Daily (or there about) Weblog from 117 N. Washington

Its Wednesday Nite (at least in Mpls....its Thursday afternoon here). Anyone out riding? Lets hope so. We've got to get the crew together here in Luang Prabang, Laos. Check out these alleys we've seen here:

-BP

The annual Pig Roast Derby lives on. From the days of Crickets' wild kids wrecking havoc, to Pistol Pete sporting the 7-Eleven skinsuit. We have a poignant letter from Burns to the event founder, our beloved Hurl (who was absent), regarding last Sunday's "Fourth annual whatever annual Pig Roast". Dude, you missed out. The conversation was excellent. Gene and Zito devised several competitions (not races) that were super fun. The winged pig was so damn tasty it was consumed in about 20 minutes and it weighed in at 17.5 lbs. so you could have eaten your share. Karna, Janis, and girl Shawn made an awesome Fertility Goddess from Zito's giant snowball. The skyline was stunning when the sun went down--I mean it was stunning, if you weren't there you missed out. The Po po circled twice but did not bother us (I'm claiming it was the red Weber Grill that held them off) but it might just have been that nearly all of us were out competing (and not drinking) when they rolled through. We had a hardwood charcoal fire in the shelter's fireplace that was awesome. Oh, and the weather was excellent. Janis and I were outdoors from 11:15 am until 6:30 pm and we were never cold. We wore long underwear and two skinny layers of wool and we baked. It was heaven. Show up next year, Mr. Founder. It's going to be fun. I'll grill you an awesome turkey. Or, you can hijack Gene's birthday, we'll do it in deepest, darkest January for your birthday. Minnehaha Park? It would be fun. Anyway, I love grilling birds in winter because it helps make the winter roll by. Get off your ass, Hurl. I know the Slick 66 is coming up and it is a spring event but if you want to spring for a turkey set me up and tell me where you are finishing and I'll be there with one tasty bird. I've done two this winter and they've been reduced to bones in no time flat. Go over to The Wedge, buy it, and write it off as a business expense... Burns

QOD: "When life gives you lemons, chuck 'em at life's face as hard as you can." ap

My Photobucket account of a day or two in Richmond at the SNAHBS. Many drinks were had, waitresses tipped (thanks Dare @ Pearly's), and good times for all down in the Dirty South. P.S. who would have thought Chappel Hill N.C. is a hot bed of high falutin' spandex clad roadies on blingy-bikes. Kp

After two weeks of planes, trains, automobiles, boats, vans, motorcycles and kayaks, I finally rode a bike for the first time yesterday through the insanity that is Bangkok. Its actually not too bad, but you've got to bring your "A"-game. The key is to maintain flow and always check over your shoulder. That said, sometimes as traffic clogs up, you can get into a little trouble. Trevor almost got pinched between a Leo Beer truck and the curb. I had to stop and walk (astride my top tube) as I tried to squeeze between two cars whose mirrors were the exact width and height of my bars. Also, with fat panniers on the back, you become a bit of a wide load, and you've got to watch the curbs as often they are high enough to clip your bags. The main streets are easily 10 degrees warmer than the side streets because of constant sun exposure and the heat radiating from all the cars, not too mention the black sooty diesel fumes belching out of busses. Clean air it is not.

Despite the constant flux and people merging, turning, stopping, cutting lanes and gridlock, I have seen no evidence of road rage here. I think folks are just used to everything kind of being a mess. Honking is usually not done in anger, mostly just to let their presence be known or for someone to make the move they're waiting for. Its a bit refreshing compared to so many people's tightly wound driving practices back home.

The major intersections control traffic flow with lights of course. But at most intersections, the lights are set up for 4 cycles: one for each direction of travel (compared to 2 cycles that you see at most common intersections in the states). It seems to work pretty well, but you might wait over 2 minutes for the light to change. As traffic backs up for the light, all of the scooters filter through the traffic to the front. It can be a bit of a scene with people checking each other out, especially the farang bicyclists. The traffic lights also have a giant timer that counts down the time until it changes from red to green. As it counts down past 6 seconds or so, the revving begins. Its a bit like the gate drop at a motocross race. People start brapping and getting ready. 3 seconds pass and the anxious ones start to roll out. At 1 second its game on and everybody is full throttle. The bikes always seem to take a bit of a headstart over the cars. As it turns green, its full on holeshot antics as people turn every direction and the cars start to accelerate and overtake the bikes. Its like NHRA Nats at every light.

Today Trevor and I arrived in Chiang Mai in the North. Traffic is decidely more relaxed here. I think in a little bit we'll test to see if Chang Beer tastes any different up North. Tuesday morning we set out into the hinterlands, hopefully to find endlessly winding and empty mountain roads.

-BP