To be continued…

Pub Pedal 2009

Well this year started off like each of the past 3… weeks of emails trying to nail down a date where 11 or 12 dudes could find a weekend evening in the fall where everyone could pull away from the daily grind and get together with some buddies, put on matching shirts, hop on 2 wheels and drink 1 beer (right…just 1 per bar) at each random bar we came across in NE Minneapolis.

We finally landed on September 25th which worked for everyone…except Ahlers who couldn’t make it cause the rents where in town…then Wade, and then a last minute cancellation by JSmith.  All 3 a big loss to the festivities, but true pedaler’s (aka borderline holics) pedal even in the loss of a fallen 2 wheeler.

So…fast forward to the week of and Sven Sundgard wasn’t living up to his end and the weather was in question. All week the weather was monitored…Terry “Doppler” Fox was confident… which made me confident.  So long weather story short it rained all day up until 6:00pm… perfect.

We push off around 7:00 ish from Stone Arch for the 3rd annual NE Minnie Pub Pedal.

As you can see we’re all pretty sober and confident…and flying around Main St with reckless abandon…well all of us but Dilan…he was in control of both wheels and feeling really good about his recently updated FB status.

First stop…Dago’s…new to the pedal this year, and it pretty much locked in a future spot.  After 11 dudes with matching shirts and rolled up jeans walked into a a 600 sq/ft bar with the Twins game on and 11 regulars…it got a bit awkward…fast forward 11 minutes and 11 meat raffle tickets later…and we’re officially regulars.  $1 = 10 Lbs of ribs. sweet.

After a near standing ovation as we left Dago’s we headed south to the staple…1029 bar… and luckily Ahlers wasn’t with us cause he wouldn’t have been allowed in…

No Bling

A beer and a pig wheel later…we’re back on our whips..after a quick pic…which will end up being my album cover if I ever make the EP I’ve been talking about…

Off to Broadway Pizza…which was delicious as usual…and I don’t have any pic’s cause they’re all on Elliot’s camera…good za though.  After we get a base we head north again… on to Tony Jaro’s for a greenie.

From Jaro’s we made a B line to Gastof’s Octoberfest tent party…good f’in time[period]  They’ve really stepped it up from years past and it was 2 massive tents and a tony of people drinking beer and living the American dream…of wishing we were in German drinking…like German as in some industrial techno warehouse will Germans and exclusively skinnies that ride high..like almost capri high… hoff’s you fell me..

After a beer we played a little hammerschlogen.  I didn’t win and Toolman didn’t either.

After about an hour at Octoberfest we slid on over to another newbie to the stops this year… the NE Palace… a first time (and for sure not the last) bar but it had so much going for it that there isn’t much more to be said… a picture is worth a thousand words as they say… and I can’t think of a thousand words, but I can think of one.

Brian.

Is this dude for real? (was I referring to Trav or John Shocker?..not sure at this point who is more unreal…)

Thank you NE Palace…we’ll be back.

I think the next stop is Grumpy’s NE… I think… where ever this next photo is from it was tight.  Pretty sure it’s Grumpy’s… another first timer to the Pedal.

Yeah… it’s Grumpy’s NE. (right?)

And off to Jimmy’s…. this photo is in focus.  According to the person taking the photo.

And the Knight Cap for…well a  night cap.

And just a quick reminder of where we were 7 hours ago…

Well that’s it… another year… another success.  And in the talks I’ve had this year about the pedal, the 3rd annual, it rivals year 1 for the best of in show.  Good times, good beers, good buddies.  The 2 day hangover in 20/20 hindsight was well worth it…if you told me I had to hangover for 2 straight days in exchange for the memories (or attempted memories) had in those photo’s I’d gladly do it all over again.

Congrats to the new comers this year…great performance – well except for Shawn sleeping at the bar – but he rode it till the wheels fell off and that’s all that matters.  Until next year boys… Carpe Diem.

An evening to remember… or at least to attempt to remember… First off I’d like to thank god for making this all possible (it worked for Mike Vick..and why does everyone give their lives to jesus after the f up? Has jesus become a contingency plan now? but I digress…) The evening was a success, and by success I mean no one died and no one was arrested…dilan…which on a pub pedal with 8 dudes and more ADD then a lifetime of ritalin could cure…that’s a success.

We started the evening off around 7:30 on my patio, havin a few premo’s and waiting for Toolman to dry off (toolman biked from SLP to my house, and become a bit persperated in the process) Jake and DRock were getting anxious…

From there we headed north to kick it all off at the NE Yacht Club…a mere 1.2 miles but it apparently felt like a fort night to a few…upon arrival we shared in a cocktail and set the rule of only 1 beer per bar.

On to the 1029 Bar for a premo and a story about this NE cop bar frequented by none other then the great Toby Keith. Cop paraphernalia drapes the walls along with cop lights and sirens…and a police door signed by the Minneapolis police staff which is sprayed with bullet holes apparently put their by Toby himself.

On to Psycho Suzie’s for some quick apps and pizza on the patio had by all except…drum roll please…Terry torpedo…yep the za aficionado passed on some za…more for Toolman…

From Psycho Suzie’s we made our way east to the NE Palace for a game of foosball and a bit of UFC on the big screen…

After a quick stop at the Palace we moved to Jimmy’s…where we found one person more excited to being watching the UFC fight Terry…our server, man was she intense. On our way to immortalize Jimmy’s with a photo we ran into Johnson…

Who for some reason wanted to throw down with Wass…after a few hand shakes and what I assumed to be Terry relating to Johnson with some Missoula stories…we were able to get a pic with Johnson…

On our way to the Gastof’s Jake explained to us Johnson’s nationality…
Johnson…Johnson it’s Swedish…Johnson…

After a few shots of snuff and some German beer…I stumbled upon an interesting sight…DRock protecting his new vehicle (aqua Geo Tracker) from Terry…I don’t think Terry was going for the vehicle.

From Gastof’s it was off to the Knight Cap and Moose’s on Monroe…unfortunately that is where the pictures and my memory of the evening start to fade so that’s about all the more I have to say. Apparently Dilan misplaced his front wheel some where in there, but I can neither confirm nor deny that claim… After a cocktail and a pretty solid wipe out, we headed to Nye’s to cap of the evening.

All and all it was a great night, which will hopefully be repeated again next year…

Apple… Seriously… Why do they keep taking it to the next level? Everyone who currently owns an iPod…does anyone not…rarely has problems(any Zune owners out there? just curious). They plug in their iPod, update their library, eject and go on their day with a pocket full of tunes. Video or no video, nano or no nano, when you plug in your headphones and push play on the song you want to hear…poof…you hear that song. So how do they keep us wanting more? They give us things that are just cool…everyone wants to be cool right? Hipsters I know you want to be cool (I do)… even those who don’t admit to wanting to be cool, want to be cool while being not cool…we’re human…and don’t second guess me all you audiophiles you know you love the iPod as much as everyone else. Sure you love sitting in your basement an listening to music on vinyl the way it was meant to be listened to…but as much as you love music you’re not carrying a portable turntable around. So Steve and the boys sat down and made something that is cool. So instinctively we want to get the coolest. The new iPod touch has the same interface as the iPhone, has built-in Wi-Fi and built in iTunes music store. done… who doesn’t want to be sitting next to their MacBook at the Spy House coffee shop, listening to the new Animal Collective album while browsing the New York Times on their iPod touch? Anyone? Sure you have your laptop with all your tunes and internet access, but that is so 2007…January-August at least. Point being, no one needs the new iPod touch, but who doesn’t want it? Please send me an email with the reason you don’t WANT an iPod touch and I’ll reply with the reason you do… God bless Steve Jobs…

And in honor of the iPod touch…I think it’s only right that I offer up a song that everyone can put on their new iPod…

Matthew Dear – It’s Good to be Alive

I would… Animal Collective is starting their North American tour tonight in bean town slowly making their way to Minneapolis next Tuesday the 11th @ First Ave. I don’t know if I can quite classify their sound nor is it very accessible to the masses, but if you give it a few listens you’re sure to be…ahh…utterly baffled…or hooked…I prefer the latter. Either way this NYC band circa Baltimore is guaranteed to put on a one of a kind live show. Coincedntatly their new album, Strawberry Jam, drops next Tuesday as well so head over to the Electric Fetus and pick it up.

Also if you dig Animal Collective check out one of my all time favorite albums, Personal Pitch by Panda Bear. Panda Bear aka Noah Lennox (he’s in the green shirt above) has put out a few albums Personal Pitch being his most recent. Think Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys with a drum machine and a computer…

Animal Collective - Little Girl (I don’t need)

Spoon – I Turn My Camera On

This is hilarious…I know Terry and John Johnson are gonna love this one. If you enjoy this vid as I’m sure you’re going to, the people who posted this have a ton of other hipster videos for you to agree with and help to advance your point…