Back

It's really depressing to be in a place where there is no snow, then return to Wisconsin and the day you get back have it snow all night. Enough already I want warmth. Friday afternoon we took off for Chicago, the plan was to leave at 11:30 we eventually ended up heading out at about 12:30 to pick up Thomas. About 10 miles on the road the transmission began to go out in the car we were driving, so we turned around and headed back to Eau Claire trying to figure out where we could get another car.

Eventually we got another car and loaded up again. By 2 we were finally on the road to Chicago. Drive drive drive drive. Get to Chicago, sit in traffic for an hour. Drive drive, finally get to Tylers house. Unload the bikes put them together, and ride down to West Town Bikes to go to the film fest thing that was going on. Finally got the chance to relax and have a few drinks. Talked to people I havn't seen in a couple months, and met some new people. Watched a bit of "Chopper Chicks in Zombietown". By midnight people broke into 3 parties. Some went to go watch "Bike porn" from what I understand was just a movie of people having sex with bikes, some went to a hipster party to crash it, and the rest of us went back to Tylers place to crash. We stayed up long enough to drink a jug of Carlo Rassi then we went to crash on the couch.

The next day was kind of a blur. I vaguley remeber alot of what happend in the afternoon. What I do know is that we woke up at 11 and started drinking. Eventually we all got outside and stood around in the alley for 45 minuites before riding down to the southside for a cook out. It was a really cool ride, except the fact that riding a haggard freak bike across Chicago hurts you in places you didn't know you had. When we got to Rachels for the cook out a few of us headed over to the nearest grocery store to pick up some boca burgers. About half an hour into the cook out the temeperature started to drop, and the wind started to pick up. A pre-cursor to the cold that was to follow. Eventually I went inside and tried to nap on the couch for a while when whiplash began. Whiplash invloves taking a long piece of tied bike tubes, tying it to two people on pixie bikes, and riding at each other as fast as possible trying to pull the other person off of their bike. We got a few runs in before the tube rope broke and we all gave up.

With the whiplash broke the next stop was back north to do some chariot races. When we arived we threw all the bikes in a pile to race around. Before the races there was a slow tall bike race, which I lost after someone toppled over on top of me within 45seconds of the start. Chariot races started and someone ended up breaking their shoulder or something, at least thats what I heard. The cops showed up and decided that they were going to be nice and instead of busting half the people there for having illicit substances they would ride the charriot instead. Sometimes I'm really happy with cops. After chariot races we went somwhere, Im ot sure where or what happened. When we got there a few of us went to the store to warm up and eat some food. Unfortunetly I guess some other not so friendly cops showed up while we were gone and split eveyone up with night sticks pulled and threatened one of the Nashville folk.

After that was dodge bread. Simply put it's dodge ball, only with dumpstered loaves of bread instead of soft rubber balls. That quickly devolved into people running around throwing bread at anything and everything. Then we went to some school for bumper bikes. Basically spin cycles with car tires around them for running into things. By this time it was getting really cold so a bunch of us huddled up against the school to stay warm. The cops showed up and we had to take off to Logan square for the joust. The joust was really intense and as always I ended up going down on the first round. Some Portland people couldnt help but take their clothes off and do a naked joust. the rest of the night is s blur induced by alcohol and sleep deprivation. There was an after party and craching at Tylers again with the DC kids around 2, that much I know.
The next day we said our goodbyes and headed out around noon. We were tired and didn't feel like driving, so half way home we managed to snag a room at the Kalahari in Wis. Dells for 99$. Went went to the store aquired a 30 pack and some swim wear and hit the waterpark. Drank alot and did alot of water slides. Invited alot of people back to the room to party with us. Around 11 a bunch of high schoolers showed up and it was drama drama untill we finally got rid of them. We ran into some cool people from Delvin and hung out with them most of the night. Got the bikes ourt and rode them a bit. Thomas tried to grab a knife and sliced open his fingers. there was more nudity and security coming to the room telling us to be quiet. I guess after we all crashed Thomas tried to break into the room where they keep their booze and got chased outside by a security gaurd. The next morning the room was a mess with bloody hand towels and beer cans all over the place. I went to the lobby for some coffee. Some lady sat next to me and we started talking. the conversation was pretty incoherant but from what I understood she was a 28 year old stripper with two kids. She invited me to the bar, and then invited me to go snort some valium with her in my room. I declined both times, and she got frustrated, then calmed down again and asked if I could get her into the pool area. The whole time counting crumpled up $20 bills she pulled form her purse. By the time she had them all straightened out she told me she had made $800 the night before. Eventually I left but not before giving her a fake phone number which she demanded I give her. I headed back to the room and we all woke up and had some guiness for breakfast. The rest of the day was sneaking in booze to the pool and swimming untill 3 or 4 then we headed home and here I am now. I have more commentary than this but I've been sitting here to long already, so I'm going to go ride a bike.