The past few days have been pretty crazy. I've been working like mad and am also in the process of getting organized in terms of finding work and thinking about summer plans. Not to mention school work and spending as much time on my bicycle as I can. The swimming pact that I made to go swimming every morning hasn't been too successful, but I will keep at it anyway.
People in the Treehouse Collective (my house) are also trying to organize more events for the community and such. Our last concert with Paper Beat Scissors was really amazing. There was a great turnout and everyone seemed to have a really great time. We know we have concerts down. We learned that from last summer, but we're wanting to branch out. My craft night, for example, has been fleeting, but the idea is gold, so it's something I want to keep working on. We've also made a pact to keep having house dinners on Thursday nights, and we're going to have a clothing/everything swap in April.
On Friday night a bunch of friends got together at my place to hang out and have a sleepover so that on Saturday we could head to MEC to take care of some business (more about that later), and then go for breakfast at Bramasole! Breakfast was awesome. We were expecting 6+ people, but ended up with 3, then four. This is us at Breakfast:
This is breakfast! I was soooo starving after our morning ride. I was also still a little hung over, and I had just loaded up with vitamins, so my stomach was turning and in great need of food. It didn't help that we wanted to arrive half an hour early to get a table, so I ended up sitting there with tasty food smells and nothing but coffee. Luckily, Rishi arrived and helped me feel better by giving me one of these:
I guess I should get to the point at tell you that this breakfast was only the precursor to a day of fun: my second ever Alleycat! The first one I did was when I was still a messenger. It was part of the annual North Side Polo Invitational. I got to do that one with my best friend Jesse. This one was a fundraiser for NSPI, so eeeeeveryone was invited, which was awesome.
I like going to more open events like this, that are more welcoming. I don't know why but for whatever reason I get really shy and reserved around the messengers. Anyone who knows me would know that I am by all means not a shy person- in fact I am quite loud and silly, and happy to get to know everyone. I know in the summer it was because I was intimidated. I knew I wasn't a "real" messenger; I hadn't ridden winters, I hadn't proved myself. So, hanging out with messengers and going to messenger events just made me feel uncomfortable. But, when people are friendly and invite me to things, I like to go.
And, this race was really fun. There were 40 people, which is huge for Ottawa standards. And, I did it with my friend Matt, which was awesome. Not only do our bikes looks happy together:
we also make a really good team! Matt was the iPhone photographer and speed demon and I was the sense of direction. If it weren't for Matt, I probably would have happily moseyed my way through, quite enjoying myself, and probably come in almost last. Big swarms of people all intense to get to places are a little much for me sometimes. I'd rather sit back and let everybody go ahead of me! But, thankfully I had Matt to light the fire under my butt. It was only when I was a messenger that I biked as fast as I possibly could, and I forgot what a great feeling that was!
I found that the start of the race was an interesting dynamic, as people were trying to scope each other out and see what was up. There was also a lot of standing around waiting for things to start happening:
(the early arrivals)
(a few more show up)
(everyone standing around waiting)
Then there was the end of the race, where the ranks were in and it was just time to celebrate. There was less shit-shooting to be done, and more talking and catching up, and just being friendly.
Since the big boss security people were hot at our feet, we had to be quick at the Whale, which was the finish line, and head right to Bug Guy's house for the real after party and prize ceremony. This wasn't such a bad thing. It gave us a space to drink and shoot the shit and wait for the prizes. Plus, bikes look a lot cooler in big piles outside of Chinatown houses:
In case you're wondering, this is what bike messengers, fixters, and--well--Alleycat racers in general look like when they're socializing. Notice the beer that is involved and what looks like standing around and talking:
And of course, you're probably just a little bit curious of what the rankings were. There were 40 people in total. Rankings 18-28 (or even 29?) all arrived seconds apart. Silly me, I wasn't in any rush to burst through the door and hand in my manifest, so I ranked 27th. But hey- what's a few seconds anyway? A certain gentleman friend of mine may or may not have done really well... top 3 maybe?
So for my second Alleycat ever, it was a pretty fun day. It was nice to talk to people that I hadn't seen in awhile. Unfortunately, I had to get going pretty quickly for a work party. Mmm free dinner at So Good! So, just as I was kind of getting in the mood to be more sociable, I had to get going. I guess there is always next time.
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