Out of 25 racers, mostly from D.C. with a smattering of out-of-towners from RVA, Raleigh NC and Copenhagen (in da house again!!!), only 11 manifest were accepted because of the time limits.
To those who were a bit put off by my refusal to accept them, please accept my sincerest apologies, I intended no offense, but Da Rules is Da Rules!!! After making mistakes in my last two races, I was determined to make sure everyone was appropiately scored, so I did my math twice.
I let the winners choose from the table on which I had spread the prizes. At this point I'd like to thank the sponsors, including two who showed a bit late to race, but gave us three beautiful bad-ass courier-themed t-shirts.
To Donna at Kryptonite, as always, thank for the love!!! The two Evolution locks were choice! So choice that now my son wants one to be able to ride his 4130 chromoly 1994 GT BMX bike to school and lock it up all courier styled!!! Brings a tear to his old man's eye!
To Tara and Dave from Crumpler, thanks again for the plethora of bags. The Demon Cats love the designs. As do the lucky winners!!! Plus they have that weirdly entertaining website. Who does that haunting hillbilly melody?!!?
To Jessica at Spot Brands, the Boss Lady always sends us some that sweet Kiwi merino wool jerseys. This time it was the sweetest summer sleeveless number that was almost sinful to touch! Plus, if you are into single-speed horizontal drop-out frames, check them out!
To Ed Wimmer from Road I.D., thanks for all the gift-certificates. We had enough for all 11 finishers. I just hope they actually use them. As people who are on bikes for a longer time than the average cycling Joe or Jane, they are a higher risk of ending up unconcious in the middle of the road. A Road I.D. makes perfect sense!!! Check them out, the bracelets are some nice stuff!!!
To R.E.Load for the top-tube protectors. Roland and Ellie and their sewing crew are just such marvelous magicians with the sewing machines. If had a track bike, the white swirly protector mght not have made onto the prize table!!! Check them out, you know R.E.Load is fully committed to couriers!!!
To Jason and Hugo from 49x16 (4916.com) and Alex from TrackStar, thanks for showing up at the party and for the bomb t-shirts! As soon as my slow-as-molasses dial-up finishes downloading the site- I'm checking it out!!!
And last, but definitely not least to:
THE CHRONIC and it's inhabitants!!! To Dave S., Brian and Chris!!! What can we say. When we thought we might not find a place to have the finish line and after party, these guys came through and it was all the legendary THE CHRONIC is made out to be!!! To Chris, thanks for being a gracious host! I tried to clean up as much as possible, I hope there wasn't too much of a mess left behind. To Brian, a big thanks to the groovin' jammin' Jamaican sounds throught the night. You rocked!!! Thanks for letting me use your room to tally the results. Thanks to Monster the Cat, for hanging with me while I did so! Dave, we missed you at the race, hope to see you at our next one, six months down the line.
And these is the results:
First place: No surprise to anyone who attend DC races- Bruce Beran!!! He was able to complete every answer with time to spare!!! Plus he obtained the first place bonus points. And that's after he spent twenty minutes looking for the DAMN CUBAN-AMERICAN FRIENDSHIP URN!!! Remember the MAINE!!! LOL. 850 points!!!
I really thought no one would finish everything in the allotted time, but Bruce connected the dots of upper NW DC through Georgetown and SW and SE to NE!!! Crazy!!!
He chose to take home a CRUMPLER bag and a sweet KRYPTONITE Evolution lock! Plus the Road I.D. gift certificate and a winner's t-shirt. I don't know how you do it. I don't think I could have done it and I knew all the locations!!!
Second place: Julie E.!!! Again, a top finisher from our first and second races! She's fast and she knows it! Boo-yah!!! :) 845 points. She took a R.E.Load top tube protector.
Third place: David Sachs. Another Dave S. in the house!!! He took a CRUMPLER bag for his girlfriend. I hope she likes it. 840 points!
Fourth place: Begin!!! Nice race! 810 points. She took the CRUMPLER DJ bag and was supremely stoked by it! Looking to the day when she is carrying her laptop in it!
Fifth place: Kate (3rd woman in the top 5!!!). She took the mini-CRUMPLER. I heard that a male sales clerk, at the PUMA store in Georgetown in a sales pitch, told a customer that he wish he could be a woman so he could wear a PUMA woman's bag the client was looking at. I suddenly feel the same way about that bag. 805 points.
Sixth place: AZ!!! He took the second KRYTONITE Evolution lock! You can never have too many, plus the mini-EVO is always the nice accessory to top off you riding outfit!!! 535 points.
Seventh place: Larry Parks!!! I have spent some time at the Historic Parks Residence at several race parties. He is always the gracious host and I was stoked that he came out and raced his first Demon Cats race!!! He took the silky smooth Kiwi-spun, SPOT Brand-sewn, merino wool jersey. I forsee him riding many a day in late spring, early summer in that beauty! 510 points.
Eight place: Jose D. The Cuban Missile, in his first alleycat and leading the roadie contingent that showed up. Good to see you're better after your collision with the tourons car door in the middle of Constitution Ave. He took a stylie 49x16 t-shirt. I hope he made it home OK, as several other couriers were talking about following him home to jack the shirt from him. 49x16 stuff is that HOT!!! Burn, baby!!! Please, check it out (www.4916.com)!!!
Ninth place: Colin H. with 450 points was the second and last amongst the roadie contingent. To Sam and the others from GWU, thanks for coming out and racing. The Demon Cats are all about trying to bring out as diverse a crowd of bicycle enthusiasts to our races and starting them down the road to cycling perdition, or salvation, that alleycat racing can be!!! You guys are always welcome to race!!!
Tenth place and Best-Outta-Town: Banaan from Copenhagen. Marten is the third Copenhagener to race a Demon Cats race. Suss and Maria raced in the MAYHEM! But Banaan (Banana in Danish), took home something dear to me. The CityBikes/Washington D.C. logo-emblazoned Chrome bag, that I won for 1st place at the HUSTLER race (which was a Bruce Beran Production). It is super-comfy, but I like my custom BAGABOO, I plan to ride it for several years a least. Maybe by then, I'll win another. But in the meanwhile, I expect Marten to be riding around Copenhagen with D.C. on his back!!! Congrats! Take care of it!!! He also got the Best Out-of-Town Racer T-Shirt. :) 350 points!
Eleventh Place and Dead Fucking Last!!! No other than Mohawk!!! From D.C. He's done about seven alleycats so far and has already racked up his first DFL! Now that shows promise. LOL. He won the other sweet 49x16 T-shirt. Plus the DFL T-shirt!!! Something to keep him warm now that the Fall is in swing. 280 points!!!
Also a big THANKS to Amy G. who womanned the only manned checkpoint at the top of the Exorcist Steps, all 74 of them, which couriers either had to walk up or down, counting steps and shouldering their bikes!
Once again, thanks to all that showed up. Especially Arthur, Jacob and Rod from Raleigh and Vic from RVA. I was hoping to see you all at the awards, but I understand that you all were heading back south. Hope you all had fun and enjoyed the Yuengling. Now that you know how it's done, send me an invite when Raleigh has it’s first alleycat!!! Vic, I'll be in RVA on Oct. 29th for the Frankenstein race.
We raised a total of $220.00 after expenses. We wished would could have raised more, but several other courier events were going on on the east coast. Hopefully the one we hold next spring will be a racer record for us.
The money was going to be used for a courier from New Orleans and we found one right in our back yard, Scrooge's son, Aaron. But apparently, FEMA was able to help him out with an apartment. His thinking was at the moment he doesn't really need cash, he needs furniture!!! Mo from Germany had issued a plea on behalf of Nadir in Guatemala, to help raise funds to rent a helicopter to try to get food and supplies to the inhabitants hardest hit by the mudslides that have covered entire villages in the Lago Atitlan area of Guatemala. He feels that the amount of money would go a lot further in helping people out down there who have really lost everything. So with Aaron in mind and giving many thanks for those who cannot thank him, we would like to send it down to help out Nadir. It just hasn’t been a good year for the inhabitants of Mother Earth this year. If anyone has some nice furniture that they don't need in the D.C. area, let Scrooge know.
Reminds me of the Marley song "Pass it on":
Be not selfish in your doings:
Pass it on. (Pass it on, children)
Help your brothers (help them) in their needs:
Pass it on.
Live for yourself and you will live in vain;
Live for others, you will live again.
In the kingdom of Jah,
Man shall reign.
Pass it on!
Now that is what I call a Global Courier Community!!!
Once again, thanks to all involved and who participated in one way or another.
See all of you at the next race.
Peace.
Racing for Victory and Free Beer!!!
John
Demon Cats
www.demoncats.com