Pictures, rumors, and maybe even a request or two?

Last Friday was the monthly Fabulous Friday Alleycat, and James was on the scene to shoot a couple dozen badass photos of the event, including these two gems:

If you want more check out his flickr stream. Great pics James! I stuck around at the finish line to see the first few people cross it (Andrew finished first, followed by Chris Lee and JR in second and third), then booked it up to Yellow Bike Project to do my volunteer thing. Unfortunately on our way to the finish a group of us got tagged running a red down Congress and ended up getting a whole passel of tickets for it. I avoided the scene, but just barely. I believe a total of 5 tickets were handed out, which would equal 3% of all the cycling-related tickets written last year if their numbers are correct. Damn. That sucked.

The rest of the weekend was filled with biking all over the place, hanging out with some friendly fellers, heckling drunks downtown, bumming around with cheap beer on the shore of Town Lake, and most memorably, bike polo. Oh, bike polo. If you haven't been out to play or watch, you REALLY need to make it down to Eastwood Park this Sunday. Shit is DOPE! And here's a word to the wise: Watch out for Nikol. She may be all tiny and cute, but don't let it fool you, she's a freaking MONSTER on the polo court. Put that girl on a fixed gear mountain bike and get the hell out of her way or else. Consider yourself warned.

Update: Daniel of ThyNeighborsBike did a write-up and photo update about last Sunday's bike polo game. He mainly focused on the crashing and gore, but rest assured that those occasions are few and far between. Here's my favorite carnage shot of Boone's knee after encountering his un-capped bar end (his bars also claimed a chunk of my finger before we capped 'em):

On to the rumors... According to one of our UT-based readers, the cops in the campus area are really cracking down on red light runners. Here's the word:

There seems to be another non-crackdown, crackdown on cyclists rolling/running stop signs. Take special care at the intersections of 24th / Speedway and 21st / Speedway. I saw a bike UTPD writing warnings and/or tickets in the past 2 days.

I ride the area regularly and have never been heckled, but I'm not a student and don't spend the amount of quality time in the area that y'all do. Always check your 6 and if you see a cop, stop.

Speaking of bike bullshit on UT, most of you know that Jose Lozano's Felt F90 was stolen last Sunday. Well, it looks like there's another red Felt F90 in town, so if you see one and suspect it's Jose's, please call him before throttling the rider with a blunt implement. Check yesterday's entry for updated information.

Finally, the requests:

Hey Jason,

Do you have a gimp cart or know where I can find one for a friend with a recent bike-related injury? If so, I'd love to come pick it up tonight or tomorrow so they can ride along during full moon mega-cruise.

Rock on!
-John

If anyone has an un-used pedicab or other method of transportation, drop John a note. This is the third one of these requests I've gotten in as many months, which makes me think it's high-time we built an ATXBS crash wagon of some sort. Anybody with welding talent and some scrap metal want to give me a hand? I'm tight on the cash right now but I want to talk supplies and do some planning. If nothing else it'd be a great way of hauling a keg and stereo around when not using it to move an injured cyclist. If you're a welder and a friend of mine, expect to be pestered in the near future.

This one's a special request from yours truly. In the last 24 hours two people have pointed me to a new sex act called the throbbing bicycle. Due to some rather unique modifications to the equipment I don't think I could possibly put anyone through that (without serious injury), but if any of you take the time to try it out, you've gotta send me a ride report. Just remember to practice safe sex, and wear a helmet. ;)

Remember kiddos, the Full Moon Cruise is TONIGHT at 11:59pm on the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge. We're going to be going all night long, but if you can't hack it you should show up anyway and wish Damon a very happy birthday! See y'all this evening.