No, it's not a commemoration of progress made in the last 100 years
for those of different sexual orientations. Rather, it's how I spent
my day. On a shitty rental road bike and not really knowing what I
was doing, I ride more than 100 miles today.
Highlights were riding to the 2,000+-foot summit of Mount Mariposa (I
think that's what it was called, wherever mountain biking was
invented), downhill sections where I have the frightening/thrilling
thought that if I lose my brakes or take a turn incorrectly I'm flying
off the side of a mountain, and watching the ever-near fog boil
towards the city from above the clouds. Lowlights were the
slipping-geared overall quality of the bike, my lack of physical
fitness, and the fact that I started at ~12:45 pm and don't finish
until close to 11 at night. Oh yeah: and my ass hurts. Road bikes'
tiny seats definitely aren't meant to be ridden without padded bike
shorts on.
During the last few miles of my trek, I come across several dozen
rollerbladers in the street. All shapes and sizes, many wear strobing
lights to make them more visible to cars. One guy pushes a blaring
boombox in a stroller, and another bikes with a whistle in his mouth
and "skate patrol" written on his t-shirt. I find out from a
participant that it's "Friday night skate," a strange weekly
reclaiming of the streets by rolling pedestrians. In this city, I'm
not the only one enjoying a strange fitness activity today.
The rest of the night's celebrating with large quantities of food and
beer as I meet Brian and Erik at a bar. They have buckets of beer;
I've never met a bucket of beer I didn't like. I don't last too long
before the adrenaline faces and exhaustion sets in, but I do manage to
hear some quality live music, make amends with Erik, and see a bum do
a jiving dance before explaining that he bought a whistle after losing
his front teeth to maintain his ability to hail cabs from long
distances. It's weird people in a weird town but, quickly downing
beers, exhausted, sweat stains on my shorts, and smelling none too
fresh, I suppose I'm not one to complain.