As usual, Fourth of July at the beach was nuts. If you've followed past years' adventures, you know we normally start with the Hermosa Beach Ironman. The Ironman is one of the oldest traditions in Hermosa, a twist on the traditional Ironman in which hundreds of contestants run a mile, paddle a mile on their surfboards, and then down a six pack; first to hold it in for 20 minutes without ralphing wins. My pal Andrew joined me (very) early Saturday to see the spectacle, but we spent a little too long with our (very) early morning bloody marys and breakfast, only making it to the Ironman in time to catch the post-race mosh pit. After that, we met up with my pal Pat and some of his friends to start our annual pub crawl on bikes, which took us from Poopdeck to Naja's. After a slow start, before we knew it, it was time to head to Pat's house to meet up with our friend Alan and begin a new phase to July 4th: a Galaxy game with the ACB. That part comes in part 2 tomorrow...