorted we took our full moon photo. We got a rare inside the bar photo!

Hands on the wall!

Next ride is July 19th!

Ride with us June 20th!

You know the drill, hang with friends and have a few, ride your bike some, see some of Chicago's secluded nature spots, ride some more, discover a new bar (or one we haven't been to in a while), admire the full moon(s) and then hear me tell you about how my dog hates you because it is clearly your fault that I am not home with him. Cheers!

We ride on a school night this month so be prepared to depart Gannon's at 9:15pm.

If you want to RSVP, go to The Chainlink FBC Event.

Flower Moon

May's ride fell on the Night of the Beast so we planned to meet up with Midnight Marauders. Except Marauders didn't ride. Well, except Chuck #lonelymarauder

One of Chuck's #lonelymarauder photos

We had 2 bike DJs on our ride, finally had some nice weather, time to go to the lake. Some drunk women at the lake told us how awesome we are for biking. Damn right!
 Then we headed North. All of the way North. We went to the Lighthouse Tavern. This is the type of bar you would not notice unless you knew it was there. It's on the first floor of a residential building, entrance tucked on a side street. Across the street is a Super 8 Motel. We speculated about who would stay at that Super 8 and how much a room costs. About $150 a night in case you were wondering.

Since we were planning on meeting Marauders at the Billy Goat, I didn't eat dinner. A guy at the bar suggested Fireside Lounge and Craig said he hated it but we should go there anyway. So we did and it wasn't horrible! We met another fan outside who told us how responsible we are for biking. We also forgot to take a photo.

Pink Moon 2016

April's weather was less rainy but still chilly. Rich's plans to bike way up North were saved for another warmer time. We stopped at Eugene Park Field. The park has a nice little nook triangled between the field house, river and baseball diamond. Then we headed to our neighborhood bar, Templestowe.

We had a small group and wanted a photo. I approached a friendly looking guy sitting alone at the bar.
"Hey could you take a pic of our group outside? I will buy you a shot."
"Are you cyclists?"

Ugh, was this guy going to be an asshole?

"Uh, ya we are."
"Then I will do it for free!"

Score.

Also, I totally missed that this guy was wearing a cycling cap. I was drunk. We got him a shot anyway.

Worm Moon 2016

We always stay well past whatever time we say we are leaving Gannon's but this March ride we stayed a little longer due to the rain. Critical Lass invaded the ride, the womens applied vaginal pressure and we eventually left the dry bar behind and headed to another bar! Rain changes plans. We ended up at Farraguts. There's a gym next to Farraguts which is maybe why there was a guy outside asking to deadlift people.

Snow Moon 2016

There's a big gap in the blog that we won't be filling in but we have been riding! We may miss a ride here and there, which is why the blog is restarting with February instead of January.

Thanks to Dana for giving me access to the blog so we can get it going again!

Onto the February 2016 ride!

I wasn't there. Banananana led the ride. Maybe someone who was there will fill in details!

Hello Again!

Just like the Blues Brother, we're putting the blog back together!