Monday weekend roundup: Fourth of July

My Fourth of July weekend was a manic flurry of body-sweating, bike-riding, beer-drinking, bus-riding activity. On Friday one of my best friends and I took a bus adventure out to Venice Beach, encountering the typical reality TV sitcom that results from forced surrender of "personal space," including, but certainly not limited to, an older man so drunk he didn't realize when I shoved him out of my friend's lap.

At the beach, which was overcast, we struggled to light a match in the wind, paid too much money for boardwalk pizza, enjoyed vegan desserts, and did all those Los Angeles things that are not for tourists.

That night was another bus adventure, only this time we went out to Silver Lake to welcome our good friend Rhonda back. Man it was good to see her. Bitch may have gotten some work done, but she was the same old booze-guzzling hot mess underneath...just the way I like her. I wore an absurd outfit and danced till my hair stuck to my face.

Saturday was a whole day of riding, which kicked off with a literal bang as my rear tire blew out. I am not quite sure how it happened, but Lola ended up with a hole in her rubber. I patched it with a boot and swapped out the tube, but the tire tear would later prove un-ride-able...although it was so much later that it hardly affected my day for the worse.

Meeting up with Bear Cavalry, we rode, we ate, we drank, we crashed parties, we climbed hillsides, and we eventually saw fireworks over the ocean. The fireworks were not as exciting to me as the time I got to spend making new friends and building relationships earlier that day.

Sitting on the top of a hillside, a little lovely in the brains, with a bird's eye view of the road, the trees, and the ocean, engaged in meaningful conversation with people I have growing affection for was enough to liberate me from the heaviness that has been anchoring me to this semi-fulfilled state of being. For a moment I was a bird upon the wind, perhaps the great elegant crane we spied in the river down below, and I was soaring as I sometimes fly on my bicycle, only this time, the world was far far below me, all its troubles shrunken down to nothing. It was an enchanted moment, scored by the music coming out of the sound system below, and for a little while we were lost boys, defiantly childlike and perpetually daydreaming.

En route to the fireworks, I could feel my tire go flat again. We replaced the tube to no avail. Fortunately, I dropped myself close enough to Venice to walk back to a familiar bus stop and limp home.

As a result, today I rode my mountain bike around, which was tremendous fun, especially since I removed the kickstand - it makes such a difference! Today on Wilshire Boulevard through Beverly Hills, I smoked two kids on fixies. I would hardly call them cyclists, simply kids following a trend, so it wasn't much of a victory to beat them, though they were utterly astounded at my prowess on my fat Gary Fisher. Which is not to say I did not derive a sick pleasure from slowing down and coasting within inches of the slower rider, ever so slightly to his left, right in the corner of his eye. Also gave a pretty good spring on Santa Monica Boulevard into West Hollywood, keeping more or less constant with vehicular traffic. That stretch might even be better on a mountain bike with the way that road is all torn up (In Beverly Hills too! Embarrassing!). When Lola's brand spanking new RED tires arrive (Along with her brand new RED bar tape), I am going to be so much faster and stronger from pushing myself on the Hedgehog (Which I've been riding with knobby tires, no less, for more resistance than my hybrids).

And not to make a hasty generalization...but why are dudes in black BMWs such dicks? Seriously, if you'd like to educate me on how I am "supposed" to ride, at least slow down. I can't hear you when you're yelling like a coward out your window as you whiz by ten miles over the speed limit just to catch a red light. If you're going to yell at a little girl on a little Gary Fisher, at least do it to my face.

So I can laugh in it.

Get a bike!