A block from my work, there's one of the best microbreweries I've ever been to. My co-worker friend and I go there almost every evening after work. Then we ride home together, since we both commute down eight miles of gorgeous bike path along the Poudre River. The brewery is Fort Collins Brewery, and I can't praise it highly enough. Fort Collins has some world reknowned breweries, like New Belgium (makers of Fat Tire Ale), Odell's (90 Shilling) and more...but this one takes the cake, in terms of quality of beer. New Belgium is SUPER bike friendly though, and they also happen to be right on the way home...life is good, what can I say?

I ride past two bars and a stripper joint. "The Shady Lady." Their sign is a silhouette of a big burr-oak tree with a mudflap girl sitting under it. One bar is "The Bigger Jigger," and it's a pretty rough dive, and the other is "Cantina Mexicana Y Restorante," which is, as the name suggests, a Mexican restaurant and bar. It has a HUGE mural on the side of the building, of a sexy cartoon bandita brandishing a pistol and standing behind a banner proclaiming "Viva la Raza."

I love my neighborhood.

Lucky you. I'm a big New Belgium fan. In fact, my brother was out there about a month ago and I made him bring back two cases with a variety of flavors. They don't distribute around here. But I'll put in a plug for Atlanta's excellent Sweetwater Brewery.

I also here the Poudre (pooter?) has some trout in it. Indeed, life is good.

I do my share of late\early riding, most of my near collisions have been from taxis in the suburbs.
They ignore traffic rules and speed off to the next pickup without a scan of the road for bikes.
Guess it never crosses thier minds that some poor fool might be cycling @ 3 AM on some safe sidestreets.

We say the same thing about Meijer's, a Michigan-area supermarket chain. They're very large stores, with groceries, clothes, sporting goods, and everything else and are open 24/7/364. The saying goes "Meijer's - where you can get a shotgun, ammo, and a case of beer at 3:00 in the morning."

Well you can't really buy beer at 3:00 AM at Meijers becaus state law prohibits sales after 2:00. But I guess you could get the gun and ammo.

I ride by a hip-hop bar where there were a shootout and mini-riot last summer. A block past it is the clubhouse for the Family Motorcycle Club. There's a sign on the door: "Stop. If you don't know if you are welcome here, you are not."

Yep, the Poudre does indeed have some trout. I see fly fisherman all the time as I ride by, and I toss a midge in myself on occaision. I live less than a 1/4 mile away from the river. Also, yeah...the Pooter is about the funniest name ever. Lived here all my life, even went to Poudre High School, and the name still makes me giggle.

Heck, I can do all that all 365 days a year at the Walmart in town, but they don't sell handguns or alcohol by the drink.

For a local emporium with ALL the necessary essentials, I like to stop at Faeth's Cigar Store in Ft. Madison IA. Inside is an old wooden bar that was originally set up at the Chicago World's Fair. Of course lots of stuffed animal heads for the appropriate atmosphere. Also serves up genuine Leinenkugel's Beer from WI, my second favorite after Yuengling Porter from PA. In season, BigButt Doppelbock is available. This week's special: FREE Box of trap shells with shotgun purchase. Top that!

As for threats to my cycling pleasure I would be more concerned about passing by a local high school on Friday night after a game just ended. Or a church just after services when the drivers are full of visions of the powers of the supernatural. Getting the "look" from a patron of a bar on the street doesn't register on the scale at all as far as I'm concerned. I must have passed 50 bars every day when I commuted daily in Phila, not a problem at all.

My ride home takes me up 18th St., NW which is bar central for DC.

I've heard that some RAGBRAI riders try to hit every bar they pass. A group in Denver had a bicycle pub crawl race, ONCE. Better would be the ride that the Bicycle Club of Irvine, CA had years ago. In a 10 mile loop they hit 8 coffee shops. I knew the area; they missed three shops.

I have a specific drinking bike.

You're not too far away from Gerry's Silver Slipper on Independence Ave. Now that's a first class establishment.

My commute has no entertainment value. Well, I guess some of you guys out there find hills to be entertaining.

Eric

You are right, I am not very far from the Silver Slipper. I have not investigated said establishment, but I do know where it is at. I live near enough to the McDonalds on Independence Ave., that I can smell fryer grease when the wind is wrong!

Where do you commute to? I go from Northeast to Downtown daily. Not too hilly except coming up on Euclid and again just after Prospect on 9th St. Going home on 12th seems less hilly.

My commute takes me up Clark St. in Chicago, including the stretch by Wrigley Field. Bar density within a few blocks of Wrigley is so tremendous, if I tried to count all the bars in that area I'd probably probably wreck. Its more like, which door does NOT lead to a bar. (Hmmm, I'll have to investigate that by trial and error one day). Mostly, its not a problem, except when cars suddenly stop in the traffic lane for valet parking.

Walter

There's a place in Tallahassee, Flordia called Mike's Beer Barn. If I remember correctly, you could actually drive through the store. I presume you could also ride a bike through it. I also seem to remember that they sold beer straight from a keg in gallon milk jugs.

I go by several of them. They're all in the lower income areas of my route. No surprise there. I've had no problems. Yet.

I just moved from downtown for a couple months until another place opens for me. But up until 2 weeks ago I was riding from downtown K.C., MO to Mission, KS. I figured it's about 6-7 miles one way. It's not too bad except coming up out of Turkey Creek was a real...turkey.

With all the shootings and stabbings at The Oasis lately, I had been a little nervous when riding down Southwest Boulevard