PELICAN ALLEYCAT
I've
wanted to recreate an average day at Pelican for an alleycat race
for a while and was gratified to see folks bikes up Embarcadero,
then down Embarcadero, then an hour later back up Embarcadero...
Riders were given Pelican tags with two addresses they could hit
in either order (but no matter how you tried to route yourself,
you still saw more of the city in two tags than many messengers
see all day!) and the next checkpoint. Every stop was a Pelican
account and the checkpoints were manned by hardcore Pelican veterans:
first was Joel at Chromeworks, who handed each racer a tube; then
Bok Choy at 101 Em with 2.5'x2.5' flats, finally Damon at his
perch at Northern Lights (wearing his American flag hi-tops),
with crates for our intrepid riders. The racers asked incredulously
if riding for Pelican was really like this-ayup. Maria was the
first to answer all the questions right-even tho' I screwed up
one of the addresses (for authenticity's' sake-aye)! She won a
CMWC Team Pelican racing shirt and an eighth of proj, Broiler
won a beautiful pelican statue and framed drawing by Louie. There
was also Brown Pelican brand chocolate, a porcelain pelican, a
Mercedes hood ornament I stole the night before, et cetera. The
race ended like my days at Pelican: at the CW, where Anonymous
Beef, Sunless Day, and Asshole played. Proceeds for race and show
went to Louie Seastres, who had had quite an adventurous Friday
two weeks earlier... The award ceremony took place in five seconds
of drunken babble at Carla's Summer Cyclops. We raised $183 dollars
for Louie. Thanks to Rager and the bands sorry about the
confusion!America
1. Maria Schur
2. Broiler
3. John Seagravy
4. Jr.-Mediocre
5. Nectar-What's under every four Scotsman?
6. Stephanie-Penultimate
7. Anchor-DFL
1. Kyle
2. Broiler, Drunkest!
3. Mike, Worst Dressed
4. Grey
5. Clive Lightwood
6. Eric Rapisura
7. JWR
8. Aaron, Most Whining
9. Lars Savage
10 Ginger, Best Attitude
11 Jen, Skimpiest Dressed Woman
12 Ralph
13 Scott Away King, Most Police Harassement
14 Top, Most Flats
15 Kenny
16 Maria, Fixy
17 Cari, Girl with Hairiest Legs
18 Cupcake
19. Jackie
DFL. Thomas and Florencia!
(Categories were chosen by Dunhill. I don't know about their
sense of humor...)
FIRST
ALL CHICKS RIDEHello boys & girls ooops make that hello girls! There was an all-women ride the day after the races in DC. Only seven girls showed up, but it was still great fun. Anyway, after the ride, I got to thinking...
...wouldn't it be great if aliens shot the earth with a giant ray gun that disabled all cars permanently... wouldn't it be great to find a tree that sprouted $20 bills instead of leaves... wouldn't it be great to be a bike messenger... then I thought, maybe it'd be kind of okay to have an all girl ride like they tried to have in DC... And since there are so many cool bike chicks in San Francisco, maybe we'd even get a good showing.
Well, what do you know, 21 girls on 20 bikes showed up at Dolores Park at noon on the second Sunday of October. (Zette rode on Mikae's back, not quite ready for her own bike yet). Everyone was reasonably on time, enthusiastic, primped, pretty and raring to go. The smell of estrogen was in the air and it was sweet, yet raunchy.
We left the park and rode (or walked) up the hill to Patty Hearst's secret hang out. From there, we jettisoned back down the hill to the Women's Center, where some chick we didn't even know gave us bags of cookies. From there we went to the Bearded Lady for snacks, then to Lotta's Fountain on Market for liquor-filled chocolates (starting to notice a theme here?). From there we rode up Kearney to Broadway, checked out the strip clubs and found ourselves in the middle of Washington Square in the middle of the Columbus Day parade. Blech. We took a vote and spun our wheels the long way out to the Toxic Golf Course, where we drank beer and cheap wine and made plans for next month. Yahooey what a fun way to spend the day.
There was only one wreck all day and, of course, it was me. Also ironic is the cause of my fall-my skirt catching in my brake (see, fixed gears shouldn't have brakes!). That's the first time in all my dress-wearin' bike-ridin' days that a dress ever foiled me. Harumph. Maria
So this
was the first alleycat I've thrown, and it was fun, frustrating,
and required a lot of organizational skills that I seem to lack
in. Thank God I've got understanding friends or I couldn't have
done it and in the end we still had fun! It was the first alleycat
for a lot of the racers too, so we got to share the experience
together. The theme for the race was food, one of my favorite
things to think about.
Some of the check points were manner or womanned as at Belcher
where the Team Glue ladies made you burp by feeding you radishes,
yummy. Jeannette from Lickety Split was declared "Master
Belcher"-congratulations!
At Duncan one received the sacred donut from Reverend Jim. Our Brother Toby was so blessed as to receive a second donut, which was his downfall in the end. Steep hills, donuts, and fixed gears just don't mix well, Toby! Sorry. When he was at the hospital getting his broken arm checked out, and his chin stitched up he was filed for an educational video so now Toby's a star. When he can talk again, ask him to tell the story-it's wonderful. Thanks Toby for being a good sport; I owe you a donut.
The next checkpoint was Donner, there was a party going on there hosted by my good friend Lance. He was giving lessons on the art of the crossbow shooting. Ruth, a Lickety girl, had the best shot: six cans of beer went down by here stead hand. When the revolution comes, she'll be very useful.
When our racers arrived at Berry, they were lavished with beer and berries by the lovely Gina Princess Courier and her trusty cohorts Ché and Joel. So out of the 15 racers, 10 finished. Broiler came in first [how appropriate!-ed] with 1:43, Aaron at 1:50, Brandon at 1:58, Eric at 2:00. I guess it was a bit long and sort of hilly, but a good course nonetheless. Thanks to everyone who raced, who donated prizes (Robyn rocks), who helped me organize this.
Love, Meghan