Yesterday was the Spirit of the Streets race. Having done seven or eight races in the last eighteen months, I thought I’d offer my services as a volunteer, and the organizer, Brad from Dirt Rag, accepted my offer. There would be two races:
1. The citizens’ race: a combination scavenger hunt/point-to-point race with four checkpoints. Riders could hit the checkpoints in any order, and would be asked to complete a task to get their tag. I was stationed at the mouth of Point State Park in town, armed with circus peanuts and canned pumpkin — racers had to eat one or other. Other checkpoints were Washington’s Landing, the lake at Panther Hollow, and the bottom of 18th Street in the South Side.
2. The “pro” race: Same checkpoints as above, minus the activities. The riders, however, had to hit the checkpoints in a particular order, bumping the total distance of the race to roughly 20 miles. Winner takes all.
Costumes were required (I was dressed as a 1950s era racer, complete with a leather hairnet — thanks to Dave — pictures may be forthcoming).
Around 4:30PM I left the dinosaur in Oakland with cans of pumpkin and bags of circus peanuts in my bag for the lonely riding down Fifth Avenue to the Point. The winds were swirling, and for a moment I was happy I wasn’t racing. Ten minutes later I was unpacking my wares, and filling dixie cups with pumpkin. My initial spot, under an oak tree in front of the Hilton, turned out to be a bad idea, as acorns were falling almost constantly, with a few bouncing into the cups of pumpkin. Oops. Remember to warn the racers about that.
Ten minutes after the race start at 5:00PM, the first of the pro racers appeared (mine was the first stop). Nothing terribly out of the ordinary happened at the checkpoint (aside from a few folks having to spit acorns out of their mouths — sorry about that), so instead of rehashing boring details, I’ll list a few of the interesting bikes that passed through.
* The winner of the pro race was riding an old, old ten speed, complete with a milk crate bungied to the rear rack. Awesome.
* The very nice, red and white custom Jonny Cycles. I wasn’t a big fan of the bullhorns on it, but otherwise, a very sharp track bike.
* The Soma cyclocross bike riden by a girl in a lion costume. Yeah, it had 20 gears too many, but it was a fine looking ride.
* The new Lemond singlespeed. Another sharp looking ride — black frame with white decals.
* Brad’s Vivalo keirin frame, straight from Japan.
* Jason’s urban trials machine — 32×16 singlespeed. He ran the pro class and didn’t come in last place.
When I left my station and went to Duke’s for the awards and to return the remainder of the circus peanuts (apparently Brad loves them — more power to him), I took joy in the sight of nearly fifty bikes locked and hanging from the chainlink fence encircling the construction site next door. Why didn’t I bring my camera?
Posted on 30 October 2005