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May 02, 1998
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If you ever happen to be hanging around Boulder, Colorado in the springtime, with nothing in particular to do, you should head on over to the Boulder Reservoir and check out KINETICS. I decided after years of missing the zany event to join my brother and some of his friends for a day of boozing and bikinis at a sandy beach in the Rocky Mountains around 6,000'. I would recommend getting a $10 ticket and taking the shuttle from the city out to the reservoir, that's what we did to avoid getting caught in traffic. You can also get a car pass and load as many people as you can into your vehicle, which is cheaper but you end up sitting on the highway if you don't get there soon enough... like 6 am. We were showing up at 11 am on the bus and avoiding the gridlock, which was perfect since we were hung over and running late as usual. Security is tight and you will be carefully watched by the various local law departments who will check your bags at the gate, so be forewarned. They also do surveillance from a hill overlooking the party so be discreet with all your actions and don't assume everyone is as cool as they look and act. It is definitely a party though and everyone has their fun as you would expect... and I didn't see anyone get arrested. You can't bring alcohol into the event but beer is available in copious quantities at the end of long lines for $3 a pop, which seems to placate the crazed mob (I wish I had a picture of the beer sponsor popping cans to fill plastic cups... tossing the offending aluminum into a gigantic pile to be hauled off later under cover of darkness to a local landfill... i take responsibility for this travesty though since i was swilling right along with the rest of 'um but... talk about ludicrous). The Specials provided the days musical entertainment and the predominantly 90's, hippy style college crowd danced for hours under the blazing sun. The real highlights though are the craft, which are homemade and must be propelled by human power across prairie and plain, over sand and surf, through the drunken throng toward the finish line and victory. Amazing feats of homespun engineering carry each team around the course, some more effectively than others. Each team has a theme though and all seem to have a blast whether they sink or swim. The day was a great success and we finished up by hauling our sunburned and bloated bodies home by 5 for dinner and an early retirement. Anyway, as you can see from the following pictures, it is well worth checking out. |