Safety First Alleycat
I love me an alleycat bicycle race, especially one with a clever theme, a reasonably challenging non-backtracking route, on a day that the weather is interesting rather than perfect, including a fair number of competitive, yet friendly riders, and finishing of with a buttload of prizes from lots of shops and individuals all around town.
Yesterday’s Safety First Alleycat, organized by Pirate Molley, MaLora Ann of The Ladies of .83 Calendar fame, had all that and more; I had a swell time, an enjoyable afternoon of bike-riding and a heart rate of only 116BPM after ascending the switchbacked hill from Golden Gardens to Crown Hill at the penultimate stop before the final one on the manifest.
Met up at 1:00 at Cal Anderson Park and mingled about for a bit; in keeping with the “safety first” theme, I consumed (and offered about to interested parties) a pat of bud butter on a Saltine; this proved to be a fairly successful compromise on my oft-ignored admonition to refrain from getting baked before the race.
Instead of starting out all confused and introspective, I began the competition with testosterone flowing, riding hard to the first few stops, (including straight up the Queen Anne counterbalance, although I pushed my bike most of the way); but then, about 45 minutes into it, as I pedaled along Shilsole Bay towards Golden Gardens, it was all about enjoying a lovely misty afternoon in our fair city, taking in the sights and sounds of an early fall afternoon, and celebrating the camaraderie of cyclists, especially .83-er ZAnimal, with whom I formed a mini-peleton, after we both got smoked by first-finishing female, Lucia, somewhere along the bike trail in Myrtle Edwards Park.
A couple hairy moments going east along 85th in traffic and a harrowing crossing of Aurora marked the final part of the race; then a festive finish at the Wayward Café in the U-District, perfect except no beer for this thirsty competitor.
Yesterday’s Safety First Alleycat, organized by Pirate Molley, MaLora Ann of The Ladies of .83 Calendar fame, had all that and more; I had a swell time, an enjoyable afternoon of bike-riding and a heart rate of only 116BPM after ascending the switchbacked hill from Golden Gardens to Crown Hill at the penultimate stop before the final one on the manifest.
Met up at 1:00 at Cal Anderson Park and mingled about for a bit; in keeping with the “safety first” theme, I consumed (and offered about to interested parties) a pat of bud butter on a Saltine; this proved to be a fairly successful compromise on my oft-ignored admonition to refrain from getting baked before the race.
Instead of starting out all confused and introspective, I began the competition with testosterone flowing, riding hard to the first few stops, (including straight up the Queen Anne counterbalance, although I pushed my bike most of the way); but then, about 45 minutes into it, as I pedaled along Shilsole Bay towards Golden Gardens, it was all about enjoying a lovely misty afternoon in our fair city, taking in the sights and sounds of an early fall afternoon, and celebrating the camaraderie of cyclists, especially .83-er ZAnimal, with whom I formed a mini-peleton, after we both got smoked by first-finishing female, Lucia, somewhere along the bike trail in Myrtle Edwards Park.
A couple hairy moments going east along 85th in traffic and a harrowing crossing of Aurora marked the final part of the race; then a festive finish at the Wayward Café in the U-District, perfect except no beer for this thirsty competitor.
posted by Professor Dave at 11:07 AM
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