Santa Cycle Rampage

A favorite Milwaukee bike tradition — don’t miss it!
A special thanks to Lake Front Brewery for hosting and sharing a beer. Thanks also to Great Lakes for hosting and to Lowland support… I didn’t quite make it to Kochanski’s this year (sad)… but I did have a fun ride.

Epic! And I stopped at Great Lakes and never even made it to Kochanski’s…it was still the best Santa event ever. I got taco grease in my Santa beard, chain grease on my shirt and may or may not have had a flask of homemade rum in my pocket during the rampage.
Jesus, elves, raindeer, Ms Claus, the (Toy Story) bike easter bunny… even though it’s called «Santa Rampage» about any character you can name from a secular or religious holiday in December was represented. It looked to me like there were anywhere from 500 to 1000 people riding the streets.
Find a Santa hat, get on a bike and mark your calendar for next year!

S o, I was a little
A pprehensive about this. I don’t
N ormally ride bikes in a Santa costume.
T his, is one of the most
A wesome things I’ve ever done.
R iding around with hundreds
A nd hundreds of St Nicks
M ade me so full of joy and glee.
P erhaps it was the polka at Kochanskis
A nd the drinking at Lakefront Brewing.
G reat Lakes’ cocktails were awesome too.
E very year. I’m doing this EVERY. FREAKING. YEAR.
!

One of the most fun events in Milwaukee, the Santa Rampage gets better every year! It’s an easy ride — basically a bar crawl on bicycles with a few hundred other people dressed in Santa suits. The ride starts at several points throughout the city, converges at Lakefront, moves on to Great Lakes Distillery, next is a polka party at Kochanski’s and wraps up at Centraal in Bay View. Despite yesterdays rainy weather there was a huge turnout — some highlights:
*Sheboygan Santa with a (fake) deer carcass on the front of his bike
*Unscheduled sausage stop at European Homemade Sausage house for Polish delights
*Hundreds of really, really drunk Santas trying to polka
*Liter cans of Paulaner for $ 6 at Kochanski’s
*Several reindeerettes in matching costumes
*Hugh Hefner Santa
*Hanging out with fellow Unilocalers Cassie, Heather, Angela and Beth
*Watching a guy dressed like Jesus (Easter Jesus, not Manger Jesus) bust a move on the dance floor holding a beer and a kid on his shoulders. As you’d expect, JC had mad skills.
In addition to spreading Christmas Cheer and the scent of sweaty wet Santas citywide, the Rampage is great for local businesses. From the traditional tamale stop at El Rey to the delicious spirits at GLD it’s 100% Milwaukee goodness!