Pure Autumnal Joy

Saturday, Oct. 4 was a day of special events for the writers on this blog. Not only did many of us lend a hand to the greatness of the Source-to-Sea cleanup of the Park/Connecticut confluence, but that evening we all kicked back and enjoyed our own celebration of the season: a fun, fall-filled festival of frothy frivolity. An event that became dubbed:

Beat Biketoberfest 2008!

Or Beat Bike-to-beer-fest! Or Beet Bike-tuber-fest, only neither of those vegetables were actually present.

Our concept of what Beat Biketoberfest should be, other than avoid trademark infringement on something else called "Biketoberfest (tm)" (which involves loud, annoying combustion engines), was an Oktoberfest-themed apartment bike crawl where we could enjoy each others' company as well a sampling of the tasty brews of the season. Since we all live in the Hartford/West Hartford corridor, it wasn't very difficult to plan a route, and there was only one part of the ride that had any type of distance to it at all. Each host was kind enough to supply the hardy revelers with a case of beer and some snacks along the way!

I'm not sure who has photos they'd like to post, but I know I only remembered to take 3 lame photos, and I saw various flashes going off all evening. So maybe we'll continue our 2-post tradition of events where one person describes it, and one person dumps the pics. I'm obviously here to do the former.

photo credit: WTIC

Just about everybody but Brendan got to the meeting point under the Founders Bridge near downtown Hartford quite a bit late. But this was actually a good thing because as the sun went down, we got to see the Bulkeley Bridge light to life! Last week, the bridge was lit with new-fangled colored LEDs in order to mark its 100th anniversary. We got to see it change from red to blue before we headed out on the tour. The weather was simply perfect as we climbed the stairs to start the party! The stops were as follows:

1) My place first, where the group got a chance to look at the city from a different angle whilst enjoying an assortment of beer I brought from exotic Upstate NY. We also got creative in the elevator when we had to return a utility cart back to the lobby. As we were unlocking our bikes from the front fence of my building, we had the unfortunate opportunity to hear the words "spike" and "testicles" in the same sentence. Thanks for that, Shoupy.

2) A quick ride through Bushnell Park got us to ChillWill's pad in Frog Hollow. It was very chill of course, and various swag was handed off to people as chillwill was just dumping his crap on us prior to his move. There were also festive tatoos that worked well to give most of us some rockin' street cred. I don't think anyone used them on their knuckles. There was also the first harvest of delicious candy corn.

3) A hop over the tracks and highway got us to Krash's apartment, where we had to actually go in the front door, due to the fact that his back porch had just been whitewashed. Probably by ol' Tom Sawyer himself. We kicked back with some Harpoons and gorged on what was either Cheez Itz or Nips. I think Itz.

4) The shortest ride of the night got us to Joel's, where he provided us not only with some Sam Oktoberfests and fun-sized Cheetos, but also luxurious bike parking in his historic carriage house. Luckily, Joel was also proactive at providing the party some toilet paper, courtesy of stop #2.

5, 6) Finally a ride! A real ride. The overall Beat Biketoberfest peloton split up into several groups, with some of them even knowing where El Prez lived. The Karma krew split off to pick up some more party supplies, and eventually we all arrived at El Presidente's manor in West Hartford. By the end of the this leg, you could really feel the chill of the fall night starting to settle in. The master of the house himself greeted us with a hot grill already cooking up some delicious chow. The Magic Hat was cold, and the various meat and veggie products were hot. The hit of the evening was the squash soup! Absolutely delicious. Karma biked in the final beer-stop of the night (finally, the beer biked to us! What a scrumptious turn of events!), where I finally got to enjoy my first bottle of Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale. Yum!

What a fantastic night! Thanks to all who were able to ride, drink beer, and enjoy the city. Special thanks to my fellow bloggers for opening up your homes. I'd also like to thank some form of a higher being for making bikes, beer, and fall. It was probably Benjamin Franklin or Thomas Edison who invented all three, so praise be to him. This was truly one of the most enjoyable nights I've had here in the 'Beat. Not only would I like to try to put this on the calendar again in 2009, but I think this has laid the groundwork for a casual series of bike pub crawls coming up in the future. Advance notices for them will appear on this blog.

Sure, go ahead and Read More.

El Prez's house was the end of the official Beat Biketoberfest, and as we basked in the glory of full gullets and good times, an overwhelming tiredness seemed to smack just about everyone in the face simultaneously. The friendly buzz of the beer, taste of soupy-goodness, and smiles on our faces made everyone realize how good that night's sleep would feel. Slowly, we all trickled out in spurts. Brendan & Johanna were first to sneak out. ChillWill's posse left next. The bulk of the group still remaining saddled up not long after. I wiped a nice, fresh layer of dew off my seat and as we hit the road to head home, it was absolutely striking to me how starkly empty the streets of West Hartford were. No cars to be seen, as about a half-dozen of us completely owned the road. The only sounds I could hear were the cranking of our own gears, the whoosh of that welcome autumn air, and our own laughter as we spread out across the lane.

Karma and Meg peeled off first, and the few remaining pedaled on and hit the Hartford city limits in no time at all. Joel was next to veer off to his place, and soon I was saying my good nights to Shoupy. All alone, with a big, stupid grin on my face, I rode on silently into the night. Into Fall.