This is Walgreens, and tonight they're woefully understaffed. Unbeknownst to Walgreens, they're hosting the halfway point for Fort Lauderdale's Wednesday night bike ride. We'll descend upon their cold drink section for water, energy drinks, and beer, all of which will be consumed in the parking lot before moving on.
Yes, this happens every single Wednesday night, rain or shine. The halfway point is usually someplace different, but the ride always starts in the same place at the same time. At 8pm, people start meeting up at a local park on mountain bikes, cruisers, and other bike shaped objects. Around 9, it's pedals up. We then follow Zoey for 12 miles through every nook and cranny in Fort Lauderdale.
Kevin was excited to come out tonight to try out his new dirt jump bike, which he recently traded one of his mountain bikes for. As you can probably tell by now, this isn't a fitness ride. It's possible to keep up on a bmx, a cruiser, or even a skateboard if you have the energy.
Because there are a lot of tourists here, we can always count on getting the attention of out of towners. The locals are pretty much used to it, but some moron always thinks they can pass a quarter mile of cyclists on the shoulder. Lesson learned.
After a few hours, the ride ends downtown, where all social bike rides should.
There are other social rides in every city, most notably Critical mass, but this is different. The Wednesday night ride isn't a protest, it's not bicycle activism, or even an organized event for that matter. It's just a bunch of savages that meet up every Wednesday to ride bikes, and hopefully it stays that way. Thanks for riding with me today, and I'll see you next time.
Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100270
Artist: http://incompetech.com/
