An Amusement & Diversion for The Genteel Cyclist. Daily.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Local Intelligence: Mpls All-City Championship


"By gosh, I think I somehow got cold rain water under my skin!

We don't do a lot of local race reports here at PFN, cuz y'know we don't want to alienate all our readers over in Kuala Lamphur and Portland Oregon. But perhaps y'all will enjoy a bit of local flavor, and we frankly get quite a kick out of the gig, plus we're boning up for our little offroad race season which is forthcoming.

The Minneapolis All-City Championship was, from my point of view, a huge success. Cold rain brought out the rain gear, and an arduous course sent a nervous shiver through the motley pack of racers. Having "volunteered" to help somewhat late in the game, my work consisted of sharing beverages with Leif and Beta on the loading dock, while the LeMann's start went off -- thought, incredibly, to be the first ever LeMann's in the Sex World Alley that separates Pinchie's office from the bike shop. Checkpoints from Nordest to Kenwood, Crosstown and beyond, meant that it would be a challenge to hit all stops and make it back home at the three hour cutoff. That's a long race by any standard, and there was some grumbling among the riff-raff that the cut-off time had not been announced at the volume they would have preferred. The course also required riders to buy a banana along the way -- a nice touch that, upon being announced by the race chief, prompted a catcall from the crowd: "I already had one, but I gave it to your mother last night."

Understandbly, the grumbling around cut-off time had an aquisitive undertone: The awesome swag for top finishers included a custom-built frame by Capricorn bikes, several wheelsets, and a Surly Steamroller frameset. Unfortunately, no manifests were accepted from riders who came in after 8 p.m., and only one that did make the cutoff had reached all checkpoints.

Winners were Landon (overall), Kim (women's), Steef (Masters) and some other notable finishes, which ought to make the web over here sometime today.

Aside from the cut-off kerfuffle, there was only one other sour note: Surly beer and your correspondent don't appear to be a good match. Alas, I may have found the one beer in the world to which I am apparently allergic. After but one cup (okay, maybe it was three) my eyes puffed up like I'd been punched by a kangaroo. I remain a fan -- but from afar, sadly, and as a consequence, I'm happy to continue drinking what Zito absurdly calls "wannabeer." I say that's more for me.

Photo (cc) by Simoputz. PFN photos to come. Bestkepts awesome photoset here

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I had some Surly Furious one night. I guess it's a cool beer to like among the kids. I thought it tasted horrible, like some guy tripped and dumped a bucket of hops into the brew by accident. I didn't puff up or anything, but for all the excitement about this local brew I think the dirty little secret is that it sucks and the you-have-to-have-a-sophisticated-beer-palate-to-enjoy-this is basically cover for a sordid little potion that in any other packaging would be poured down the drain with disdain.

Pinchie said...

Interesting you say that, anon.

I find it a bit too hoppy too -- I know there are a lot of good reasons to like hoppy beers, but that seems to be the source of my issue. Too much hops is, to me, like too much speed in my LSD. (Oops, did I say that out loud?! Well, you know, AS I RECALL, from my wayward youth.)

For the same reason, I've never been a huge fan of Summit on the palate. Love the company, love their success, not crazy about their flagship product.

Scandia is an awesome seasonal brew, though.