Couple days back I get an email and then a voicemail from The Tarik mentioning that he'll be in The Minneapolis on bidnizz and 'did we want to hook up for a ride, hang, etc?'.
Hell, yeah!
Tarik is Good People and I dig his blog [plus, as a 2nd grade drop-out, I need all the PhD's that I can find as friends in my life]. So he ends up coordinating both me and The Quad-B for a hang.
After some initial snafu'ing on how to get him from his hotel in the Land O' Malls [Bloomington] on his Bike Friday, we set into motion a plan where he'd go north, then northeast, then north, hook a turn at the wall, go north some more, head east until he came upon the Elder Scrolls, go west, dogleg southwest, head back north and then be at our crib. Worried that my directions were nearly as complicated as my technique for hummus making, I rode out and intercepted him on the Minnehaha Parkway bike path [and while there, waiting for him to ride by, had a Somali family offer me a heaping plate of KFC w/cole slaw, mashed purtators, gravy, 2 pieces of chicken and a biscuit... they saw me looking their way -at a nearby picnic table- more than a few times while keeping my eyes peeled for Tarik who would be heading toward me from their direction, and the father came over with this plate of food and said that I "looked hungry and lonely". He offered me the food and said to "please come and sit with them". Amazingly nice, took me completely off guard and made a nice place in my heart that folks in general are still Good... I politely declined and explained that I was waiting for a friend (who just so happens to build nuclear bombs for the government)].
Soon after... Tarik rounded the bend and after saying "Howdy" to one another, we rolled back to LFoaB HQ for the merriment to commence.
Arriving back, BBBB was already there waiting with the girls... we hung for a bit and then rolled out on a group/family ride.
We wanted to show Tarik the more than 4001 Arby's locations in Minneapolis, and he was impressed. We also showed him the Mighty Mississippi River, The U, that aluminum plated museum building on the campus that Gehry built and then the half-built stadium. And then he showed us how his Planet Bike "SuperFlash" can pop off his back pocket and break into ten thousand pieces on University Ave.
We arrived back here again and ate food and drank things malted and yeasty.
[see ** below for pic explanation]
Bob and Tarik got ripped out of their gourds on tap water and started Smack-Talking one another about structural engineering stuff: Bob picked up our ignited Tiki Torch and hit Tarik across the small of his back and then Tarik used his Heat-Vision to melt Bob's B-Stone RB-1 into a recumbent. Yep, it got ugly. After they got that out of their systems, we sang Disney songs until 1am.
We gifted Tarik with two new Schwalbe Marathon 20-incher tires to replace his nearly bald tires on his Bike Friday and two -also- new 20" tubes. Yep, we're kind that way. Bob got a belated B-Day gift of a mid-1970's wall phone that he's been eying at our crib since we found it last year at a yard sale.
Fotos for insurance purposes [Click for Big]
Bob & Tarik ponder my request for the world's 1st Carbone Fibre thong.
Word Association Game: their reaction after I said "Grand Performance Bike Shop" .
The Chicks w/the Boyz
Chloe snaps off a pic while shouting, "Wendy's or Chipotle??" [Tarik & Amy apparently think it's code for 'Smile'].
Good Times.
**On a disappointing sidenote: The Hurl was supposed to attend but couldn't because he got confused as to what month it was and found himself out-n-about in St. Louis Park 'Trick or Treat'ing'**
Keep Ridin'... Always
Excellent,
That is pretty much how I remember it. I got to stop getting hopped up on the algae water and letting my xray vision run amok. Bob is a nice guy and did not deserve to have his bike melted.
'
Thanks for dinner, tires and stickers. It was great to meet you and the family at last. Bob and I will have a carbon thong ready for you in 6-8 months.
Posted by: Tarik | August 21, 2008 at 05:27 AM
who is going to do the custom fitting for the thong?
Posted by: | August 25, 2008 at 10:15 AM