Tour de Moose, redux

This last weekend, I was invited to participate in one of the most painful, yet fun, things I have done in quite a while. There is this annual bike ride/pub crawl/benefit fund raiser that happens each year called the Tour de Moose. It is called that because the guy who sets it all up is nicknamed "Moose" I guess. Basically, about 70 riders meet at Lemmons on Gravois on a Saturday morning, and start riding their bikes. Each 3 miles or so, they stop at a watering hole for games, beer, food, contests, and the like. The entire ride took about 17 miles to complete, and hit probably 8 different establishments. The money raised went to benefit the Matthew and Andrew Akin Foundation (www.matthewandandrew.org)

My wife didn't participate, as she was worried that it would be just an insane drunken brawl of a time. Truth be told, it really isn't. Most people (yours truly included) take it easy on the drinking and eating front because you have to get back on the bike and ride more. Those of you who know me, or at least have seen me in real life, probably could guess that I'm not much of a bike guy. In fact, this ride was a tough one for me- 17 miles on a borrowed bike that didn't fit me resulted in cramped legs, and being quite "Saddle Sore". Oof.

The portion of the event that was the most interesting was the after party at Double D's on Hampton. This is a cramped, smoky, local-style bar just down the street from Record Exchange. A group of 5 of us walked in to survey the scene. What we saw was a little, well, sad. There were 6 people in the bar, and 4 of them were related to the bartender, Tom. Tom let us know in no uncertain terms that any Karaoke (which is offered on Saturday nights) would have to wait until after the Mizzou-OU game. However, his tune changed as soon as about 25 more people walked in, money in hand. The game got turned down, the karaoke got fired up, and I'm sure the Double D lounge had one of their better nights in sales for the last several months. The original 6 people at the end of the bar left.

This is all to say that the biking portion was tough, but I made several new friends and had a great time. The Mrs. was even persuaded to get up there and sing karaoke, which is something I didn't think I would ever see.

I will be Touring with Moose again.