Long live the party - ATXBS STYLE

It's been a while since I've written a purely bullshit recap of the insanity that is the local bike scene. The last couple weeks have been nuts. SXSW, a whole SHIT-TON of races (which I managed to avoid, d'oh!), parties, free beer, movie premieres, parties, bike polo, group rides, parties, "mobile socials", mayoral/city council candidate forums, parties, the works. My memories of everything kind of flow together so I'll try to make this brief while still touching on everything that happened.

Last week started with some cartoon watching (nekkid!) and an excellent game of Bike Polo. There were more people there than usual, as well as a couple video cameras. I could use words but instead watch video. Thanks for shooting this Daniel! Monday was a night of SXSW parties, but Tuesday was something special. Far from being an ordinary Tuesday night in Austin Texas, instead we rolled deep with the Midnight Ridazz on the Lucha Libre Ride We made a couple bar stops, freaking out patrons and drinking inexpensive beer, before rolling over to the East Side for the main event: Banana pudding wrestling! Doug took plenty of pics, both clean and dirty (nsfw), and if you're on the Myspace you can check out another badass gallery over on the ATX Midnight Ridazz page. Since it was SXSW week we even had a whole load of LA Ridazz join us for the festivities. Good times y'all, and it was great to meet so many new faces. I love to see these rides grow!

Wednesday was more SXSW business, with a big party/show at Fast Folks (BJ's shop) over on E. 6th St. When I showed up after work there was beer galore, a really great crowd, and about 10 hours worth of bands to check out. I even got to munch on a bacon-wrapped hot dog. It was a good time, thanks BJ! Later that evening was the Cold Sprints at Mellow Johnny's, but I missed out on that. If you have pics of the event let me know, I'd love to see 'em. Thursday was also full of bike events I missed, since I was riding around downtown being a nuisance and checking out the SXSW freebies instead. While screwing around on 5th St I destroyed my prized 1st Gen Shimano XT tandem cranks, it was truly a sad moment. Thankfully the bus was mere blocks away so I rode home, swapped bikes, and an hour later I was back in the game. The rest of the day consisted of free parties, bought beer, the top of the spiral hill, and more fun stuff that's going un-mentioned. You know how we roll...

Friday. Well, friday was badass, bottom line. I took the day off to take care of personal business in the morning and early afternoon, but after that we were out the door enjoying the amazing weather on our bikes. First stop was down to the Hike and Bike trail to check out joggers (yeah, we're a creepy crew) and ride a loop around the lake, but mishap and blood cut our trip short. Way to go Jamie! (kidding baby I love you) After recovering from that mishap we headed to Jackelope for free beer, then east to the local premiere of Macaframa at Fast Folks. All I've gotta say about the movie is "meh". Bombing hills for hours to crappy music isn't the most engaging of videos, though I will give it to them that it was better shot than any other fixie movie I've seen to-date, and their riders can HAMMER. Good job on the production, folks. They also showed a preview of the Ravenfeeders video, which is a bunch of Texas locals showing off their fixed gear steeze. It was pretty entertaining, and I got to see lots of friendly faces showcasing their skills. Nice! We didn't stick around there super-long, as we wanted to find other free events at which to drink free beer (or not, as the case may be) and meet strange people. The Memphis hip-hop show was impossible to get into, so instead we hit up some wacky techno/rivet-head event that had dueling tesla coils as the between-act entertainment. Plus it was free! If nothing else, I got to do a hell of a lot of biking around in some amazing weather, it was pretty alright.

Saturday the Black Label Bike Club did their insane non-SXSW shenanigans out near the Amtrak station, but I missed out on it as I was on the BACON RIDE! Dashiell, you are a mad genius my friend. The combination of bacon, bikes, and chocolate was sublime. That was an event I won't soon forget. We started the afternoon with BLTs at Fiesta Gardens, followed by an awesome east side/south side tour, ending at a beautiful park in Travis Heights where the real fun began. His Bacon Challenges consisted of a bacon/beer chug, where the participants slammed a slice of bacon, shotgunned a beer, then followed it up with more bacon. I skipped that one but did the chocolate covered bacon slow-eating contest. It was exactly what it sounded like folks, 10 pieces of chocolate covered bacon (milk and dark), and the point was to be continuously eating and be the last one to finish. Let me tell you, I lost BAD because the bacon and chocolate was so GOOD. It was awesome. Later that evening we headed up to Waterloo Park for a Circle Jerks show. Bumped into a lot of other bikers already there, and got my mosh on with some smelly punk rockers. Biker funk and punk funk are two distinct odors, let me tell you. Show was good, moshing was great, and I got to see my friend Anne beat down this chick who was choking me while I was in the pit for some reason or other. Thanks for watching my back, Anne!

Sunday I rested, just like the good Lord intended. Well, in the morning I took care of business (and got clipped by a truck on my BMX bike), but the rest of the day was mellow. In doing so I missed a whole load of events, but it was a long week and I was totally beat. I kinda regret being so tore up from a week of business by day and party by night, because every event that happened Sunday sounded incredible. There was a queer (and queer friendly) Debutante Ride, the Skull by Skull Now Alleycat/party, and as always, bike polo. DAMMIT! Next Sunday, I'm on it. I did get out of the house to see Watchmen, which was awesome, but otherwise I chilled around the house, watched movies, and cooked some killer food. Even I have to take a break sometimes. Thankfully the events were super-well attended, so if you want to see pics of the Skidmarxx party, check out Liam's Flickr gallery of the soiree. FUCK I'm bummed I missed out on that.

That pretty much wrapped up my amazing, awesome, out-of-control, nigh-apocalyptic blur of a SXSW 2009 week. Lots more happened, but if you weren't there then you probably shouldn't know about it. If you want some photographic evidence of other stuff that happened, this is a good starting place (thanks Leo). It's also the official location of the weekly Sexy Sunday pictures, so check back regularly for biking photography badassness.

Know of any more pics or stories from SXSW week? Let me know and I'll be sure to feature them. Y'all really make this community what it is, I just bullshit about it. Thanks everyone!