Ladies and gentlemen, never fear!

The rumors of my death have been somewhat overstated, I did in fact SURVIVE the Ramp of Death last night:

What a killer evening! $5 to get into a fundraiser that not only benefited a an organization that I really dig, but also paid me back in QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT! Wino Vino was incredible as always, regaling us with their frantic gypsy music, getting into the crowd and re-defining audience participation. The Fuckin' A Rodeo... well, there are really no words to describe it but "FUCKIN' A!" With games like What's Up My Ass, psychotic clown antics, the ever popular scrotum stapling portion of the evenings program, tall- and mini-bike jousting, and the grand finale RAMP OF DEATH (and let me tell you, I feared for my life), these guys delivered a hell of a show. I even got drug into the fray and did a little participation of my own. Thanks for the good times, y'all. You clowns are out of control. And thanks for joining me under the ramp of death Jamie, otherwise I'm sure I'd have met my untimely demise.

That kept me going until about 1am, at which point we'd been joined by all the fine people of the Full Moon Cruise. Since we were already pointed that direction, the ride continued on winding around the East side and ended up back downtown to see what bars were hopping and ride around under all the purty Christmas lights. Unfortunately as we were entering downtown something kinda wacky happened; Adam, one of my favorite riders, photographers, and bringer of tasty snacks, ended up getting clipped by a police officer in her cruiser! Though she'd waited to pull out for the first hundred or so cyclists, she didn't see Adam with his big white bike and big headlight, and pulled out right in front of him. He ended up on her hood, but despite the accident he was no worse for wear. His front wheel got knocked out of true, but after a lengthly discussion the police even gave Adam a number to call to get the wheel replaced if it needs it. I've NEVER heard of a cop doing that to a cyclist! Awesome! So besides Adam having to ride it out on a wobbly wheel, the evening had a happy ending. I didn't see any other big mishaps and the ride finally wound down on top of the spiral hill at around 3:30 or so. The last of the beers were drank, and everyone parted ways. I was longing for the comfort of central air and heat, so I booked it north and made it back by 4 something. What an awesome night!

If you want to see photographic evidence of all the ridiculousness that went down last night, you don't have long to wait. In fact, you don't have to wait at all! Doug was on the scene and he captured the Full Moon Cruise in its' entirety. They joined the fundraiser just as the clown show was moviing outside so there are shots of the Ramp of Death, otherwise it's all cruise pictures. Thanks Doug, those look great! I'm glad someone got a pic of the ramp.

P.S. If you haven't dug through Doug's galleries, do it NOW! He's got pictures of nearly every big bike event to go down in the last 6 months. HUNDREDS of photos of EVERYTHING. Doug, you rule.

Frankenbike time. I'm out. If you've got a set of 700c road brakes that have the longer threaded post and external hardware (washers, nut), FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BRING IT AND SELL IT TO ME! It's the last thing I need to finish my wife's Nishiki and I've had shit luck finding decent ones anywhere.