First of all I want to acknowledge the event's sponsors again, who were
The Bike Way, High Gear, Power Bar and Lazlo's Brewery. Without them we wouldn't have had such excellent prizes. And thanks especially to the Bike Way for hosting a checkpoint. The second annual Spooks On Spokes scavenger-cat went off without a hitch. We had great weather on Saturday with partly sunny skies and temps in the 40's and 50's. Not bad for October 31st. A perfect day to push pedals around Omaha.
The event kicked off at Lake Zorinsky in southwest Omaha. Competitors began the race by ditching their bikes were they had to run up a muddy hill to retrieve a map to accompany the manifest they were given at the start. With the map and manifest competitors were able to locate the first three checkpoints.
The first checkpoint was hidden along a muddy path in between the trail system at Zorinsky. The second, and my personal favorite checkpoint was located IN lake Zorinsky. Yes, competitors had to go about 10-15 feet into the lake, about thigh deep in order to retrieve checkpoint #2's flag. After getting wet, competitors returned to the start area to complete task #1, which was to pick up five pop cans using a small wire, all while mounted on their bikes. This was tough for some and tougher for others. After completing this task competitors were given a second map and manifest listing the remaining 14 checkpoints. There was even a scheduled "pit stop".
The final twist to the race was the final checkpoint, which was actually the finish line. Many competitors didn't bother to look at the instructions on how to locate the finish line. Some read the final notes and learned that the finish was several miles from the start. The finish line was in the field next to Lazlo's Brewery where cold beer and warm food were waiting. About two thirds of the field finished. The other third must have given up when they returned to Zorinsky only to find no one there. Tough breaks! :)
This years event was a total success. Competitors raved about how challenging and fun the event was. Several cyclists made new friends from other areas of Omaha whom they would have never met. Others commented on how nice it was to see areas of Omaha where they've never ridden. It was nice to see people from all walks of life and all sorts of cycling culture, from fixies to touring bikes, classics to road bikes and even a few oddities. We even got a group of female Creighton students to show. Props to these young ladies who probably weren't avid cyclists, rode bikes with major mechanical problems, yet ventured out to have some fun. Based off of the smiles and laughs it appeared they did. We ended up with roughly 40 competitors. Not as many as I had hoped, but almost double from last year. Next year I hope to double it again. As words spreads I'm confident we'll get more cyclists each year.
Also, check out the following blogs and stay in the cycling network to keep up to date on other cycling related happenings around Omaha.
Thanks to all that showed and especially to our sponsors, the
Bike Way,
High Gear, Power Bar and Lazlo's Brewery!
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