(A month late, but keeping true to messenger organization...)
A winter alley cat in Minneapolis: yeah yeah, it's cold, it's icy, it's wet but something about bringing 300+ people together all
for the sake of a yearly race, in the middle of winter, is very
special.
There are two choices if you want to
race Stuporbowl: Speed and Stupor. The speed race has more
checkpoints and only a signature is needed at each stop to
continue. The Stupor race is not as long but you're required to have one drink before getting your manifest signed off.
All in all the weather wasn't too bad.
When we pulled in on Friday night it was around -14C but it warmed up
on race day to nice and balmy -10C and bluebird skies. I think we had
it pretty good given that previous years had been hit with both big
snow storms and bitterly cold temperatures. Minneapolis is
consistently freezing throughout the entire winter so there was still
a ton of snow on the ground, as well as a waist high snow banks
everywhere.
I thought I'd try my luck at the Friday
night alley cat after registering for the main race. I got some
confusing directions from some locals and took off. The race
consisted of taking pictures of different signs around downtown.
Between getting lost a good number of times, checking the map on my
phone, bailing into a snowbank due not being able to stop at all on the icy streets (turns out bringing a brake-less track bike to a winter race in
Minneapolis is not the greatest idea) and getting directions from
these two girls with thick Minnesotan accents I managed to place
third.
On race day we all gathered in the
alley behind One on One which is a combinations cafe and bike shop.
Once registration was cut off, the race organizers led us across
Hennepin Ave bridge to Nicollet Island which is in between downtown
Minneapolis and St. Paul in the Mississippi River. The start line was
under the bridge and we all had to line/pile our bikes up and then
gather across road in a snowy field.
The moments before a race is nerve
racking as it is, let alone with 260 other people all doing the their
pre-race dance. The organizers said a few words and then we were off.
The mass start and everyone running for their bikes was a bit
confusing but I managed to find the group of friends I had decided to
try to follow and we headed to the first checkpoint.
We got to the first bar, ran in, did a
shot (the fastest, but maybe not the most logical choice) and ran
back out. I had mistakenly decided to take one mitten off to do my shot and was lagging a bit trying to get it back on. I ended up loosing my
group and spent a bit of time following others until I got
totally lost. Only after one checkpoint and getting lost for a good
amount of time I decided to slow down a bit and just check out the
other checkpoints. Given that all of them were bars and peoples
houses the rest of the day was more of a bar crawl then a race. At
one bar there were hot dogs and beer cheese soup and at an other
someone had built a fire on the side patio. The day turned into more of a tour of the city and I didn't feel so bad about dropping out of the race.
The after party was the perfect way to
end the weekend. The winners all received their well deserved prizes
of frames, bags, and all sort of other goodies and then it was party
time. Between the rendition of Copacabana by SK and the nearly
instant shirts off party that happened in a matter of seconds, it was
a wild night.
Major kudos to the champs of
Stuporbowl and anyone who finished it. It takes some major chops to
ride over 60 km in below freezing temps and for some of them, being
to hold your liquor during that much physical exertion. I will most
definitely be going back next year. If not to race again and try my
luck at largest alley cat in the world, but to hang out and witness
this truly unique event.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Got something to say?