The Warriors Hustle

Tonight biker gangs were on the loose in Lincoln! The theme for the Hustle was The Warriors and we were grouped into "gangs" of 3. Everyone had to go to one checkpoint, and the other 10 checkpoints could be divided up among the members of your "gang". There were points given at each checkpoint, and they could be taken by another gang in a 'Rumble'. Tonight's Hustle was sponsored in part by Modern Monks.

I even took a picture of Syd and I at Tierra Park to prove we were there. Since we didn't realize the checkpoint was on the asphalt loop in the woods. We were out of time and hoped it would suffice.

My gang rode hard and did a great job, and even though we finished well, our points were low and we came in dead last.

The race started with temps over 100' and a stiff South wind, but there was still and good turnout. I raced around 13.5 miles and including the ride there and back I got 23.3 miles in tonight.

Next months Hustle will be a big one with a big prize!

The 2nd Annual Scrabble Hustle.

Tonight's Hustle started at the closed bridge on the Bison Trail with our first check point on North 22nd street where we dropped off a T-shirt to be screen printed and got our spoke card listing 6 other stops and the finish location.

Racers could go to as many check points as they wanted. We picked a scrabble letter at each stop. Once you had a word you could report to the finish. Extra points were awarded to the top finishers.

I ended with 6 scrabble tiles and raced around 16 miles. Including the ride there and back I logged 23.2 miles tonight.

The Hustle World Championship.

Tonight was the Hustle World Championship race. We met up at Recycled for the beginning of the race. The first stop was in the 900 block of Twin Ridge. Many of us began by going the wrong way, but I took it to another level! In case your wondering, the first stop wasn't anywhere near 9th and Washington where I ended up before calling home to have it looked up and realizing it was North of A st, between 56th and 70th. Oops! I arrived at the first check point 15th out of 15. There we were told to write a hyco poem. I didn't even know what a hyco was. I was failing miserably.

After that was refreshments at the Holmes Lake dam. The next stop was back at Recycled to ride a minibike. We then rode a lap on the tractor track before ending on S. 11th.

I ended up 9th out of 15 and won a seat cover and tire lever. Sydney took first. (she is FAST, plus she knew where Twin Ridge was) With my bad wrong turn I raced 19.4 miles and got home with a total for the day of 26.8

The Haunted Hustle.

Last night was the Haunted Hustle put on by Kat with help from SHECLISMO It was a well orchestrated race, and by far the biggest hustle ever held in Lincoln, it seemed like nearly everyone was there. We met up at Robbers Cave then began by racing to Camp Wilderness where we had to hunt for candy on a haunted bridge in the woods. Racers were then sent to the tunnel at 3rd and F st where we had to search through a kiddie pool filled with ramen noodles to find an eyeball before being allowed to continue to the old State Fair grounds where the No Coast Derby Girls were zombies quizzing us on state capitals. We then hurried into a headwind to the 27th & Capital Parkway tunnel to toss a severed head across the river of blood. Once we'd mastered that we went to the YWCA to be blindfolded and verbally told how to find our way through a maze by youth leadership girls. The last stop was Buzzard Billy's in the Haymarket. I came in 6th out of 50 and won a set of bike lights! This was a fund-raiser for SHECLISMO and they had raffle prizes including a new Globe bike that was won by Maggie! You'll see Amber is thumbs up after coming in first among the girls and Ian won the boys race. Yesterday's work commute and the Hustle totaled up to 41.78 miles for my Friday.

The Buffalo Hustle.

I rode to work and back today. And tonight was the Buffalo Hustle. We met at 7:30 at Van Dorn park and the race began at 8pm. There were 3 check points that could be done in any order, they were: The live buffalo in Pioneers Park, The Rock Island train crash site on the Jamaica North Trail and The stone drinking fountain on the east side of the zoo. The finish was at O'rourke's downtown. There were challenges at each checkpoint including a gunnysack race, hackysack and dressing up.

Quite a few of us began by going to Pioneers Park, from there Tim & I took Coddington to W. Denton Rd, then carried our bikes down the side of the overpass down to the Jamaica North Trail and went South on that to the crash site.

After that we went East across the tracks and onto the Rock Island Trail then North to the zoo and from there we hurried downtown for the finish. Everyone got prizes. Tim and I went through the 16.8 mile race together and I came in 10th out of 21, my average speed was 16.1mph. As always, it was a great race! Today's total miles = 45.2 And that puts September in the books with a total of 772.29 miles.

The LNK Hustle

We met up under the O street bridge on the Antelope Valley Trail for tonight's Hustle and raced to Roper Park and a home South of Hwy 2 in either order before finishing downtown. I made a bad wrong turn, otherwise I rode good. I came away with 8th place out of 13. Michael Bichael took the win again. Andrew had lots of prizes, I won a tube and Dan gave me his too since it wouldn't fit his bike. I logged 15.9 miles on the race. Including my work commute today I had a total of 36.4 miles for the day.

The Michael Bikel Hustle Party and Sprints.

Tonight Michael Bikel hosted a party and parking lot sprint races. There were door prizes and prizes for top finishers in the sprints. I came away with 4th after pushing Aaron off his line when he made a break at the finish. He's a gentleman and wouldn't allow me to trade him places in the final standings to make up for it.

It was a fun night and fun change from the usual hustle races. Today going to Branched Oak Lake and tonight's hustle I ended up with 66.0 miles.

The Biklops Hustle

Tonight was the Biklops Hustle held in conjunction with the Biklops art show as part of First Friday at Screen Ink in downtown Lincoln. The race started at Screen Ink and we could go to the first 4 checkpoints in any order. After completing the 4th checkpoint we were told where the 5th checkpoint was.

Each checkpoint had it's own color of ink for us to fingerprint ourselves on our spoke card. There were also challenges including riding a child's sized bike through a series of cones at Precision Skateboards, blowing up a balloon then poping it with our butts, eating what must have been the worlds largest saltine cracker without anything to drink, eating a red, white & blue popsicle, and finding Waldo and posing for a picture with him.

The race must have been around 13 miles long and the first few racers in did it in under an hour. I hit a frost heave in the sidewalk hard a block from the finish and got a pinch flat, but the tire held air long enough for me to finish. I was beat by about 5 minutes by Michael Bikel and came away with 2nd place. Matt followed me across the finish line by a quarter of a second. There were 18 racers in tonight's hustle. For 2nd place I got a bag of loot with goodies from Screen Ink, Bike Pedalers, Lincoln Ve-Low, and other local businesses.

Riding downtown, racing and riding home got me 21.9 miles, with today's commute I have a total of 41.5 miles today.

The c-rad hustle.

We met up in the tunnel at 8th & Van Dorn at 8pm and raced at 8:30. It was the longest hustle in Lincoln's history. Reported to be 20 miles long. It was a check point race put on by Conrad. We found out our next destination at each stop. There were 6 stops between the start and finish. The race ended at the Grata. I arrived 6th out of 16 at 11pm, but got 10th place because of some shots that riders could use to take time off their total. I made a couple of wrong turns that added a lot of time and miles and ended up racing around 32 miles. (most hustles are 15 miles) But, dang, it was an awesome race!!! The group was fun, the route was sweet, we rode under a full moon and the night was beautiful! After riding there and back and my work commute I ended up with 60.3 miles for the day.

We Crashed The Marathon!

A race was put togther along the Lincoln Marathon route before it began today. We met up at 3 am and began at 3:30. It was a perfect morning for a fast spin. Since there weren't many racers willing to get up / stay up we rode togther and stopped for breakfast at the Hi-Way Diner less than half-way through.

After some fuel we finished the marathon on two wheels. The winner beat me to the finish line by 15 seconds and I came away with the prize for DFL. The Crash The Marathon race was a brilliant idea copied from a LA Ca. alleycat style race held before their marathon. After riding back home as the sun rose over Lincoln I had 34.4 miles for the day by 6:30 am. Now, time for a nap.

The Accomplice Accomplishments Hustle.

Tonight was another infamous Lincoln Alleycat Race. This one was called the Accomplice Accomplishments Hustle. Around 20 racers competed in groups of two racing to different locations around town and meeting up for 'challenges' finally ending downtown where we had to feed eachother sushi before the clock was stopped.

I was paired up with Conrad. But, us old duffers held our own comming in at 3rd place.

The race was around 13-16 miles depending on the routes each cyclist took. It was a perfect night and it turned out to be a really fun race! We had a 100 percent chance of evening showers, but they never materialized making it a sweet night to race around the city.

My milage tonight including to ride to the race and home was 24.1 making today's total 43.8 miles.

The Scrabble Hustle

Around twenty five racers came out for tonight's Lincoln Alley-cat race. There were 7 stops before the finish line. Racers could go to as many as they wanted. Each stop had a bag of Scrabble letters to choose one from. At the finish you were scored on your word.

The first couple to finish got extra points. I was around the 15th to finish,but my word was "quite" earning me enough points to come away with 2nd place. The race was a hoot. Depending on how many stops you made the length was from 6 to 16 miles. I made 6 of the 7 stops and must have raced around 14 miles.

I had to work in Columbus and didn't ride today till tonight's race. After riding home from the race I racked up 19.9 miles for the day.

Tail winds both ways on the commute!

How often does that happen? I was in the big ring all the way! This morning a breeze came out of the South and the ride home treated me to a strong North wind. Easy, easy riding!

Everyone else is talking about it, you could say the 'cat is out of the bag' on the Scrabble Hustle (alleycat race) planned for Thursday night. Come out for some hardcore urban fun. But, give them a heads-up first so they'll have you on the list. Also, Friday night is Critical Mass, meet on the North side of the Capital at 6:00pm.

Hey, I hit my first thousand miles on the Felt today, it took a long time with the rotten winter we had, the next thousand will add up much faster!

Today's miles = 19.6

I needed to Hustle.

Tonight was a simple Hustle, a small group of us met up for a seemingly easy race. I realized how terribly out of shape I've become over this long rotten winter. Sorry I didn't get any action shots of the event in progress, but I took advantage of any breaks to catch my breath rather than snap photos.

It was a lot of fun for the 8 of us, and came in at under 9 miles with just one stop between the start and end. Riding there and back brought my total for the day to 15.4 miles.