SXSW by Foot

As I mentioned earlier, Russ and I had a blast at SXSW. We knew going into it that there would be a lot of walking. Most of the venues are spread over a couple miles. Being an avid cyclist, Russ recommended renting bikes for the week. Brilliant! Within one hour of landing at the airport, Russ and I were in the bike shop picking up our hot wheels for the week. After logging in a whopping mile of tread, we locked them up at the Austin Convention Center (next to hundreds of other bikes) to register for our badges. We spent the rest of the day walking around and watching bands and taking classes in that general vicinity. We actually didn’t even need them for the remainder of the evening.

At midnight, we returned to the Convention Center to pick the bikes up and head back to our friend Erin’s apartment. Russ went right to his bike and was unlocking it when he noticed I had a puzzled look on my face. “Russ?” I said with disbelief. “Umm…. Did I chain my bike to this street sign or was it on the other side of the building?”

I won’t bore you with agonizing details that will force me to re-live it. My bike was stolen. A thousand bikes locked up that day, and some really nice person decided to take mine. $1,200 dollars later and nothing to show for it but some shin splints, I spent the rest of the week doing a LOT of walking. Well, it WAS a good idea right?

Did I mention that somebody decided to hit my truck last week while I was parked in a parking lot and didnt leave a note? Did I mention that this has happen to me THREE times in the last 6 months? Just call me Lucky McLuck-a-lot.

Leave a comment