If you don't live in Austin, then you're not having enough fun.

This has been the best week I've had in a while and it's not even the weekend yet! So much great stuff has happened I'm having a hard time figuring out where to start. Hell, last Tuesday is as good a place as any. Coming off a great weekend of Tour de Fat goodness (click for LOTS of pics, c/o DougMC), there was no stopping the bike awesomeness as the next ride I made it out for was the monthly Midnight Ridazz pub crawl. The theme this time around was "La Noche de Bicyclistas Muertos", and thanks to an easy-to-assemble costume almost EVERYONE showed up looking badass (ok fuckers lets see some pics). The ride took us all over the place, bombing through tunnels and hitting up some choice bars and drinking spots. Even if the bars were shitty (*cough*lustrepearlsucks*cough*) we livened things up and had a blast. After lots of riding, drinking, and shutting down Shangri La, a small contingent of ridazz headed north to a super private drinking establishment and kept going to the wee hours on homebrew and bulleit.

Wednesday was a chilling at ATXBS HQ and making lasagna kind of night, and recovering from 3 hours' sleep and a long day of work. But Thursday! Oh, Thursday. The day began pretty early with City Council voting IN FAVOR of the safe passing ordinance and the texting ban. Not content to rest on their laurels, city staff also got to work laying down some brand new SHARROWS on several rather heavily trafficked streets. Thanks city crew! You people actually give a damn about us cyclists, and I really appreciate it.

Following all the good news of Thursday's city business was the Thursday Night Social Ride, and I've got to tell you it was out of control! This was probably the largest crowd I'd seen on a ride, and instead of the typical Metz or convenience store halfway point, we huffed it up Red River, cruised through some of the North Austin hoods, and ended up at a Haunted House near Highland Mall. They gave us a half-price deal on entrance into the freakshow, and even had special VIP bike parking set up for us before the show. Talk about some preferential treatment! A good portion of the ride chilled outside and drank beer, ran for Jack n' the Box, or tormented the costumed staff. Guess they learned not to fuck with a biker chick.

Following the apocalyptic tour of terror, the temperatures dipped as did the ride. The remaining social cyclists cruised East to Nomad Bar for the traditional free beer welcome. For some reason the two kegs lasted a good deal longer than usual, but I didn't mind one bit. Even considering the immense size of the ride, this was one of the best organized cruises as far as the ride leaders and stops were concerned, and I think this has been my favorite social ride to date. Afterward Keith shared some good dirt with me on his meeting with the City but that's some information for another post.

And now we're at today. The weather was amazing, the skies clear, and the Texas Custom Bicycle Show is now in full effect. Builders from across the state (and even from outside the Republic) showed their wares and did their thing down at the Convention Center all afternoon. If you happened to miss it (like I did) you've still got two days to catch the festivities, and if you're worried about the cost, don't sweat it because the price of admission is FREE FIDDY FREE! Thanks Glenn, I can't wait to see the show you've put together. If that's not enough to have you screaming with happiness, I found out earlier today that Eating Raoul.

P.S. Always remember webheads, the act of re-blogging and the entirety of twitter make baby technojesus cry. Come up with some original content and use more words please!