Happy Birthday to the Chicken Sympathizer!


CS invited a group of ruffians down to his neck of the woods for a (hopefully annual) rolling bar crawl. Yes, that means bikes. The party started at Adams Avenue Bikes with pizza, beer and snacks. A good base of carbs to soak up the tasty beverages that followed.

I picked up Mister Smooth at the Smooth lair (*ladies beware* he is called Smooth for a reason). Fortunate for me I am a dude and it was easy to escape. We made it down to AA around 5:45pm. The place was already packed. A mix of AA coworkers, B&L former coworkers and misc others. I think we rolled out around 6:30 although my memory is a tad foggy. Jumping in to traffic on Adams Ave, we turned onto 30th which led to the first event of the evening. Boy Band (wrench at B&L) somehow was involved in a BB driveby. Luckily he was only shot in the leg but, still it could have been tragic. The Kaiser tried to chase down the vehicle but it got away (If you are in the North Park area on bike watch out for a dark green Blazer or Explorer).

The party regrouped at the first "Stop", Bluefoot Bar & Lounge. Boy Band showed off his "Welcome to North Park" temporary tattoo on his thigh. I started the evening off with a nice refreshing Jack & Coke, the only way to drink Tennessee swill....I mean whiskey, water it down with Coke. Please comment when I get your names wrong (The two times I met these guys I has slightly intoxicated) Nick and Everett pulled out some pretzels which were a perfect addition. Five minute warning is sounded and we're off.

(most of my evening looked like this, dark and blurry)

Around the corner and through the woods to grandmothers house......Sorry. Where was I? That is one of the issues, I am a North County guy. I am not familar with the area at all except I kind of know where the Livewire is. We took a few rights, then some lefts and we were there, The Red Fox Room. This place oozes old school. When I say old I mean Old. The average age was 75. That's not the only thing old, Senor Large was telling me that the wood in the place was shipped over from England. They had a live jazz band playing last night. I ordered a Captain & Coke. Mister Smooth claimed he didn't know what that was so he ordered a Pinot Noir.....What? Pinot in this place? The perfect drink would be an old fashioned but by the time we arrived there I had drained my flask and feeling no pain. Let's get back to the Pinot....what? Not to mention he ordered a salad and garlic bread....granted he raced earlier that day (Storm the Beach Cyclocross race) and got 2nd in the Cat 1/2/3 race but a Pinot? and he is wondering why the ladies weren't all over him..... The next big event happened when the singer came over to our section and asked whose Birthday it was. He unfortunately thought CS was a female because he sang "I only have eyes for you" (originally by The Flamingos). CS was quite embarassed, priceless. Two minute warning was sounded and we rolled down the hill to the Livewire.

I have been to the Livewire many times. It is our meeting spot for the annual "Midnight Madness" ride. Dark, usually loud and packed are words I could use to describe the Livewire. Last night the patrons were more interested in watching the Simpsons than listening to "the best jukebox in San Diego". I noticed they had a fresh bottle of Knob Creek so I ordered two Knob & Cokes (notice the theme?). I originally had planned to drain both but, when I saw them being poured into two normal sized pint glasses I decided I should pawn one off onto CS. He was visably scared. I killed mine within 20 minutes or so and noticed his still full.....You guessed it! I took one for the team and knocked it back.

(No this isn't the Paris Hilton video. This is the view from the bar. From L to R GiJoe, Miss Chicken Sympathizer, Senor Large and Chris).

This photo is for the AA guys Use this one for your own pleasure.....

Two minutes and we were rolling back to the shop. Waiting for us back at the shop were some ice cold Tecate's which ironically sobered me up not to mention I think I sweated most of the toxins out.

To CS, you are a great friend, one of the nicest guys around (besides me of course), the best cyclist I have ever known and humble to boot. I'll never forget all our adventures including Whistler, Idyllwild and Tucson. Welcome to the 30ish club.