The inaugural Steel is Real ride was great! 100 riders, 32 miles and 9 bars!
The all urban route took in the Milwaukee Lakefront, near South Side, ‘Tosa, Miller Valley, Downtown and Eastside with stops at Cafe Hollander, Cafe Centraal, Holler House, Cocktails and Dreams, Long Wong’s, Kelly’s, Tosa Hollander, Valley Inn, Fitzgibbions and Cafe Hollander again.
Beer was good Riverwest Stein being my favorite of the day. Food was good too. Egg Rolls at Long Wong’s and a Mrs. Hollander at the end of the day.
I spent a lot of the ride with John, Ken and Ryan shooting the breeze and such.
In the rider-voted best bike categories there was some stiff competition. In the end my Smitty with Schwalbe Big Apples won Best Balloon-Tired Bomber! Could have been the gratuitous vote trading but I’d like to think the bike really deserved the win. It was a super companion on the ride.
John’s Shark was second in Extemporaneous Bikes but was most likely a victim of poor placement as not many people saw it while voting. Shoulda, coulda, mighta have won! To be fair the winning bike was pretty sweet. I never got the full story on it but it looked interesting to ride.
I totally look forward to this ride next year. Wish it was next week!
