This year’s International Bear Rendezvous in San Francisco was cold and wet, with hot moments thrown in every now and then.

We should have been hibernating like most bears in the wild. Instead we were eating, fornicating, fornicating, fornicating, eating, dancing, drinking, fornicating and eating… in that order.

Everyone knows that bear events usually involve frequent feeding of your inner bear and, in most cases, the outer bear along with it. IBR 2009 was no exception to the rule – except that there may have been more fornicating than eating this particular year.

By far one of the most popular events was the field trip to the bathhouse across the Bay in Berkeley. On Friday the 13th, three busloads of obviously extremely horny bears were delivered to the Steamworks and, according to my source, the line of bears and confused regulars reached around the block.

Immediately, all of the “changing rooms” were gone. Even the more expensive “changing rooms” with leather hammocks and mirrors were snatched up right away.

Apparently, there were so many people there that those wishing to do all they could do on this field trip had trouble getting down the hallway, so many had to forgo the room-to-room search and do their exploring in the back cubby-hole area. My source didn’t say whether the amount or size of the men made it impossible to get through the narrow hallways, so let’s assume it was the amount of men since that’s a much prettier visual.

Like any bear event, there was a buffet in front so the men could keep up their energy. Once the bears were fed and fornicated they were sent to the next party at Blow Buddies where the whole thing began again – except for the buffet.

Somewhere in all this feeding and fornicating were the dances, including the Sweat dance featuring Blaine Soliel. Blaine is one of my favorite DJs and not just because he’s so freaking sexy, although that does help. Sweat was one of the more popular dances this year, which is amazing considering there must have been at least four on Saturday night.

Of course all the dances were followed up with carloads of bears heading to the 24-hour diners in the Castro while those watching their weight went to the bear party at Blow Buddies.

In all fairness, IBR does center around the international bear contest and bears take their contest very seriously. I had the opportunity to spend a fair amount of time with Mr. International Bear 2008, Scott Turner from Anchorage, Alaska. It’s fitting that Mr. International Bear is from Alaska where bear life is so prevalent. Scott is everything a bear titleholder should be. He’s approachable, friendly, likeable, furry, cuddly and cute. You’ll see more of Scott this coming year…much, much more of him.

Leather tug of war is still taking place in San Diego but hopefully things will settle down next month so San Diegans can welcome the rest of the leather world to America’s Finest City. Mike Russell, founder of the San Diego Community Awards has decided to postpone the awards this year. Instead, he’s having a “Leaders in Leather” recognition event. The evening will take place on Friday, March 6, at the San Diego Eagle from 10 p.m. to midnight. This is a week before the Ms. San Diego Leather Contest which is a week before the Mr. San Diego Leather Contest. For more information, visit www.mrsandiegoleather.net.

See ya there or in the pit. You can write me at: inthepitsd@aol.com