Polka Dot Rocker

I’m doing this race called the Polka Dot Rocker right now; in fact, I’m in the middle of it as I type. It’s a timed Alleycat; it started at 2:00 and finishes at 6:00. The themes are hillclimbing, whiskey, and suffering; since I’m a fan of two of those three (you decide which pair), I thought it would be fun to participate, and so far, it has been.

The race route spans from Queen Anne to the north, Magnolia and West Seattle west, Lake Washington Boulevard to the east, and then all the way down to about Burien south. I decided early on not to hit all the checkpoints, so I just did the Queen Anne stops with a group, saw some views that I had never seen before, then came east to hit a stop at the top of the Interlachen hill, before picking off three spots I was relatively familiar with in my neck of the woods, more or less, near Lake Washington.

I’m home now for a brief respite and then plan to join up for the finish at the Summit Alehouse, drink some beer, and catch a bit of the Tour de France on TV. That’s bicycle-themed fun at its best.

There are some serious cyclists in this race but the mood seems very friendly; I realize, of course, that I am a generation, at least, too aged for these things, but it’s fun to take part, anyway, and nobody seems to mind too much for the old guy to be tagging along. It doesn’t make me wish I were 20 years younger or anything, but it does cause me to wonder how I’d ride if I were.

The organizers of the race encourage us, on the final page our manifest, to be creative and leave them a picture or a bit of writing about the experience. I have a haiku:

Polka Dot Rocker
That’s a lot of fucking hills
Too much suffering.