No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn

I'm beginning to wonder if I really need sleep.  Bikes=need.  Friends=need.  Beer=need. Adventures=need.  Sleep?  Meh.

RW24 sign up

I used to be "that kid" who couldn't function the next day after a slumber party.  I'd be a walking zombie.  Throw in any type of imbalances in my eating (eating late, eating junk food etc) and what you'd have is a very grouchy kid who resembled the one in the exorcist.  You think I'm kidding?  Ask my mom.

Somewhere in my teens, I realized I had to stay up past 9pm to go to good concerts.  Hey, I had been bred to wake, eat, go to school or work, ride and repeat.  No room for any of this nightlife nonsense.  What happened when I discovered an entirely new world out there?  Fun, that's what.  Almost instantly my training went out the window.  There were bigger and better things to do.

But wait!  Thankfully I came to the realization that bikes, friends, and late night shenanigans can all exist peacefully together.  Enter in RW24 and urban riding in general.  Each year, RW24 puts me into a blissful sleep deprived state.  I get to the point when I actually think "I don't need sleep--just another beer and shot of espresso...oh, and maybe some candy".  Normally this mix doesn't occur on RW24 sign up day (May Day), but someone who shall remain nameless decided to get the line going earlier and earlier so that now, to get a coveted spot, one must spend the evening and night as well as the entire next day in line to make the cut.  I took the bait this year, although I said it'll be my last, and spent the night in a park with more than 100 others, none of which I'm guessing slept with the booming techno 'til three and the constant banging of empties.  But hey, it's for the best bike event in the world and this is just another part of it.

So any rational person would go home and sleep on and off for a couple days after something like that. I'm not that person.  Nope, instead I slept six hours, got up early to do a road ride, then b-lined it to La Crosse to hang out with friends, watch bike races, ride around the city and down the trail, drink and essentially suck every single drop out of the weekend.  Hey, after what seemed like a year long winter, it's not that irrational.

Now, after a shower--god I needed that shower--and consuming copious amounts of vegetable matter to offset the brick in my stomach, I can sleep.  Thanks go out to my partners in crime over the past few days!