Brews, Brewed, and Bruise Race

Last night, I rode in an alleycat bike race called the “Brews, Brewed, and Bruise Race.” The theme was beer, coffee, and bikes, not necessarily in that order.

Around 7:00 PM, about 25 riders showed up at Red Square and then proceeded, by directions serially handed out at each stop, to six widely-spaced locations; half were pubs, the other half were coffeeshops. At each pub, you’d be presented with a pint of beer; at each coffeeshop, you’d get a coffee drink. I augmented each beer stop with a hit of pot. Consequently, by the second one, I was feeling no pain, even though we were required, at that point, to climb from the University District to the top of Queen Anne hill for the final coffee break.

It was a perfect night for riding and a beautifully organized race; all the riders were friendly, helpful, and way cooler than me.

Unlike in my last alleycat bike ride experience, The Cops and Robbers Alleycat Race
I was determined not to let my ego try to kill me.

There was a moment, right at the beginning of the race, when I imagined I could win; I took an alternate route to the first coffee stop that put me, I thought, well at the front of the pack of riders. This illusion lasted about 30 seconds, for when I arrived at the next intersection, I saw a long chain of cyclists already spread out way ahead of me.

At this point, I resolved to be just the stony tipsy old guy having a lot of fun. And I did!

My low point was on the way from Fremont to Greenlake; I was pretty stoned, sort of lost, and convinced that I was at the back of the pack (I wasn’t); my high point was climbing from Fremont to Queen Anne with just the right combination of caffeine, cannabis, and alcohol going on; oddly, I don’t recall the ride back down.