Bike Party in Chico

On 20 November I wrote that I had gone to bed tweeting the night before and had gotten up at 8:30 and gone to breakfast.  About twenty minutes later I was ready to go to the Chico Tweed Ride.

I actually rode to the liquor store and got a bottle of rye and a cup of coffee before riding over to the town square.  I was soaking wet it because of the rain. At the plaza there was no one around. However, a moment later I saw a crowd at City Hall and went over there.

Immediately I was joined by some friends from Sacramento who reported that quite a few people we knew had decided not to come.

However, I did see the organizers and numerous other faces of people I remembered but couldn’t actually name.  As I interacted with them though I was able to place them.  There was the lady from the Cascades and that one particularly well dressed man who had asked something about regular rides in town. In some cases I knew names but couldn’t place faces and in other cases I couldn't remember many names but I had faces sorted.

The organizers talked to us then and we decided on a loop to compensate for the rain.  We took pictures and headed out along the main street. Then we crossed the major roads and entered the Bidwell Park. I rode with the people I knew best - the ones from Sacramento - who I had begun to think of as my group.

At about the the middle of the park I passed everyone and opened my bottle of rye.  As the group past by I counted 50 people. When I tried to catch up with my group I ended up talking to a wise man bike shop owner who knew the owner of a shop in SF I had gone to.  In fact he knew a lot of places and names.  I picked his brain as we rode.

We crossed the second bridge at the deer pens and headed back. I thought I'd be sly and drink my bottle but I had a bump and crashed. The bottle broke and I strained my arm.  The wise man help me but I still had to cut my finger on some the glass as I was picking it up.

We rode to the freeway crossing and stood around. I tried to play my strain off as a small thing.  One of the people in my group helped me with the blood on my hand. She had a bottle of water. I watched as some of the locals nearby were jousting in period outfits.  The wise man bike shop owner shared his whiskey and told us stories about the car free park.

We headed to the brewery after that. Our friend from up the hill tried to lead but didn't do very well. It had started raining again and one of the people in my group noted my jacket was quite wet.

At the brewery I folded my bike up and tried to dry off. Inside I sat next to an organizer. My group went to get a table and I ordered them stuff as they were putting their stuff down.

We discussed politics and did some catch up from the previous ride.  Eventually I got up and moved my bike to the table next to ours. The people sitting there were from Alameda.  I introduced myself and told them about SF Tweed.  Then I went and sat with the group of guys that do bike party in Chico and when they went out for some fresh air I told them I would see them at Christmas Preview.

After that we went all went to my hotel. One of our acquaintances from the group was attending a party and we went to it after stashing the bikes in my room. There was a geologist that I spoke too. Our acquaintance told everyone about me. We ate their Almond Roccas and sampled the host’s wine.

We all went to Duffys then. I interacted with a guy from the ride. We took the only booth and I spoke to our acquaintance from the party for a while. She had a property in Southern California.

The group broke up then and headed to Tomfoolery where we looked at the novelty items and many in the group were getting ready to go. We went to the antique store after that but I had forgotten my card at Duffys so returned there and had a drink.

My friends from Sacramento and I went to the new vintage shop but were not impressed. Then we went to Bootleg where we saw some amazing Apre ski shoes. We bought hats and other things there. I sent my friend some pictures. I was convinced to by a Pendleton jacket I found.

We walked to one final shop near City Hall where we found some really nice items. Then we went to my hotel and they got their things together and loaded their car. I went down and said goodbye to them before spending and an hour by myself packing. When I was ready to leave I started to write and learned my train was set to depart on time at 3:30 AM.

This is an occasional series chronicling my life. This Notebook Analysis series is meant to be contemporaneous piece developed as an agglomeration of my notebook pages. In each of these posts I used my notes to develop my recent thoughts.