Pedal Pub
March 25, 2008 10:35 AM Subscribe
@CitrusFreak12 Thanks. When I clicked through I didn't get hassled. I guess the corporate firewalls' doin' something right.
posted by johnjreiser at 10:42 AM on March 25, 2008
posted by johnjreiser at 10:42 AM on March 25, 2008
Hmmmm what happens when someone gets drunk and decides to jump off to use the bathroom? Just another fun idea on paper and yet bad idea in reality!
posted by Mastercheddaar at 10:42 AM on March 25, 2008
posted by Mastercheddaar at 10:42 AM on March 25, 2008
Last fall, I walked out of the museum where I was working and saw that mother parked on the sidewalk. It was a pretty fucking cool thing to walk out to.
Ironically, one of my only non-weather complaints about living in MN is our ridiculously restrictive liquor laws. Like, before we do special legislation for the Pedal Pub, could we at least fix it so that we can buy beer on Sunday?
posted by COBRA! at 10:44 AM on March 25, 2008 [3 favorites]
Ironically, one of my only non-weather complaints about living in MN is our ridiculously restrictive liquor laws. Like, before we do special legislation for the Pedal Pub, could we at least fix it so that we can buy beer on Sunday?
posted by COBRA! at 10:44 AM on March 25, 2008 [3 favorites]
I'm surprised Madison, Wisconsin didn't come up with this first.
posted by desjardins at 10:48 AM on March 25, 2008
posted by desjardins at 10:48 AM on March 25, 2008
No need to thank me, citizen; it's all in a day's work for I-Didn't-Want-To-Hear-People-Bitch-About-A-Minor-Inconvenience-Man.
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 10:48 AM on March 25, 2008 [4 favorites]
posted by CitrusFreak12 at 10:48 AM on March 25, 2008 [4 favorites]
In other news, I am starting my own multi-rider party-bike company in Minnesota. Patrons will be able to rent multi-bikes and CamelBaks full of beer or wine. That seems like it would be more comfortable than that PedalPub thing.
Also, it seems like people should wear helmets while drinking and (bike)driving.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 10:52 AM on March 25, 2008
Also, it seems like people should wear helmets while drinking and (bike)driving.
posted by the littlest brussels sprout at 10:52 AM on March 25, 2008
I bet these guys are using a Conference Bike to lobby their bill through the Minnesota legislature.
posted by paulsc at 11:06 AM on March 25, 2008
posted by paulsc at 11:06 AM on March 25, 2008
I'd like to see them try to block traffic with this thing in New York. Not that I wouldn't ride it. There's very little better than having a few beers in the great outdoors.
posted by uncleozzy at 11:21 AM on March 25, 2008
posted by uncleozzy at 11:21 AM on March 25, 2008
Also, it seems like people should wear helmets while drinking and (bike)driving.
So, this has little to do with the topic at hand, but it's been bugging me all day: this morning, as I was walking to my bus stop in south Minneapolis, I saw this jackoff riding a bike down a hill on a very icy street (mornings are slick this time of year, as snow melts during the day and then freezes overnight) with one hand on the handlebars and a fucking baby in the other. I wanted to yell, "what the HELL are you doing?" but held back for fear of being the distracting element that caused the inevitable crash.
And no, neither the guy nor the baby were wearing helmets.
posted by COBRA! at 11:32 AM on March 25, 2008
So, this has little to do with the topic at hand, but it's been bugging me all day: this morning, as I was walking to my bus stop in south Minneapolis, I saw this jackoff riding a bike down a hill on a very icy street (mornings are slick this time of year, as snow melts during the day and then freezes overnight) with one hand on the handlebars and a fucking baby in the other. I wanted to yell, "what the HELL are you doing?" but held back for fear of being the distracting element that caused the inevitable crash.
And no, neither the guy nor the baby were wearing helmets.
posted by COBRA! at 11:32 AM on March 25, 2008
"Outdoors"? When I'm at my family farm in Millerville, I stay on the screened porch; too many cowpies, too many skeeters.
posted by Dizzy at 11:34 AM on March 25, 2008
posted by Dizzy at 11:34 AM on March 25, 2008
There are very few restrictions on public drinking in Britain. They were considering banning alcohol on buses and trains, but there was a public outcry. It was decided that many people only took the train or bus so that they could drink, and would otherwise take the car, so the plan was scrapped.
That's yer freem right there.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:03 PM on March 25, 2008
That's yer freem right there.
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 12:03 PM on March 25, 2008
If you read the article about this crazy contraption, it doesn't really go much faster than one can walk, so I think the danger of jumping off to go to the bathroom is pretty small. Although I've injured myself simply walking while hammered, so who am I to judge?
And COBRA!, I'm sure your post was not intended as humor, but the mental image of a guy going down an icy hill on a bicycle carrying a baby made me laugh so hard I nearly spit out the Easter candy I've been eating all day. That's gonna be a scene in my movie for sure....
posted by AbnerDoon at 12:09 PM on March 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
And COBRA!, I'm sure your post was not intended as humor, but the mental image of a guy going down an icy hill on a bicycle carrying a baby made me laugh so hard I nearly spit out the Easter candy I've been eating all day. That's gonna be a scene in my movie for sure....
posted by AbnerDoon at 12:09 PM on March 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
Meh. Move to New Orleans, you can already drink on your bike, even if your bike has four wheels, and a motor, and a steering wheel and ignition and so on.
posted by poppo at 12:48 PM on March 25, 2008 [3 favorites]
posted by poppo at 12:48 PM on March 25, 2008 [3 favorites]
There are very few restrictions on public drinking in Britain
There seem to be very few restrictions on public drinking anywhere outside the US. And hell, even within the US, the result seems to be only that, occasionally, you'll be hassled for drinking a beer on the street.
True story: recently, I was at a local dive bar, having a few drinks and playing some darts. The designated driver wanted to go home, so we decided that we'd just have him drop us off at a bar closer to home so we could walk back later. We're lazy drunks. One guy tried to walk out the door with his beer but, of course, such a thing wouldn't be legal, so the bartender called him back over. What did she do? Throw his beer out? Ask him to finish it?
If you said, "poured it into a plastic cup," you'd be right. So away we went, merrily, down the block, open container in the car. When we walked into the next bar (an even bigger dive: the jukebox has got about ten records in it, the most recent of which is probably "Abbey Road," which isn't so bad, because "Octopus' Garden" is a fantastic drunken sing-along), the bartender (who appeared to have taken the job for easy access to other peoples' half-empty beers) said, "What, you brought your own cocktail? That's just not right." Embarrassed (or at least as embarrassed as he could be after half a dozen Budweisers and eight fingers of Jim Beam), my friend set his beer down on the bar, and the bartender grabbed it.
Now, I'd forgive you for thinking she drank it, or that she dumped it out. But no: she pulled a dirty little glass out from behind the bar, decanted the road beer into it, and handed it back. Truly we had found the perfect dive bar.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:42 PM on March 25, 2008 [5 favorites]
There seem to be very few restrictions on public drinking anywhere outside the US. And hell, even within the US, the result seems to be only that, occasionally, you'll be hassled for drinking a beer on the street.
True story: recently, I was at a local dive bar, having a few drinks and playing some darts. The designated driver wanted to go home, so we decided that we'd just have him drop us off at a bar closer to home so we could walk back later. We're lazy drunks. One guy tried to walk out the door with his beer but, of course, such a thing wouldn't be legal, so the bartender called him back over. What did she do? Throw his beer out? Ask him to finish it?
If you said, "poured it into a plastic cup," you'd be right. So away we went, merrily, down the block, open container in the car. When we walked into the next bar (an even bigger dive: the jukebox has got about ten records in it, the most recent of which is probably "Abbey Road," which isn't so bad, because "Octopus' Garden" is a fantastic drunken sing-along), the bartender (who appeared to have taken the job for easy access to other peoples' half-empty beers) said, "What, you brought your own cocktail? That's just not right." Embarrassed (or at least as embarrassed as he could be after half a dozen Budweisers and eight fingers of Jim Beam), my friend set his beer down on the bar, and the bartender grabbed it.
Now, I'd forgive you for thinking she drank it, or that she dumped it out. But no: she pulled a dirty little glass out from behind the bar, decanted the road beer into it, and handed it back. Truly we had found the perfect dive bar.
posted by uncleozzy at 1:42 PM on March 25, 2008 [5 favorites]
You know, it's a shame that COBRA!'s question, which has puzzled me mightily as well, is going to die in this thread. Because, seriously, WTF is with MN's no alcohol sales on Sunday law? Who, exactly, is the constituency for that bullshit? Religious types? They don't seem too worked up about alcohol anymore. Given that there is a large industry out there that presumably would like 16% more business, and they have plenty of lobbyists, why is this still the case? It implies that there is some force out there stronger than capitalism, and I'd like to know what it is.
posted by bonecrusher at 2:12 PM on March 25, 2008
posted by bonecrusher at 2:12 PM on March 25, 2008
Because, seriously, WTF is with MN's no alcohol sales on Sunday law? Who, exactly, is the constituency for that bullshit?
I believe it's mostly the liquor store owners. People in MN know to stock up on Saturday if they're going to need alcohol on Sunday, so it's unlikely that being open on Sunday would significantly increase sales for the liquor stores. On the other hand, they'd have to pay employees to be at the store, pay to keep the lights on, etc.
My small office has been debating a party on the Pedal Pub for about a year now. If the law actually gets changed, I have a feeling it'll happen. Yay!
posted by vytae at 2:28 PM on March 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
I believe it's mostly the liquor store owners. People in MN know to stock up on Saturday if they're going to need alcohol on Sunday, so it's unlikely that being open on Sunday would significantly increase sales for the liquor stores. On the other hand, they'd have to pay employees to be at the store, pay to keep the lights on, etc.
My small office has been debating a party on the Pedal Pub for about a year now. If the law actually gets changed, I have a feeling it'll happen. Yay!
posted by vytae at 2:28 PM on March 25, 2008 [1 favorite]
But that would apply to most retail businesses, and they choose to open on Sunday. Besides, I am a living example that Minnesotans regularly forget to stock up on Saturday.
posted by bonecrusher at 2:42 PM on March 25, 2008
posted by bonecrusher at 2:42 PM on March 25, 2008
I'd so love to have the Pedal Pub here in Hawaii, but aside from the legal implications, we've got major pothole problems. An entire group party-fouling at the same time would unquestionably break our collective hearts.
Also, would it be possible to tow a hot dog cart or something behind this thing? Once you've got some inertia, I doubt it's in anyone's interests to pull over for anything. And if you start getting chased by (actual uncooked) dogs or something, those sausages should give you the quick energy you'll need to escape.
posted by krippledkonscious at 2:51 PM on March 25, 2008
Also, would it be possible to tow a hot dog cart or something behind this thing? Once you've got some inertia, I doubt it's in anyone's interests to pull over for anything. And if you start getting chased by (actual uncooked) dogs or something, those sausages should give you the quick energy you'll need to escape.
posted by krippledkonscious at 2:51 PM on March 25, 2008
desjardins : I'm surprised Madison, Wisconsin didn't come up with this first.
I'm not. Madison, like Milwaukee, has the mathematically proper number of bars-per-street-divided-by-block, which is to say; one on every corner.
Besides, who the hell wants a bar that moves? Screw that! I get the spins just fine on my bar stool, thankyousoverymuch.
posted by quin at 3:15 PM on March 25, 2008
I'm not. Madison, like Milwaukee, has the mathematically proper number of bars-per-street-divided-by-block, which is to say; one on every corner.
Besides, who the hell wants a bar that moves? Screw that! I get the spins just fine on my bar stool, thankyousoverymuch.
posted by quin at 3:15 PM on March 25, 2008
But that would apply to most retail businesses, and they choose to open on Sunday
In Georgia there are a lot of retail businesses closed on Sunday apart from liquor stores, and the ones that aren't closed all day close early.
It also may be that the liquor stores are a special case because they have traditionally had plausible deniability in that they can make some kind of moral argument to the Christian right. This carries even more weight when you factor in that the businesses that have started staying closed on Sunday more recently almost invariably put something up on their signs attempting to construct a moral/religious argument for staying closed.
posted by nzero at 3:17 PM on March 25, 2008
In Georgia there are a lot of retail businesses closed on Sunday apart from liquor stores, and the ones that aren't closed all day close early.
It also may be that the liquor stores are a special case because they have traditionally had plausible deniability in that they can make some kind of moral argument to the Christian right. This carries even more weight when you factor in that the businesses that have started staying closed on Sunday more recently almost invariably put something up on their signs attempting to construct a moral/religious argument for staying closed.
posted by nzero at 3:17 PM on March 25, 2008
WTF is with MN's no alcohol sales on Sunday law?
One theory is that liquor store owners don't want any general reassessment of liquor laws, because that could lead to allowing grocery stores to sell wine.
(Meaning sell wine right on the same shelves like civilized places do, instead of "right next door" the way Byerly's/Costco/Trader Joe's are forced to here.)
It wasn't that long ago that bar closing in Minnesota was 1:00 a.m., except on Sundays when it was midnight. Except for places that only had a license to sell 3.2 beer, which could stay open until 1:00 a.m. all 7 days a week. Those places made a lot of their money for the year in the early morning of Memorial or Labor Day, when they were the only bars open for the last hour.
There's still a no 3.2 beer before noon on Sunday regulation. Hang around my neighborhood grocery on Sunday in the fall, and you'll probably see one or two dudes hanging around with a case of cheap beer, waiting for the clock to go past 12, because the
cashier can't ring it up until after that. (I think it's programmed into the register, not sure.) Then you can see them run out and barrel home so they don't miss too much of the Vikings game.
posted by gimonca at 6:04 PM on March 25, 2008
One theory is that liquor store owners don't want any general reassessment of liquor laws, because that could lead to allowing grocery stores to sell wine.
(Meaning sell wine right on the same shelves like civilized places do, instead of "right next door" the way Byerly's/Costco/Trader Joe's are forced to here.)
It wasn't that long ago that bar closing in Minnesota was 1:00 a.m., except on Sundays when it was midnight. Except for places that only had a license to sell 3.2 beer, which could stay open until 1:00 a.m. all 7 days a week. Those places made a lot of their money for the year in the early morning of Memorial or Labor Day, when they were the only bars open for the last hour.
There's still a no 3.2 beer before noon on Sunday regulation. Hang around my neighborhood grocery on Sunday in the fall, and you'll probably see one or two dudes hanging around with a case of cheap beer, waiting for the clock to go past 12, because the
cashier can't ring it up until after that. (I think it's programmed into the register, not sure.) Then you can see them run out and barrel home so they don't miss too much of the Vikings game.
posted by gimonca at 6:04 PM on March 25, 2008
Incidentally, the "Nordeast" routes on the Pedal Pub site are possible because when Prohibition ended, the City of Minneapolis severely limited liquor licenses for bars to small, patrollable zones in designated areas, one of which was along that strip of Northeast. That's why all those old bars with "character" are lined up that way. (And some of the newer ones like the Sample Room--still known to many as the site of the former Polish Palace.)
But why pub crawl when you can drink yourself silly at the Gasthof?
posted by gimonca at 6:09 PM on March 25, 2008
But why pub crawl when you can drink yourself silly at the Gasthof?
posted by gimonca at 6:09 PM on March 25, 2008
I've gone a beerless ride on the pedal pub. The seats over the wheels and the ones on the ends don't have pedals. I'm a fairly good cyclist, but the thing is geared so low that once you bring it up to speed, you spin out. It's mostly momentum from that point on. It's not fast, but I sure wouldn't like to fall off of it.
posted by advicepig at 8:12 PM on March 25, 2008
posted by advicepig at 8:12 PM on March 25, 2008
Well, that certainly settles the city vs. suburb debate for me. Anyone need a roommate this Fall?
posted by SemiSophos at 12:12 AM on March 26, 2008
posted by SemiSophos at 12:12 AM on March 26, 2008
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posted by CitrusFreak12 at 10:39 AM on March 25, 2008