Stuporific

I'll preface this post by saying "I'm drunk." Or at least "I have a buzz on." This has been the case ever since about 3:30 when I had that shot w/beer chaser at Palmers in Cedar-Riverside midway through the race. Toss in several more beers at the after-party downtown, and the fact that I'm such a lightweight and well, you get the picture. And just for the record, a shot at Palmers isn't really a shot - it's more like 6 oz of liquor in a juice glass. Should have just ordered rail, since I just slammed it anyway.

So, the Stupor Bowl pretty much kicked ass. Rumor has it there were 170 riders (compare that with counts of 50-80 in past years - apparently the addition of The Onion as a sponsor helped goose participation up this year.) Nicollet Mall was abuzz with energy during pre-race registration, with bikes chained up everywhere and people riding, trackstanding, and generally milling about. Overheard a non-biker couple comment "Wow, lot's of kids out here ..." referring to all the bikey people, most of whom are of course adults. Another manifestation of the general attitude that once old enough to drive, most people consider bikes to be toys? The scene outside Grumpy's after the race was the same ... bikes everywhere, chained up, chained to each other, chained everywhere. So many beautiful bikes!

I was very pleased with my race performance, given the fact that I put in very little time plotting a route, and was on a mtn bike. I hit all but 4 of the 27 stops (stops missed were OneOnOne Bike Studio, Grumpy's Bar Northeast, Pizza Luce Downtown and Behind Bars Bicycle Shop.) Didn't ride the light rail out to the Minneapolis stops (could have, since there was a train pulling up while I was in Cedar-Riverside, but somehow I felt like that wouldn't be in the spirit of the whole affair, so I was compelled to pedal despite the fact that riding the train would have saved some time.)

I hit all of the furthest-out stops, including the Dubliner (on University in St Paul), Sunrise Inn (at 34th Ave and 46th St in SE Mpls) and the ice-fishing stop on Lake Calhoun. I feel really bad for the minnow that spent the last hour of the ride dying in my breast pocket, but I really needed the bonus points alloted for anyone who turned in bait from the Lake Calhoun checkpoint. They also offered bonus points for many other things, including downing a cup of coffee at Birchwood Cafe, but the coffee was so freaking hot that I had to toss a handfull of snow into it to cool it down, then I slammed it and took off :-)

Had a great time talking with the volunteers stamping manifests at the various stops as well. Super friendly and fun. So here's a shout out to all the volunteers - you rock!

So I think I did an OK job of representing the triathlete-turned-urban-rider crowd. In the end, I missed 2 stops in downtown, and 2 stops in Northeast. Not too shabby.

I can honestly say that it's been a long time since I've been mentally and physically "in the zone" for 3 solid hours. I mean, I was cruising hardcore and really pushing myself, and the 3 hours totally flew. And I don't think I've ever ridden as aggressively in traffic as I did today. Any car that threatened to turn in front of me without signaling, or to not let me into their lane got a verbal warning. Accidently clipped the passenger-side mirror of a moving car on Hennepin while threading my way between it and the parked cars on the side of the street. (Not proud of that one, but I don't think there was any damage?) Chided pedestrians who jaywalked in front of me without looking. And I loved every minute of it. I mean, I almost feel bad about just how much I loved it. For those 3 hours, I felt just slightly above the law. And (right or wrong) it was exhilirating as all hell.

Riding around town these past few months paid off, since I knew many of the stops (despite the fact that I'd never set foot in most of them) and I didn't need to consult any of the Mapquest maps I printed out (I did occasionally consult the map provided in the Onion, however.) Which also isn't to say I didn't make mistakes ... my connection between the Sportsman Pub (on Como) and the Dubliner (in St. Paul) left much to be desired as I hadn't planned it in advance, but I made it there without consulting my map. I ended up taking Kasota, which seemed far from direct. But it did the job.

My general plan was to hit the campus stops first, then out to the Dubliner for the big points, back through Cedar Riverside, SE Minneapolis, round to Uptown, while saving downtown and NE for last, since they'd be nearest to the finish anyway. This worked fine, except that I ran out of time while up in NE. I left NE with 15 minutes remaining, and had to fight the wind to make it to the finish at Grumpy's downtown before the 5PM cutoff. The wind was out of the NE earlier in the day - but apparently it switched direction? In the end, I made it with less than 1 minute remaining ... and my legs were total jello at that point. While waiting in line to turn in my manifest, I realized just how empty my stomach was. Downed 3 energy bars in line. Felt a little better.

That's about it. I'm beat but proud. My bike computer died many weeks ago, so I don't know how many miles I rode in those 3 hours, or what my pace was. But in the end, it doesn't matter. I feel really, really good.