BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

Not even two weeks away.

afterparty @ bike pgh huh?

The checkpoints should require the riders to eat one dinner item on the menu at each restaurant... That would be miserable. Especially if you gave points to the most food eaten at every stop.

i want to do this!

And there will be prizes...

That is beautiful! You should make some regular, non-champion versions for sale.

Idea; you could pierce a hole near the top edge for a carrying loop so you could conveniently wear it around your neck. Just thinkin.

If this is an annual event, then why not a big bowl with the winners names on it displayed somewheres public - like the Stanley Cup...

Or a Limited Edition Flat Tire Wok of Shame?

That's awesome!

Dude, that's the best prize ever.

("Wok of Shame" made me giggle like a schoolgirl.)

The baked mud truly rocks, Jeff.

top ramen

What is the distance we're talking about here?

Choose your own adventure. Ride as far or as not as you'd like.

we're gonna do that choose your own adventure alleycat someday

OMG. I never cared about winning an alleycat before. And I haven't got enough time to train to win this one

Train? If you're training to win alleycats you're doing it all wrong.

Seriously though, I understand the unknown objectives idea and that navigation is half the fun of doing an alleycat, so I'm not expecting a course map or something, but it would be super cool to have some idea of the range we're talking about here. Stops in the vicinity of North Park and Century III Mall? Inside the rivers only? Sure, you can skip waypoints if you'd like but still...

It might be easier to bring in new riders if they had some idea of the scope involved.

At my age, it's either train or bribe the judges. I probably rode less than a hundred miles in January and February put together, and now I'm too fat and slow to get by on good looks, a winning personality, and half a wit.

speaking from the past, most of these stick within the city, hugging the rivers. i'd say usually between 10-25 miles. there is no shame in stopping and just going to the end to hang out and party.

Cool, that's about the distance I was hoping for. Thanks Erok.

If nothing else comes up, this may be my first alleycat! Yay.

Damn, I hate that font.

+1 choose your own adventure alleycat. I loved those books...

This is on Saturday, and so far the weather looks alright. Sounds like there are some people coming in from out of town for this, and we are all more or less ready to go. We printed roughly 60 shirts last night, so we should have enough for most people unless there is some unprecedented turnout.

Get ready for Spring!

I'm betting on "unprecedented turnout"...this should be awesome.

Any more tips for maybe-new riders trying to do their first alleycat?

The most important thing is to have fun. We encourage you to ride within your abilities, obey traffic laws and wear a helmet.

bikeygirl, here are my suggestions:

- find a buddy to ride with!

- bring a map. sounds obvious, but people do forget.

- if you're not trying to win: ride at a regular pace and do as many stops as you can. don't feel like everyone else is ahead of you, 'cause they aren't. plus, people do the stops in whatever order makes sense to them, unless the directions say that you must do them in some kind of order. a lot of people ride allycats just as an excuse to do a ride with a few of their friends and be a part of something fun. if you get tired or it stops being fun, start heading to the after-party.

- don't take it too seriously if it's your first. just have fun and see what it's like!

Busting out the face-paint again for this!

Thanks! Those are great tips!

Hrmmm.... I hope there's a couple of size-small t-shirts then

yeah, there's usually a few people that are actually "competing." For the most part, its just fun to do the ride and see how you do compared to other folks. also, it gives you a chance to push yourself a bit more than you would normally.

Definitely going to be looking for others new to alleycats at the wall. If you're new, be social!

We should get "Hello, my name is..." tags

can't wait til tomorrow! just gotta watch out for all the tonycornholers out there.

Will the afterparty supplant dinner, or is it just Tasty Snax™?

I'll be there in the non-competition category / ride as long as it's fun category... if any of the newbies wanna join me, let me know... This is my first so I just wanna get the feel for it.

I just wanna say that you have a craazy sink, bike-pgh.

Also thanks for the great time and my first alleycat!

ok.... while I came DFL, haha.... I had alot of fun! A learning experience which will definately be put to good use for next time! Wish I have had more time to meet some of you... oh well In my book, this was definately: mission succesfully accomplished!

And whoever told me that 9pm was an ok-time frame to finish....... ;p

Haha

You didn't finish DFL. That was somebody else.

REALLY????

I got there right at 9pm. I asked someone when was sort-of 'deadline' time to make it to bikepgh, and was told that around 9pm, so I timed myself accordingly, had I known I would have finished before.

Welll, I think that in the women category, I did finish DFL...... no matter though! I got there after the awards stuff, so don't know how I would have done with the points-thing...

*got 16 menues,

*went to all neighborhoods except for the northside,

*got 9 spring-rolls

*and if given chance, I would have eaten all the food for the bonues points (20-grass jelly drink, 40-egg drop soup, 60-korea garden photo, 120-crispy bean curd) that's 240 points

where would that have put me overall? at least on the women's option?

anyone?

I'm still feeling pretty awesome

Haha, that was me. Yeah I think we pulled into Bike Pittsburgh around 20:45; they were about halfway through the awarding at that point and the guy with the clipboard looked busy handing out prizes so we didn't feel like bothering him at that point. Glad you had a good time!

Thanks for coming out everyone! That was super fun.

We'll have a recap on the Spring Roll blog soon.

Good times indeed!!!

I got there just before the awards were handed out and was pleasently surprized that I wasn't DFL - thanks guys! Had a great time

No, no, DFL was me.

I wasn't clear on how the points and the time schedule interacted. I arrived late (long story), so I went for points instead. I hit all the neighborhoods and all the bonuses, only I made two major tactical errors. One was taking some advice and riding DOWN browns hill road after going to Hokkaido and then riding the roundabout way along East Carson to the Southside (and being delayed by all those motorists). Probably shoulda just gone back up Browns Hill Rd and down Greenfield Ave instead. The second was trying to go up Mt Washington via 18th St, which I'm sure I'd done before, but it landed me in Arlington and I didn't know how to get along the ridge to Grandview (and after dark at that), so I rode back down Arlington Ave (GAH! trolley tracks!) and back up McArdle. Then I made a minor tactical error and turned the wrong way down Grandview and had to come back. About then I was ready to bag the points and head to the party, but stubbornness set in and I hit downtown, over the vets bridge, through a construction zone, Western Ave, a couple of obnoxious auto passengers, up through the strip for the very last can of grass jelly drink, and arrived just in time for the cleanup. All that work and nothing for it except to eat the bonuses anyway. Half of the egg drop soup soaked into my bag, but the rest was better than I expected.

Smelly Bean Curd smells worse than it tastes. Hot sauce made it easier to get down. You guys who had to eat in front of the judges didn't get the benefit of the hot sauce. Everything else was way tasty. Nicky's Thai Cafe looked really good. I have to go back sometime soon when I can sit and enjoy the meal.

Suggestion for next time: set the start time for about 1 PM

Yeah, I didn't think Browns Hill Road was all that out of the way. It wasn't bad at all if you turned back around, got up to Greenfield Ave, and then goddamn that's a fun hill to go down. Anyone else get a lovely orange-sky view of downtown riding down that hill?

Also egg drop soup tastes really weird when lukewarm.

I did.... Greenfield Ave was super fun downhill!! Nice to see the sunset there! Then I went across the Hot Metal Bridge to Southside and the end of sunset w/Downtown & the rivers was just beautiful

Thanks to everyone for coming out. I'm glad people had fun, and that nobody got lost, hurt or anything.

I've posted the results at springrollalleycat.blogspot.com, along with the manifest and a Google map of the checkpoint locations.

And I have to say... I can't believe how many people at the stinky tofu.

The Spring Roll Alleycat was a huge success. I am impressed at the turn out and it was run really smoothly. I took my brother on his first alleycat. He said he'll definitely be back for more.

I did some of it. Shadyside Sq Hill, Greenfield. It was fun.

Then I decided to go hang out at the Flagstaff Hill drum circle.

I stopped in Bloomfield and got spring rolls on my way to Bike-Pgh. Then tragedy struck - they were out of beer before I got there.

I think that next time before it starts, I'lltry to link up with folks that are doing it slowly. I just didn't feel like doing a 3 hour ride by myself.

Mick

Look for my gf and I next time. We where the boneheads pulling around a trailer. I might bring it next time just for the challenge.

Will do, Willie!

Boneheads R Us!

For next time...bikeygirl has a good point, there wasn't really an announced finish time; I took a wild guess and ended up being off by about a half hour. For myself, I do plan to push the pace a bit more next time, but for others it might be necessary to skip stops in order to make it before the judging is all done. None of this is relevant to the folks who have a chance at winning because they're going to be the first ones in, but for the casuals the extra information would be great.

Yeah, next time I'll include a cut-off time (and print the finish location on the manifest... oops).

At the same time, I think those who spent 3 or more hours on the streets had more fun than the ones who did just a handful of stops and headed to the afterparty.

You did a fantastic job organizing -- every other detail was perfect. It even seemed as though the people running the restaurants knew we were coming, although that could be because we came in after everyone else.

Yeah, the guy at Dragonfly definitely knew I wanted a grass jelly drink. Then again, that was at like 20:00.

@asobi It even seemed as though the people running the restaurants knew we were coming, although that could be because we came in after everyone else.

HAHA... yes! Some of the last places I went they would tell me that they were all out of menues. I would ask "Did alot of people come by already?" And usually the answer was yes!

Haha, oh well.....

The Dragonfly Diner sold out of grass jelly drink last Saturday. I told Joe about the race today and showed him the manifest. He was really thankful for the business and the promotion.

i most definitely saw some restaurants that i didn't know were there

i am still reeling from the shock of that smelly tofu.

I must have been first at dragonfly because when I came in the guy at the door seemed inquisitive about the apparent rush I was in and followed me outside to ask what was going on. I explained that it was sort of a scavenger hunt/race and that we were hoping they didn't mind and would appreciate the exposure. He said he thought it was a cool idea and was very encouraging. Then I realized it was a points stop and he ran back inside for a grass jelly drink for me while I unlocked!

Joe is a cool guy, and the Dragonfly's food is awesome. He was thankful for the publicity... And happy to have sold all of their grass jelly drink!

I really rather liked the grass jelly. Not sure why it, or Nicky's samosas, were on the "gross food" list...