Saturday, October 31, 2009

G A I N E S V I L L E

So with 1 thousand 6 hundred 6ty and Six miles ridden thus far, we are locked into the city home of the U of F and No Idea Records for the next few days. The ride into town was punctuated and surrounded by a dense humid fog that coated the body and made any hope of evaporation disappear into pools of sweat running into our clothing and onto the road. I imagine that the feeling is not unlike dipping yourself into that magic chocolate sauce they put on ice cream, except a whole lot saltier. Water, chips and frozen beverages lined our route and our stomachs bringing us into our big planned stop of the trip.

With over 300 bands, the fest is certainly a sight to be seen. In addition to the bands, members, road crew, organizers and volunteers, there are thousands of people here in town to see the shows take part in the reverie. This leaves the majority of the fest looking like one absolutely huge line. However it is a fast moving line if sometimes confusing. For example: Jon and I went to the No Idea headquarters today for a barbecue lunch they were having, we pulled up out front to see a line wrapped around the house. Deciding no BBQ was worth that kind of wait we opted to head to another location, opting to ride around the house and see how big the line was. Coming around the corner, there were 6 tents, about 100 boxes of stuff with random folks digging in for their share of the No Idea bounty, a guitar raffle, a dude in a skin tight green suit and another line of about 10 people in front of a grill, score one for going around back.

If you haven't been to Gainesville, come and check it out, there's friendly people, tons of bike shops, lanes and a few paths, excellent food a few beautiful lakes and absolutely gorgeous weather. Big thanks to the folks in Battle, a local hardcore band who will make you love the pit, yell along with pride and let you camp in their back yard.

Thats the update, more pictures when I remember my camera or get a hold of Jon's thanks for reading and if you are in Gainesville come on by the Civic Media Center space on Sunday at 8pm for AtticaAttica!

Blake

1 comment:

  1. wow that sounds like a really awesome time! Are you gonna post all your pix up somewhere?

    ReplyDelete