BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

sorry. everyone in philly chipped in and paid me to stay home... something about hysterical blindness and the public good.

@joeframbach I want to go but I don't have transportation

Two-way, naked, crush the commonwealth?

Me: Same as Joe. The bike is ready, but I have no way to get there. If someone figures this out, call me.

To make transportation really easy, I'm not even bringing a bike. I'm borrowing one out there.

Stu - If I rent a car can we split the cost? Here's one more guy looking for a ride on Craigslist. I contacted him and he only needs a one-way ride to Philly on Saturday, no return trip. Do you have a place to crash? I'm staying with my girlfriend but unfortunately it's a really small room and the dogs own the living room couch. I don't have work or class on Monday (Labor Day) so I'd like to drive back then. Sound good?

Do you have a Zipcar membership? I don't. I would also have to take a bike. Do Zipcars have bike racks? I do have one of those strap-on racks.

Nor do I have a place to crash. I can run out & buy a yoga mat or something in a hurry. I'm OK with being crawled on by dogs, if it comes to that.

Sorry I haven't really planned for it. Only the possibility of an income in the near future has made the idea possible at all.

Stu, you can borrow a proper thermorest from me, but I have no way of getting it to you guys...

come to think of it, do either of you drive stick? I'm banned form driving currently (stupid doctor's stupid orders stupid ankle grumble), so my car is just sitting.

@stu @joe rental places like enterprise usually have great deals for the the weekend (I've paid as little as $15/day this summer) if you do some digging around the internet. although labor day might ruin that one. oh and you can save a bit of money by renting outside of the city.

@stu I have more backpacking and camping equipment than you'd know what to do with. I'll have to check with Tori if she's okay with a couchsurfer.

@ejwme: My roommate has a manual Elantra, and I recently talked him into teaching me. So far I have about 4 hours behind the wheel and am making progress, but I would not drive one across the state just yet.

@dmtroyer: That's what I'm looking at right now. $16/day with hotwire. I'm happy with that.

bah, i had 20 minutes under my belt when I bought my first manual. and it's a diesel, it will hill start in third (I know, that's my favorite stupid human trick). BUT whatever floats your boat.

Have fun, stay safe, enjoy the ride

Well, if you really insist, I can take it for a spin with you in the passenger seat, and we'll see if you trust me with it.

I grew up driving manual shifts. I can pass the "egg test": Put car on hill. Put egg under the back wheel. Start off without breaking egg or unnecessarily revving the engine.

There's an Enterprise a mile up Perry Hwy from me, too.

@ejwme - That would be wonderful. Major thank yous! Maybe I can bike out to Penn Hills to pick it up?

Well, Stu, I talked to Tori. She lives with her landlord, who would not like to have strangers over. I'm not sure I can talk your way into this.

Joe - If you guys do this, I think you'll find that a stick is pretty easy on a highway. It's in the city that it gets hard.

It's in the city that it gets hard.

Very appropriate remark in this thread.

'spose I could sleep in the car, if it came to that...

stu, if you can come get it, it's yours! I've never slept in it, and the seats in back don't really fold down...

isn't there some community of couch crashing cyclists out there? Or is that strictly people cycling across country?

Two years ago I went out for PNBR. At the after-party there were a few people offering nearby places to crash, to people visibly drunk. Not sure if that is a normal occurrence though.

@Joe - Sounds like this might fly. Is this one-way-to-Philly guy a definite?

Doing some rough cost estimates: Roughly 300 miles at roughly 30 mpg = 10 gal x roughly $4/gal = roughly $40 in fuel each way. Tolls roughly $25 each way.

It would be nice if this Philly-only guy could put up a goodly chunk of the cost there. As I write, I still have not heard anything definite on this job, so I'm still officially broke. Anything I buy I put on plastic. But if the job does happen and I learn that tomorrow, I guess I could pre-emptively drop my bike in Harrisburg on the way back.

The craigslist guy is set for a Saturday trip, and I would like to stay until Monday (long distance relationship ya know). Is the long weekend okay for you? CL guy would pay half of the cost there, and none of the return trip, about $30. I think that's fair.

Given that the ride is Sunday evening, there really isn't much point in screaming home by sunrise Monday anyway, so, sure.

If he pays Turnpike toll ($24.75 Monroeville to Bensalem) + $5, that seems reasonable.

as hairy as i am id scare the hell out of everyone

It's "as bare as you dare", and FWIW I'm bringing swim trunks, as well as something to store them in. If you've seen videos of past events of this type, just about anything goes, from birthday suits to fur coats.

As someone who gets called out on the road a lot (and I don't have a "posh" job that puts me in hotels EVER) this -> http://www.couchsurfing.org/ has always been a blessing. Also, there are some awesome hostels in Philly. Everyone I know personally in Philly is out of town doing Renaissance Faires or something else right now or I'd have them hook up a fellow Hoop Union fan. Wish I'd have peeped this thread sooner.

Given that I spent two nights this week sleeping sideways across two seats of a Greyhound bus, having the whole back seat of a car would be a major step up. I actually did look up couchsurfing.com a couple of months ago. Great idea if you have lots of lead time and know the area well, neither of which applies here.

Right on. Back seats are definitely a step up from that. haha... Just gotta feng shui the seat belt buckles a bit.

Stu, based on the condition of your seat at the last ride (the bike's), I fear for your nethers. I have an old seat gathering dust that you can have, I'll bring it downtown today if you want to get it.

We went. We rode. We had a wonderful time. Over 2,000 riders!

There are many online photo albums already up. This one is the "safest", i.e., all important flesh is visually bleeped. I'm in #63.

A list of other albums, NSFW:

* Philly Chitchat

* Haku Productions

* Your Daily Cheesesteak (you have to click on the first photo to start through the sequence)

* Bruhinb on Flickr Great set of pre-ride pics. Joe and I appear in the background of a couple of these.

* Tian Yang's PNBR 2011 album on Facebook

* Bill Horton's "philly naked bike ride September 4, 2011 " album on Facebook (I'm in #30)

* Arms & Ink Studios

* ????? ???????????'s Facebook album "Philadelphia Naked Bike Ride 2011"

* Alice Gipson's "Bike Naked Philly 2011" collection (huge!)

* Kirsty Halliday's Facebook album

...and they're still coming in! And this is not even counting all the videos!

I'm an artist and have seen all levels of nudity and I'm kinda afraid to look at these. haha... I'm sure my curiosity will get the better of me by tomorrow.

The human body is kinda disgusting

Alright Stu! You pulled it off! uh, I mean, you made it to the ride!

@stefb, I agree -- but there's also something refreshing about seeing imperfect bodies, and people who are totally ok with them.

One of my earliest tweets when I got there: "Observation: Not everyone is beautiful. And that's kinda the point."

Oh I agree. I dont think everyone needs to look "perfect"... Whatever perfect is anyway, I dont know. even "perfect" bodies shit and piss and puke and smell. All of those involved in the ride are really ballsy for doing that (well, not the woman technically), and I think that is awesome. Not something I would have the courage to do.

Bloggy!

Visually SFW. If you're reading this at work, and your company has a text filter, please know that I use proper names for various body parts, which might trigger a raised eyebrow. JSYK.

The comments include copying my entire Twitter stream for the day.