Date: Aug. 3rd, 2012
Song of the Day: The Bicycle Song - Red Hot Chili Peppers
In case you missed it, the Dead Baby Downhill was this weekend. It is a crazy ride followed by an outstanding party.
I spent the previous night running around with .83. We rode out to Seward Park and set up a giant slip-n-slide. Even more bizarrely the guys set up an inflatable pool with jello wrestling jello. (It claimed it was non-toxic, non-edible, and only for the purposes of jello wrestling. I love that this is a product you can buy in this country.) I got home late, bruised, and still somehow dotted with blobs of green jello. I often rate my nights highly for doing something I didn't expect to when I woke up. This was a good night.
It didn't matter how tired or sore I was this morning though, I wasn't going to miss the DBDH. The ride was from the top of Queen Anne over to Georgetown. The organizers had asked people not to ride down counterbalance, the steepest section of Queen Anne Ave. Mostly this was out of concern for a couple hundred cyclists slamming into cars at the bottom. I put myself in what I thought was the back of the pack. I figured this way I could casually ride through the pack and look at everyone on the strange contraptions they were riding on. I even brought my camera to film it.
Turns out I was wrong. Just before the race I saw the six guys in front of me were all looking my direction. One of them said "You are facing the wrong way. We are going to run you down." So I turned around, and just a bit later the race started. I set off at a slow pace and someone screamed at me "You are going too slow." Now I am not a very competitive person, but occasionally it happens. This got me going. I began racing across the top of Queen Anne. Then it was down counterbalance. I don't think the cars at the bottom knew what was going on, and fortunately decided not to move a about 100 crazy people on bikes flew by.
Then it was down 1st Ave and across Denny. I took 2nd Ave through downtown, but a lot of other seem to have taken 1st. I think the lights are better timed there. By the domes, 2nd turns into 4th. I passed a group of people and thought I left them behind until I heard my friend Colin say "Don't look now, but you are pulling the whole group." I didn't realize it at the time, but I had about 8 people drafting off me. From there I really put the pedal down hard. I wasn't going to make it easy for people to keep up. By the time we hit the bridge over the tracks I was pooped. Colin passed me and I drafted off him until we got to the finish. I was later thanked by a girl for pulling her and a friend along. They were the first two women to cross the finish line. All of that from a guy who didn't want to go that fast. Whoops.
I had a blast at the whole party afterwards. They had a couple of stages of music. Some pedal powered carnival rides. I finally got to see some tall-bike jousting. Although my friend Scott busted up his knee in the finals. (Heal up quickly!)
I met up with some friends a bit later. We ended up getting Chinese food along 4th Ave at 2:00 in the morning. I was impressed to see the line of red bike lights riding back into the city. Boy, what a night.
-Dravis
Song of the Day: The Bicycle Song - Red Hot Chili Peppers
In case you missed it, the Dead Baby Downhill was this weekend. It is a crazy ride followed by an outstanding party.
I spent the previous night running around with .83. We rode out to Seward Park and set up a giant slip-n-slide. Even more bizarrely the guys set up an inflatable pool with jello wrestling jello. (It claimed it was non-toxic, non-edible, and only for the purposes of jello wrestling. I love that this is a product you can buy in this country.) I got home late, bruised, and still somehow dotted with blobs of green jello. I often rate my nights highly for doing something I didn't expect to when I woke up. This was a good night.
It didn't matter how tired or sore I was this morning though, I wasn't going to miss the DBDH. The ride was from the top of Queen Anne over to Georgetown. The organizers had asked people not to ride down counterbalance, the steepest section of Queen Anne Ave. Mostly this was out of concern for a couple hundred cyclists slamming into cars at the bottom. I put myself in what I thought was the back of the pack. I figured this way I could casually ride through the pack and look at everyone on the strange contraptions they were riding on. I even brought my camera to film it.
Turns out I was wrong. Just before the race I saw the six guys in front of me were all looking my direction. One of them said "You are facing the wrong way. We are going to run you down." So I turned around, and just a bit later the race started. I set off at a slow pace and someone screamed at me "You are going too slow." Now I am not a very competitive person, but occasionally it happens. This got me going. I began racing across the top of Queen Anne. Then it was down counterbalance. I don't think the cars at the bottom knew what was going on, and fortunately decided not to move a about 100 crazy people on bikes flew by.
Then it was down 1st Ave and across Denny. I took 2nd Ave through downtown, but a lot of other seem to have taken 1st. I think the lights are better timed there. By the domes, 2nd turns into 4th. I passed a group of people and thought I left them behind until I heard my friend Colin say "Don't look now, but you are pulling the whole group." I didn't realize it at the time, but I had about 8 people drafting off me. From there I really put the pedal down hard. I wasn't going to make it easy for people to keep up. By the time we hit the bridge over the tracks I was pooped. Colin passed me and I drafted off him until we got to the finish. I was later thanked by a girl for pulling her and a friend along. They were the first two women to cross the finish line. All of that from a guy who didn't want to go that fast. Whoops.
I had a blast at the whole party afterwards. They had a couple of stages of music. Some pedal powered carnival rides. I finally got to see some tall-bike jousting. Although my friend Scott busted up his knee in the finals. (Heal up quickly!)
I met up with some friends a bit later. We ended up getting Chinese food along 4th Ave at 2:00 in the morning. I was impressed to see the line of red bike lights riding back into the city. Boy, what a night.
-Dravis
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