The Maden Voyage... and then some

First off, my day didn't start out so good.

I began the morning with a bad feeling that things weren't going to go too well. At 8:00am the ass hat "carpet guy" (ass hat is probably not a strong enough word... fuck stick^[4] is more appropriate) was supposed to finish his job at High St. and couldn't get the job done. That wasn't too surprising actually. He was then supposed to meet me at 4:00pm (a no show this time - again I wasn't surprised). It gets worse... I was rushing to meet him and got pulled over by the Denver Police (this isn't a norm for me by the way). Fortunately, the officer was a good guy and only gave me a citation (yes, that means a ticket) for "obstructed windows" (I have tinting). This is a much better deal than what I would have gotten.... I'll leave it at that.

So, I head to Wash Park to skate like I always so on Wednesday... this time with my new skates. Even after the run in with the Police, I was excited and wanted to give them a whirl. Just after 7:00pm (after making 5 laps around the park), 7 of us hit the streets of Denver. We had previously made plans to hit up Lime on Larimer Square and meet with Linda (aka Mrs. Tahoe) and Kon (the master motorcyclist). For the record, the 21 oz Margaretta's at Lime are NOT the same size at the ones at the Rio (bigger/stronger is an understatement).

Well, we left Lime to head home and ran into the Denver Cruisers (who's theme of the night was Pink Slips & Office Misfits). These people are beyond crazy. So of course, Eric (aka Small Wheels), Randy, and I follow them into some unknown bar next to Lime (or maybe we were all following the "Roller Doll" - Vinyl Trax). After some time at this unknown bar, everyone heads out to the streets again. This is quite impressive when easily well over 200 people on all sorts of bikes take over the streets of Denver (makes me wish DISC had a following like this). Enough of the nostalgia...we of course hit another bar with this crowd of Cruisers, but before we do, we go to the "Ring of Death". Now, I mentioned earlier that these people are a tad crazy.... that was an understatement of the century. These weirdo's (I mean this in the most endearing way possible) go to the Civic Center Park amphitheater and randomly ride around in a circle (BOTH directions at once mind you). I'd say they try not to collide into one another, but I'd be lying. For the record, this is utterly stupid, but a thrill that you can not believe until you try (ok, so I am demented... so sue me).

The gang then rides off to the next and last bar (of how many I have no idea) "The Corner Office Restaurant & Martini Bar". After schmoozing with the bouncer, I am "kicked-in" the bar (with my skates on) to party with the rest of the crowd. At this time Randy heads off and Eric and I start chatting up some of the regulars in the Cruisers. One of these regulars, Mr. Nipple (at least for the night) , probably more commonly known as Lucas, was handing out "Hello my name is" stickers since the beginning of the evening.

These Cruisers are a messed up bunch...but my kind of crowd. I hope to meet up and roll with them again soon (and maybe even join in the "Ring of Death" again).

I think I need to rotate my wheels already :-/

Maybe the day wasn't so bad after all....

And for the record Berta - "No... I'm not gay" :-)