don’t be a jerk

I have two buddies, Neil and Mike G, that have pretty much eliminated the need for me to actually look up any info.

When I need to find something out, whether it’s about how the stock market works or how babies are made, 95% of the time, I can get an easy, well-crafted explanation from between the two of them. In the unlikely case that neither of them has a satisfactory answer for me, or if I happen to not believe them, then I might actually hit up google. (Note to self: apologize to Mike for not believing him about how babies are made. He was right. He was so shockingly right.)

One of the reasons this is the case is because they’re both smart guys with huge repositories of info in their large, smart heads. The other reason is because they’re both fastidious, borderline obsessive researchers. When either of them wants to find out about something, they really find out about it, and within days they’ll pretty be much experts on whatever they’ve decided to zero in on.

Awhile back, Neil decided that he wanted to start biking and took a week to characteristically make himself an expert on all things bicycle, then spent the past few months trying to get me to start up too. About a month ago I finally started going on rides with him, and two weeks ago I bought my own bike. It’s pretty darn fun. I’m going to hopefully start biking to work soon, cause, I’m telling ya banking accounts don’t mix so well with minivans and $4 gasoline.

Anyways, Neil, Tim, Neil’s buddy Brian, and the other Dave Lee hit up Santa Monica Critical Mass last Friday and it was a hoot. Very chill. The ride moves so slowly that you really don’t need a hardcore bike to do it or even have to be in great shape. It’s more of a social thing.

To start off, we all arrived at the Santa Monica Pier promptly at 6:30pm and did our best Obama impressions.

Dammit Dave, do the damn Obama impression!

VIDEO - Critical Mass loves circles!!!
Whenever we came upon one, we rode around it incessantly and loudly, gradually bringing down the property values of the surrounding neighborhood. It was like Mad Max, but with more hippies.

If I look embarassed it's because this helmet makes me look like a dickhead. Literally. I'm going back to REI this week to exchange it for something less dick-like.

Tim’s a good-looking guy. For some reason I have a penchant for taking not good-looking pictures of him.

Taking a break at the Ralphs parking lot.

Tim took this photo. A tranquil scene in the middle of Windward Circle.

Riding into the evening

The Marina Pier

At this point we broke off from Critical Mass and refuelled at Del Taco

...then we hit up a different part of the Marina...

...and made our way up the Santa Monica boardwalk. And that was the night.