All-City Championship

Here is our route. Scott had GPS. I've had a busy week. Summary: THIS RACE WAS A BLAST! Here is a note I wrote to my sister:

"Hi, the alleycat race was awesome. Incredibly excellent! The neat part was that the organizer had a manifest (list of trips to make) that no one could see until the beginning of the race. It had things like: Go to 1724 Kenwood Pkwy and get the year the brick water tower was built. Count the window panes at the Lake Harriet bandshell. Buy a banana somewhere and eat it at the tent in Powderhorn Park where you'll put your manifest in a sealed envelop to deliver to Grumpy's bar in Northeast Minneapolis...and so on it went. At some of the stops there were free socks, bike parts, or drinks. And some were like get the number from the blue hat in the mural at such-and-such address and use that number for the missing number in the next address on the list. It was about 35-45 (?) miles total zipping around all the "burrows" of Minneapolis (plus one cross-town stop in St. Paul). There were bikers all over the place because no one takes the same course unless you are riding with a few friends, which is pretty common.

The night before the race there were crazy contests like track stands (balancing without moving on the bike...some people did it for 10 - 12 minutes), sprints (pairs of people going full blast for a block or two for mini races) and skids (seeing how long you can skid the back tire...all on fixed gear bikes with no hand brakes or coaster brakes). Those contests started at 10 p.m. after registering at a bar (pay $10 and get a spoke card for the race) and were only halfway done at midnight...I had to bike home and miss some of it. Lots of drinking, music, and a little mayhem but all respectful fun...

You know, some of those race ideas (the alleycat race with the surprise manifest before the beginning so that no one can prepare) might be suitable for a horse event. I guess it is sort of like a scavenger hunt in a way.

I actually think horses are more interesting than bikes in many ways. I'm sure that if we compared history, contributions to society, culture, etc. that bikes and horses would go neck-and-neck. However, bikes don't poop! Your horses are so lucky! If only all horses could get the care you offer."

I'm ready for the next one! Here is one person's Flickr show. Scott S., we might have to split up next time to avoid jousting at the end!