Will Bike for Pizza

Firas and I challenged ourselves to a lengthy Sunday afternoon bike ride, knowing that we would be rewarded with Salvation pizza once we reached our destination. When this Groupon hit our inboxes, we were quick to jump on it. I've been to Salvation twice before, and their pizza definitely makes the cut. As always, we waited until the last few days to use our Groupon... but we called before leaving to make sure that they were open on Sunday and would still be serving at 6 pm. They told us that they were open until 10, so we were on our way....

We rode from South Lamar to the 2nd street district of downtown, where we made a pit stop at Bar Chi's happy hour for a quick appetizer and beer. Call it halftime if you will. We continued on our ride through downtown, across UT campus, and finally to 34th street. At this point, I'm semi-exhausted. Sweating just a tad. We've just witnessed two cars have a nasty fender bender nearly seven feet from our bikes. But we know what lies ahead.... pizza and beer at Salvation. We traveled a short ways down 34th street, and pulled up to Salvation to find this pitiful note attached to their gate:

Are you serious?! We had just biked nearly ten miles in the September (think July for a normal state) heat, only to be greeted by this tragic handwritten note. We stared at it in disbelief for a good five minutes before we came to terms with the fact that we would not be enjoying Salvation pizza and beer on this particular Sunday evening. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Just kidding. Sort of. But in all seriousness, my "lower body" was ready for a break from the bike seat. Damn you, procastinators, for using your Groupon so late. We thought we were the only guilty ones...

I pulled Firas off the ground, wiped away his tears, and we made our way back toward UT campus. Lucky for us, they have about a million restaurant options. We first stopped in at Mellow Mushroom, a Charlottesville classic, but only ended up getting two tall-boy PBR's. We're classy like that. And I'm pretty sure they were $1.50 each... gotta love college specials. We ended up eating dinner at a little Greek joint, where we really enjoyed ourselves and our meal. Take THAT, Salvation Pizza.

The ride back was less exciting. And by less exciting, I mean that we tried to catch a bus home (don't judge) but right as we pulled up to the bus stop, a man swooped in front of us and placed his bike in one of the two racks in front of the bus. What a sweetheart. The next bus wasn't coming for another hour, and at this point we were ready to be home. We eventually made it back, and I must say that my "Wicked Witch of South Lamar" days are behind me, for the most part anyway. I might have made a few comments under my breath, but all in all, I'm becoming a better sport.

Let's hope for better luck next time. Or at least for better planning...