the 202 was set to have an opening party today, so myself and Alex and Ray launched at 4:30 to get our ride in before the festivities. Tower trail is beat to $h!t due to the weather with a rut running right down the center of the entire trail, the climb was ungettable, it was insanely hot, my meltdown over the new kid was back. At least the descent was sketchy scary new fun; at one turn I had to go over a built-up rock obstacle i had not tried cause i was skidding off the side of the trail. It turned out to be quite fun! Around past the Steeple and the Cliff and the Church, out past the Tour de Backyards and eventually onto the 202 at McDowell. Not bad – an hour and half to work up an appetite. Some free food, promos, and other shwag along the highway, dodging a completely random array of walkers, bikers, skateboarders etc etc and amazingly we rode almost the whole way and didn’t hit anyone. It does make a case for the power of self-regulation, or, the visible and dense presence of cops in the crowd.

Then onto our ultimate destination: Lucky Lou’s at Power\McKellips with some of the Missing Link crowd and a keg of free beer. Lou apparently is a rider, and as such I have decided to patronize him at all times other than football (because on that he can not compete with Indigo Joe’s). In fact, I am here, now. though Joe’s nachos are better too.

Rick and Freight Train were there, met some new folks, drank a lot of beer, and even after much prodding and unreturned calls Beckie and G showed up. Beckie was all ho-humming about going out, unable to tear G away from the TV, and of course they finally go and have a great time and get FREE POPSICLES! All of us were gathered on the patio with our bikes piled against the wall, and so many other folks showed up in commuters and cruisers there were 20 bikes parked outside at least. It was such a casual environment it was quite perfect for G to run around and under and behind, in between fistfuls of french fries. A quick spin home, then we grabbed Kila for some late night down at the park. you can’t ask for a better bike-friendly family evening. In Mesa, who knew?