DOS

I figure while I wait for the caffeine to stop working so I can go to sleep I'll write a little something about DOS, and maybe even post up one or two of my terrible pictures.

So, at 4:50 PM I'm all set up, sitting at my computer with a map and marker, ready to plan out something vaguely resembling a route for the race. Once 5PM hit I started frantically trying to map out a route, when I realized I had absolutely no idea where several of the stops were at.  Cue me spending 20 minutes on google maps, where I managed to find a couple of the stops (or so I thought, I 'll get to that later).  At this point I may as well post something that basically approximates the route I ended up taking (~28miles):

View Larger Map

  Well, that crappy route wasn't going to get any better staring at a computer, so I ran out the door and headed for the train depot since it was closest to me.  Luckily I ran into the Band of Gypsies here who kindly informed me of the location of one of the stops which I was unfamiliar with (Orchard, just above the VAC).  We parted ways at this stop as well, as I decided to hit Anne Morrison after this while they headed elsewhere.  I was the first person to get to the Anne Morrison stop, and immediately headed off to Eastside Cycles.  I was feeling pretty good about my route at this point, but how wrong I was.

After Eastside, I kept going down Boise towards where I believed the next stop was, Barber Park.  Oops.  I spent ~15 minutes riding around Barber Park looking for the next stop, until I accosted a confused pedestrian, whilst babbling about some parking lot and holding a mangled picture of said parking lot, it dawned on me that it was actually the Shakespeare parking lot I was looking for.  Damn it.  Well, I can still possibly do alright if I pick up the pace for the rest of the race, after all, I know where the rest of the stops are, right?  I head towards downtown, hit Gernika, and head towards "Pinney Theatre" at 809 W Jefferson.  However, there is no 809 W Jefferson, only an nice parking lot.  Here, I run into a fellow racer (Nick from Vegas) who is likewise confused by the lack of any Pinney Theatre in the area.  We ride around the block for 15-20 more minutes, stop random people, and call people for guidance, but end up giving up on the stop.

At this point I wasn't even expecting to finish the race with a full manifest and stopped going at a speed that approximated fast, and started to just cruise, first to Boise High, then over to Camel's Back.  Luckily, here we ran into Wino, who not only knew where the elusive 'Pinney Theatre' was, but was also heading there at that very moment.  Score!  After that stop, the rest were easy to find, and aside from several cars full of douche bags honking and being dicks to us on Veterans Memorial, the ride was uneventful, until we got to the last stop.  Apparently, this last stop halfway up the Orchard hill was firmly placed inside someones private property, as I was informed just after hopping the fence to reach the cache.  The owner, and his rather hostile dog, came out to interrogate me about the race. 

Irritated Owner:  What are you doing?

Me: Racing, one of the stops is here on the fence.

Irritated Owner: Well, this is my yard, and there have been a bunch of strangers jumping my fence in the last hour.

Me: Oh... uhh I don't know I'm just racing.

Irritated Owner: I notice the City of Boise logo is attached to this package, is this a city event or something?

Me: Errr... *jumps fence* I've gotta get going again.

That was an awkward encounter, I was having a hard time not laughing out loud at the thought of how confused/irritated the guy must have been about this sudden deluge of trespassing cyclists for what appeared to be a city-sanctioned event.  

So I finished with a full manifest after two and a half hours of riding time, but that was the worst placement I've had in a race since the very first one I did.  Which is not to say it wasn't an awesome time though, it absolutely was.

Picture time:

sup

The hand was finally starting to heal up a little bit after the meet n' greet (yikes)

Feelin like an Iraqi voter over here.

beer relay in action

The beer relay was pretty comical to watch, though I have no idea who won or anything.  Does it really matter?

The first 'real' band of the night.  Sadly I was getting really really hungry right about then and had to leave before I could get my face properly melted off.

There were a bunch more pictures, but I fail pretty hard at operating my (broken) camera, so they're all blurry and lame, sorry.

Thanks to the Bikes and Rec fellas, and the VAC for the awesome time, I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Edit: whoa that's :words: right there.