Biking Between Bars

Today, we launched on our bicycles at the butt-crack of noon. My bike was outfitted with a newly purchased handlebar mount for my GoPro camera. It was Anne’s idea to try it out, before next weekend’s big bike ride. Previously, I’ve only handheld the GoPro, which always makes her nervous. I used it to take the above photo, all the while negotiating the narrow confines of the pictured New I-64 pedestrian bridge. Regarding this post’s tittle, last year’s Team Kaldi jersey was all black. Anne is wearing this year’s team jersey, which is a combination rust orange and lime green. 

We rode on to the Botanical Gardens which were in full Japanese Festival mode. Our first stop there was to grab some food. Anne wanted something cool, because of the day’s rising heat, so I grabbed some sushi, a crisp roll. It had to be authentic, because when I asked the couple running the booth what was in it, I couldn’t understand their English. I chose the crisp roll, because another Asian patron had. It was good, but one of the two packs of chopsticks only had one stick in it, which led to me using my fingers. Its funny, because the guy running the stand had to suggest to me that I even get chopsticks.

We were both amazed at the large number of visitors that had dressed up for the event in various forms of both traditional and pop culture Japanese attire. I’ve seen a lot of unusual hair colors in my day, but never with such frequency, variety and all in one place. About this time Anne told me about a recurring Saturday Night Live skit called J-Pop America Funtime Now! It pokes fun of American’s sometimes blind enthusiasm for all things Japanese. Plus, it is supposedly set at Michigan State, our alma mater. I’m surprised that I had never heard of it before, but it has been years since I stayed up to watch SNL.

Eventually, because of the heat, we fled the gardens. It was getting on towards four by then, so for an early dinner, we stopped off on our way home at Saint Nicholas, which was holding it annual Greek Festival. Sushi for lunch and gyros for dinner, we feel that we are now quite the international connoisseurs.

The sky to the west was darkening as we crossed the park. We stopped and Anne put all of her electronics in my messenger bag for safe keeping. Later, we both heard what sounded like something dropping, but managed to convince ourselves otherwise. The something turned out to be Anne’s camera. When we got home it was missing. I drove back to the scene of the crime, but it was still nowhere to be found. To add insult to injury, in the initial panic, I dropped my iPhone and the gorilla glass on its back shattered. It turned out to be a much more expensive bike ride than we planned, but it could have been worse.