No Festivus for either of us

BeanSS and I had been planning for months to head to Flagstaff for today's Fat Tire Ballyhoo of Bikes and Beer but last night, with the festival less than a day away, we had an attack of common sense. A 10-hour, 600-mile round-trip drive from Tucson to buy a few beers and pick up a souvenir t-shirt? Not the best use of our time, not to mention our money; we've got nearly 200 dollars worth of 24-hour race entry fees and the November El Bike Swap de Tucson coming up. Besides, there's still an outside chance of hitting the tour's last stop in Tempe in 3 weeks. And while Flagstaff is a far superior place to down a few (especially for an NAU alum like myself), Tempe is but 2 hours away. Moreover, we might be able to talk Veelz and The Dish into attending with us.

Anyway, with our 3-day weekend suddenly free of the need to tune and load our singlespeeds, pack street and cycling clothes suitable for Flag's 30 to 75-degree temperature range, hit up the ATM for some scrilla, and head north before dawn just so we could sit on folding chairs and get drunk, we decided instead to bike down on the town here in Tucson.

This morning, we threw our his-and-hers set of 1970s-vintage Schwinn Suburbans into the pickup and brought them downtown. We browsed the Ordinary Bike Shop on foot, and then saddled up to cruise the 4th Avenue environs, circle the U of A a coupla' times, and drop by a coffee house. We rode almost all the way over to BICAS before remembering that 2-wheeled activists don't get up before noon, but found a new bike shop on Main Street called JJ's or J&J or something like that. Dropped a few bucks on a I Heart My Bike dingbell for the BeanSS Machine.

The whole morning ended up being a freewheelingly good time, despite having to endure the cacophony of clanks, clunks, and clicks coming from our elderly rides. And to any who would question why we drove our bikes downtown before riding, I would respond by offering them the opportunity to ride either of our overgeared, overweight tourers back up the hill to where we live.

Lastly, with the gas money we saved, we can can pick a six-pack of NB Saison with which to toast tomorrow's sunset. Such a deal!