William Shakespeare once said “Business in the front, party in the back” which
can be read in Henry V as
Once more unto the party, dear friends, once more;
Or close the drinks up with our English men.
In mullets, there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest, stillness, and business.
Such a profound usage of words to live by.
Sadly, I lived too much on Once more unto the party and not enough of As
modest, stillness, and business, which caused a lack of business to be
incomplete on an adventure of mine.
The adventure was to go to Illinois from Wisconsin by bike. It was a 240 km
round trip, which is a lot considering this is my first time biking that much
in two days. But I had a “Business in the front, party in the back” type of
attitude in my head, therefore I knew I could make this trip happen.
It turned out not to be a smooth 240 km bike trip. The sun got hid behind the
clouds. The dirt turned into mud from the rain coming down. The airtight tire
on my bike went flat with a puncher. Some English men might take these
occurrence and say to themselves “Uber”. But I’m a modest, stillness, and
business type of English man, so I said “Once more unto the party, dear
friends, once more”.
With each grain of mud being piled on to my bike, clothes being soaked from the
rain, and my arms pumping air into my punctured back tire, this was the
adventure I was called to. All I knew at this moment was head South. If I get
lost, I found something new. If I see a hill, pump my tire before biking up. If
I found a highway, bike it.
Wait. Bike on the highway?
Yes, bike it. That’s what I’ll do. Once more unto the party, dear friends, once more.
After the sun came out, I searched for a bike shop to get a new tire. It would
add on an extra 20 km to the trip. I can do that, 20 km is only 30 minutes of
biking (with airtight tires). Biking to the bike shop took me an hour, right
when they were closing. I was told to come back in the morrow.
This was okay, if I wanted to close the drinks up tonight, I would need to
complete the 90 km I had left today before nightfall. Once more unto the
party, dear friends, once more.
With each kilometer biked, I was getting more and more exhausted. I knew I
could keep going but my arms and legs were losing strength from pumping my
punctured tire and biking on a flat tire. I didn’t think I could keep going.
“Uber” kept getting louder and louder in my head where “Once more unto the
party” was fading away.
I made it to the fork where I could either go the long route to my Airbnb or
take the direct route to my Airbnb. I didn’t want to admit to quitting but I
didn’t think I could keep going. So I chose the long route. Once more unto the
party, dear friends, once more.
Or that is what I wish I could have chosen. I went with the short route because
the thunderstorm was coming in and I didn’t want to be outside when it started
to rain again.
Taking the short route would only be 15 km, easy ride (with airtight tires).
But with each give I gave on my bike, I was only getting more and more tired.
That easy 15 km ride felt like the longest ride I have ever done.
Once I made it to my Airbnb, all I could do was run a warm bath and soak in it
until the water went cold. After a bath and a shower, I went to Brat Haus down
the street after the thunderstorm. Ordered the Brat Haus’s Brat Dog with chili
and a cold root beer.
At this moment, I felt that I could eat anything. On the trip to Illinois, all
I had was one sandwich and two bottles of water. But feeling that I could eat
anything doesn’t mean that I could eat everything completely. When I got my
Brat Haus’s Brat Dog with chili and a cold root beer, I knew I couldn’t finish
all this.
There is a delicate balance with “Business in the front, party in the back”
where one can have business and party going on equally without any problems.
Any business that needs attending, can be completed. Any party that needs a
swing, can be bounced to. What I did on this trip was break the delicate
balance and overload the business side with partying. I couldn’t complete my
240 km bike trip, and I couldn’t finish Brat Haus’s Brat Haus Brat Dog with
chili and a cold root beer, even if I wanted to.
If there was a quote to put this hotdog review together, I would believe it would be
That’s why I ran over screaming “He can, he can, he can”, ‘cause he can.