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"you're my new best friend": austin day three
Austin is a bike town, the city laid out to accomodate pedestrian and bikers and cars through major roads and bridges and side streets (even the buses have bike racks!), and since we hadn't been able to get a grip on the layout yet, we decided to rent bikes and explore the town that way. We headed to what seemed to be the closest shop, but it was too far away for us to figure out the logistics of getting there and back with bikes and cars. We took a break and ate delicious breakfast at Magnolia, then headed back towards Mike's house to regroup. And, of course, a few blocks from his house was the best, most wonderful, most convenient bike shop ever. We went to the back to get our rentals and watched the supercool bike chick (named Amy of course; they always are) work and we filled out our forms and got two super-expensive and beautiful Specialized road bikes for $25 a day. An amazing deal for a sunny day, and we grabbed a map and hit the street.
We started by going over the pedestrian bridge, then followed the water past joggers and bikers and hipsters in black lounging on the grass. We looped back to Magnolia and turned back toward the center of town, crossing an onramp where an SUV nearly took out Meg. I was sure we'd taken a wrong turn and hit the highway, but the sign said we were still in a bike lane, despite the cars speeding by at sixty miles an hour. We pedaled under the overpass and onto a quieter street when we heard music. "I think that's Aqueduct," I said, and we followed it behind a fence and to a picnic area where a stage was set up and the band was finishing a set. Girls in tank tops and boys in ironic sunglasses milled around, plastic SXSW badges shining in the sun. The posters on the fence read "Barsuk/Merge Records/KEXP." We parked our bikes by a tree and watched the next band set up. I spotted the table serving free beer, and went down to grab a Red Stripe. My New York license got a funny look, but I got a wristband and a bottle, so no harm, no foul. Meg followed suit and we stood in the sun, in love with our bikes and free stuff.
We had big plans for other free showcases that day, but by the time we got to the Lookout! records venue, we were exhausted and bored. We headed for the Whole Foods world headquarters instead, a dream of things organic and crunchy and raw and wonderful. We ate granola and salads on the roof, eyed warily by the city's beautiful and creepy grackles as we eyed the guy behind us who may or may not have been the ex-Kelly Osborne boyfriend/singer of the Used. After more shakes and gelato and grackle-watching, we pulled ourselves back to Mike and Lynn's house to nap and change and get ready for a night of bands in bars and bands on the street and bands on bridges, wherever we could find them..