Hello, fellow two-wheelers (and some three-wheelers, too)!
We're back from our mini-vacation in Denver. I've never spent that much time in Denver, and decided I like it. Wouldn't want to live there -- I'm pretty sure my big city days are over -- but look forward to future visits.
Thursday post-drive found us at a Rockies/Braves game. We had great seats near first base, and had a blast. It was Lauren's first major league baseball game and, having hit a few home runs herself at school, I think she enjoyed the experience. Friday found us at Water World, my first experience at a water park. Denver has been in the upper 90s, so spending a day there was great. Again, a great time was had by us all. We'd asked each girl for something they'd particularly like to do in Denver, and Lauren had chosen a hike up to the summit of Mt. Evans, a 14er west of town. We never found out if it's just a popular ride or if there was an event, but there were many, many cyclists making the 30 mile ride to the parking lot below the summit. Generally the grade wasn't super steep, or if it angled up it wasn't for long, but it would make for a long, taxing ride for sure. For me the hardest part would be the long, fast and winding descent. . . . particularly along the exposed sections of road. The drop-offs were so steep and exposed that even riding in the car was nerve wracking for me. But it was SO worth it; the short hike to the top rewarded one with amazing 360 degree views.
The next day, Sunday, was the day of the Urban Assault Ride but, in what is becoming Rhinehart tradition, we had to go into the event sleep deprived. This time it was the hotel's fire alarm system going off at about 1:15 AM. If you have never heard a hotel fire alarm go off, it is the loudest, shrillest, most piercing sound out there. I stuck my head in the hall to see people with hastily packed suitcases running out the nearby exit, the emergency lights in the hall blinking like strobe lights, and the alarm was even louder out there than in our room. No smoke or fumes were present, and upon checking at the front desk Kirk learned that it was a false alarm. I was thankful that the sprinkler system hadn't gone off too. It seemed like forever before they got the sound turned off --the fire department had to come to the premises to turn it off --although it probably wasn't really that long. My ears were ringing so much that it took a while to fall back asleep. Nonetheless we were up at 6 in order to be downtown early in anticipation of parking difficulties. No problem with that, and we had plenty of time to get set for riding.
So here's what this event is: Although it's timed, it really isn't as much a race as it is a critical mass scavenger hunt. One is given seven specific locations around town at which one must stop and perform some task, after which one rides on to the next location. This being the case, you are responsible for determining your own route. There were two mystery locations; a clue was provided for one of them before the event, and the clue for the second is given at the first mystery checkpoint. Not knowing Denver, we stopped at Target on Saturday to purchase a street map, stickers to mark the checkpoints and sharpies to draft a route. We were permitted one cell phone too so I had entered all the street addresses into a notepad from which they would open in google maps. We easily identified the first mystery check point from the clue, a photo posted on the internet. The checkpoints were bike shops, parks, schools, and (since the major sponsor is New Belgium) a couple of pubs. After much debate, we decided most people would head to the first mystery checkpoint in order to determine where the second mystery checkpoint was, and that would result in a "traffic" jam. Instead, we headed south and knocked out two checkpoints fairly quickly. At the first stop, a pub, we had to stack yoga blocks that were imprinted with the Clif bar logo on a saucer sled and lift it up overhead. Once done, we were given a plastic pony bead to add to a chain provided at the start of the ride. The second checkpoint was in a park, where the biggest slip-n-slide I've ever seen was spread down a little hill. Helmets were required to be worn the entire time, but shoes were removed and down the wet slip-n-slide we went.
By this time we'd already discovered that none of the rules of the ride were being obeyed by probably half the participants. Red lights were blown through, sidewalks were ridden to avoid the one-way streets, stop signs were ignored. So much for honor! It wasn't that Kirk and I thought we were going to win, but it is a matter of doing the right thing. Oh well. This topic would be raised again later at another checkpoint.
From there we hit the first mystery checkpoint, and got the clue for the second. It was a color print-out on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper of part of what appeared to be a sign. Part of the image was definitely a bicycle, and then there was a red corner that appeared it could be part of a letter. That was it. Hmm, not much to go on, especially for out-of-towners. We decided not to spend time working on it then and there, and instead jumped back on our bikes to head for the next checkpoint hoping we would see something signaling the second mystery checkpoint on the way..
The next checkpoint was at a swimming pool. The challenge there was to find one each of three types of beer cans (full) that had sunk to the bottom of the pool. So, fully dressed (except shoes) we jumped into the pool to start looking for cans. They were surprisingly hard to see at the bottom of the pool, and I found the first one by thinking it was a drain cover on the bottom. Another guy in the pool who was holding two cans, was yelling to his teammate what he had, and I heard that they had one duplicate. He quickly handed it over to me. Kirk found another can -- it was the third type. Done! Collect the pony bead, and head out to add it to our chain. We determined at the start of the ride that one had to be careful when adding the pony beads to the chain to do it over a hard flat surface. Many checkpoints were grass, and it occurred to us that a dropped chain and scattered pony beads on grass would be a big fat drag. So once out to the sidewalk, Kirk pulled out the chain and pony beads to add the new one, and I overheard a few ladies talking about the second mystery checkpoint. I asked if, as out-of-towners, we had a snowball's chance in h@ll of figuring out the checkpoint. They were awesome; they walked right over, showed us on the map where it was, emailed us the address and phone number, and told us that even as locals they hadn't figured it out. Folks were helping others on that one, so when someone later asked me I was happy to share. That clue was pretty ridiculous; we NEVER would have figured it out.
On to other checkpoints which included riding a big wheel, doing a three-legged obstacle course, my riding the handlebars on a small kid-sized bike while trying to grab banners from some volunteers. . .but my favorite was a sling-shot volley challenge. A tube had been attached to a pair of men's sneakers, which Kirk donned. He had two Keen shoes to volley which I had to catch in a Whole Foods shopping bag. Sitting on his butt, he had to lean back, bend a shoe over the tube, and let it fly. The first did in fact fly way over my head. The second try went a little short, but the third was a perfect shot which I caught easily.
All in all, we had a fun ride, finished in a bit over two hours (three hours were permitted), and were surprised to find we'd ridden approx. 26 miles. Going hard in sections, too, as we were on our single speed 29ers. We probably won't do it again; it was fun, but actually not as much fun as I expected. Also, we'd anticipated the challenges to involve some bit of skill, and none did. Lots of folks cheated their whole way through, and since it is timed, and there are time penalties for missing checkpoints or not completing challenges, it undoes the 'race' if people are cheating right from the start. As a matter of fact, the best story was at the big wheel challenge, which was set up right next to the three legged obstacle course. The line, for some reason, at the big wheel challenge must've been 150 people long. It was the only checkpoint where we stumbled across a real line. We overheard the people in front of us arranging for one team to stay in line while the second team completes the three-legged course, then they'll trade places. Kirk said something about that being unfair advantage, made possible by having friends also racing. They got SO bent out of shape, and told us that the volunteers had told them to do that. We pointed out that the volunteers had no place to be changing the rules on the fly. However, if that's what the volunteers told them to do, by all means go do so. Then we heard what must've been a family riding with two team behind us, with the youngster on one team piping in with, "Yes, we should do that too! Wait here, and we'll go. . . ." The father put a stop to that, stating that if one leaves the line one leaves their place in the line. See, there were a few people riding the ride with honor and integrity! The funniest thing though was then the group in front then dropped their chain and spills all the pony beads off it -- into the grass. Karma will bite ya in the ass if you're not careful!
The rest of the day was spent wandering the 16th Street outdoor mall with Haley and Lauren, then heading back to the hotel. Everyone was pooped after walking, riding and the middle of the night fire alarm.
One of the highlights of the whole trip was the FOOD! Cheesecake Factory (twice), a awesome Asian fusion type place, and a fab Italian place with a fun and funny waiter. Breakfast at the Original Pancake House saw us hitting the road for home on Monday.
Today, Tuesday, we're back at SpinDoc, and thrilled to find what an incredible job Jonathon, Colin and Martin did holding down the fort.
I think that's the end of racing until Cyclocross season begins in October. In the meantime, come in for a class or a tune-up, or a bit of shopping for something to spruce up your cycling wardrobe. We'll be here!
