Tour de Tacos Bike Ride

This post is better late than never and I will try to remember all of the details. I have just been so busy with a work trip, preparation for Jim's return, and vacation. I haven't even biked since this trip...tried to in San Francisco and while Jim was here, but just didn't have the time.

In other news, I am feeling rather flabby and out of shape.



Anyways, back to the topic at hand. After a Facebook reunion with a high school friend (Very awesome to see you Erik last night and wished we got a pic together), I was informed about Crucial Matter (check them out on Facebook). They have more rides throughout the month, including a Tour de Tacos on the first Friday of every month. Tacos...beers...bikes...SOLD! Their slogan is REP, which stands for Ride. Eat. Party. Um...yes! The idea is to meet at Market Square downtown (the new place for bike meetups I guess) and then head out to three different spots where taco trucks are stationed. It didn't take me long to convince Evan, although I feel bad for making him wait so long when I had to pick up my bike at my parents' house (don't ask).

We decided to bike up there, but took a different route than the bayou. We discovered on the last Critical Mass that parts of the bayou are still under construction and not always safe for the bikes or at least for Evan's bike. The only issue was carrying the bike up the stairs and over the bayou to another drop location, which was hard on my back. But I survived.

We got there rather early, which was also my bad, but it gave us a chance to meet some other CM folks. They immediately talked to us and have to give shout outs to David (wished I remembered the other girls' names) for being especially friendly. I immediately noticed that as people showed up, they would introduce themselves to new groups, including Evan and I. You don't see this at Critical Mass. I found out later that Crucial Matters encourage people to get to know one another.  This is just my kindof group.

You get my full dorky bike ensemble, but my new biking shorts rock 

Evan and I waiting to go...he's getting better.

After a bike fix, we were off to the first stop at West Alabama Ice House, which was coincidentally right by my parents' house. If I had time, I would have told them to get out there to say hello to us cyclists, but I didn't. This bar is so cool, with an outside area and a love for dogs. I was especially thankful to the bartender for letting me spray myself with her last bit of mosquito repellant. Holy smokes the squitos were bad.

On a side note, I was surprised to know that I didn't get malaria that evening. 

Evan waiting for the first tacos.

I grabbed the beers and Evan got in the long line for tacos. We apparently didn't learn from our last mistake to switch up the responsibilities. Evan only got my tacos and not his and then I ended up sharing; I was okay with this since we had more taco joints to hit. The taco was good, but hate cilantro. Oh well. And then we were off like a thief in the night to steal the entertainment at the next stop, which was TacoKeto. This happened to be our halfway point on my first Critical Mass. We got the Carne Guisada Tacos...freaking yummy and Evan got beer. It worked out perfectly.

TacoKeto....need more.

Carne Guisada Taco with limes.DELISH!

I was thankful that someone let me use their mosquito repellant, because the squitos were swarming at this place and my previous repellant attempt did NOT work. I had to use the hard stuff to douse myself. Tacos...beers...bikes...Repellant...An excellent fragance to make any man or woman swoon.

Finally, we turned on our lights and headed out for the last bar, Underdogs Pub on Washington, which was another cool outdoor bar. Their food truck was Aztecs where we had another round of carne guisada tacos. These were more tender than the last ones. Ivan, the Crucial Matter Ride Organizer came to talk with us a bit and I thought that was pretty cool.

We said goodbye to some people and headed out. I really enjoyed this group of cyclists and the fun events they have put on since I joined up with them on September 6. I just wished I hadn't been so busy to join some more. I dressed as nerdy as I could at last night's Critical Mass (JL's first Critical Mass), which will probably be the last bike ride I do before my surgery (Oct. 2)...unless there's a ride on Monday or Tuesday.


Did you go to last night's Critical Mass? YES, but it was alot of stopping and the group seemed more dispersed throughout the city.

Have you rode with the Crucial Matter folks? Just DID...BOOM!

Would you rather be biking to Tacos? YES

Is there a Monday night bike ride planned and could you please invite me?

With a squeeze of a lime on some juicy tacos...you have Heaven. By the way, I loved the taco memes leading up to this event. Here is this gem.