I placed?!? or: The insanity that was the Snot and Tears Alleycat

Hell yeah! I managed to place 4th in last nights' Snot and Tears Alleycat. The race started at Drungo Ice House on 29th and Rio Grande, and the checkpoints (in order) were: Little City Coffee (9th and Congress), Mellow Johnny's (4th and Nueces), Homeslice Pizza (S. Congress and Elizabeth), Scoot Inn (4th and Navasota), Clown Dog Bikes (28th and San Jacinto), Draught House (42nd and Medical), then back to Drungo Ice House for the grand finish. My route was a little over 13.5 miles, and I'm not sure how long it took to complete but the time seemed to fly by. There was really only one mishap during the race that I noticed, and that was that the person manning the first checkpoint managed to throw a chain and eat it on the way down, which delayed the handing out of the second checkpoint note until the majority of the racers had assembled at the first checkpoint. A couple people got their feathers ruffled over it but whatever, it's all in good fun. I'm just glad to hear that Vince didn't get banged up too bad otherwise. Aside from his scratches, there were a few other crashes and collisions on the race, but as I didn't witness any of them (I only got to see the bloody aftereffects) I'll let the bearers of the wounds tell their stories. Rumor has it that a windshield was gone through?!? Nice.

One feature of the race that I hadn't seen before was the use of a mobile, optional check point. They strapped a blow-up sex sheep onto the back of a bike and whoever returned to Drungo with the sheep in-hand got themselves $50 CASH MONEY. I guess the competition for the bucks was fierce, because the sheep actually passed hands 3 times before it ended up at the finish line. I was concentrating on getting through the course and didn't see the sheep, but I'll bet that was a hell of a time.

After the race there was a track-stand competition, a bike toss, and a big game of Texas Footdown. Shit got rowdy! Between the good times of the race, the vibe of the crowd, and all the free beer and food I was doing pretty alright when all was said and done. Thanks for putting this on y'all! The Paper Street Bicycle Club is A-OK in my book. They brought together a good course, a great venue (FREE BEER!), killer prize support, and for their first foray into alleycat race hosting a hell of a turnout. I'd say there were about 30 racers and as many people hanging around to spectate and/or support the participants, and amongst the racers we had everything from roadies on carbon fiber race bikes to hipsters on fixed gear fashion accessories to freaks on porn-covered frankenbikes, it was badass. I love me some diversity!

It seemed like everyone had a blast, and I for one can't wait 'till their next event. Keep an eye out on the site, I know good things are coming from these guys and as soon as I hear about them I'll let y'all know. Hopefully we'll also have pics of last nights event, if you took some and have them posted, let me know.