Chicago & Philly- May 2009
Leaving
I took a trip to Chicago in early May for a big, fat, queer wedding and then went to Philadelphia for a grand, long, involved, queer graduation. In 10 days i ate french fries at least 4 times, bourbon for dinner twice, and desert for dinner once (at The Handlebar on a clear, cold May night- thank you Marie), then flew to Philly & hit Di Bruno Bros for $95 worth cured meats right after landing, saw a LOT of different kind of folk riding, all the time, everywhere, all ages, on all kinds of bikes, and decided that I’d make a list of the best things about riding Chicago and Philly, made one, then lost it. Suffice it to say that i ached to ride in Chicago along those long streets that went on forever along the water.
Visiting R.E.Load in Philly
I went to visit the R.E.Load bags people to explore having a custom courier backpack/bag made there and they were so blasse and “I-am-so-Philly-dirty-cool” that it was a massive turn-off and kind of pathetic. Considering how stoked people are about their bikes and riding anywhere at any time, to act like it’s just killing you to be so cool and it’s such a huge burden to skid and track stand while smoking for hours and no, it’s not any fun at all but someone has to do it is LAME people- LAME. Within seconds of arriving at their shop, I realized that Lame Employee didn’t give a rat’s ass about my wanting to spread the gospel of R.E.Load to the left coast– considering the investment in one bag: their bags cost over $300 each– so i decided to design my own bag when Lame Employee just pointed to all the bags and took off. The only help he did give me was to point out where the bathroom was. Then i left their shop threw away their address. My list of “Cool Things About Riding in Chicago & Philly” was probably on that paper. That list was worth more than the visit to their shop. Damn.
So I came home bag-less and again, loving to hate Philly, which is a regular thing i like to do now and then. Of course, i also love Philly but we have a very strange kind of love. And by that i mean we both love to hate each other and hate to love each other. Still, Di Bruno Bros and Firehouse Bikes are reason enough to go there.