Wednesday - Independence Day - marked the start of the East Coast Messenger Chumpionships. A five day "Bicycle Messenger Fiasco." Two alleycats, a beach party, a day at the track, karaoke, polo and excessive drinking. Excelling in each event would give you points towards the overall omnium and the person with the most points would be crowned the "Chumpion."
The Chumpionships kicked off with the first alleycat. No information was released before hand other than the location of the start (Chambers St. and West Broadway). We weren't given a manifest at the start of the race either - we had to leave our bikes leaning against a fence and the organizer stuck a note in our spokes. The race started LeMann style with everyone running to their bike and retrieving the note.
According to the note we had twenty minutes to get two 16oz cans of beer, lock our bikes to the bike rack between 6 Pearl St. and 17 State St. and rendezvous on the 3pm Staten Island Ferry.
My friend Andres and I went in search of beer with a few other racers. This is much easier said than done in the Financial district. The first few places we went to did not sell beer. Finally we found a place that did but they only sold 12oz cans (and it took a good five minutes of explaining to the clerk to find out they didn't have 16oz cans). Fortunately across the street was a grocery store that sold beer. Andres ran in and bought some beer while the rest of use waited outside. When he got out he put the beer down just as a few other racers showed up and they proceeded to take our beer. Andres yelled at them and managed to get some of the beer back, enough for those of use who were waiting there for him.
We made our way to the ferry and saw that most people were locking up right outside the terminal. However Andres and I decided to follow the directions properly and found the bike rack specified in the note. A handful of others did the same.
We got on the ferry with about 5 minutes to spare. Once on the ferry we were given the manifest - all the checkpoints were below Canal st. and most of them were unmanned. The finish line was unknown - at each checkpoint we'd get a clue (a letter or number) and once completed the clues would spell out the address.
After a pleasant ferry ride the race started. It turned out that locking to the specified bike rack was totally unnecessary and pretty much guaranteed that anyone who followed the directions would lose. While we had to run 3 blocks just to get to our bikes everyone was already riding to the first checkpoint. The few of us who had followed the rules decided to stick together and we were off to the first checkpoint.
Once all the checkpoints were completely we were able to complete the word jumble and determine that the finish was at 169 East Broadway - 169 Bar. We headed over there and I was the first one to the finish - but I forgot to put my name on my manifest. As I was frantically scribbling my name Andres and this other guy roll up and hand in their manifest before I can.
Broadway Bombin', another race completely unrelated to ECMC, was starting later that evening. However while we were at 169 Bar it started raining and I was feeling pretty tired. I opted to skip the race and head home to take a nap. I hit the pillow a little after 8pm and woke up a little after 9am the next day. That was some nap! Unfortunately I had to go to work so I missed the beach party and camping. However I was able to convince my boss to let me take Friday off so I could race at the Velodrome.
On Friday I packed up my rollers, grabbed my track bike and headed towards the 7 train. I don't like riding long distances with my rollers in my bag so I figured public transportation would be the best way to get to the track. When I got there a few people had already arrived including Alex who was organizing the events. Unfortunately only a handful of other people showed up. By the time we started the races there were 12 racers and only a couple of spectators. According to the ECMC handbook the track racing was supposed to involve "betting" - you would bet on a racer and if they placed you would earn points towards the final omnium. If you were a racer and people bet on you, you'd get points for that too (and of course points if you placed in the races). However this ended up not taking place as there were not enough people to make it worthwhile.
But we still raced. Alex started us off with an 8 lap scratch race. We kept it pretty slow at first but by the bell lap the pace was pretty high. With 200m to go Luke and Dan jumped. Adam and I responded but were unable to catch Luke and Dan by the finish. I ended up in fourth place by half a wheel.
After the scratch race we all decided that a team sprint would be fun. At first we were going to choose our own teams, but after I asked Luke and Dan if they wanted to be on a team with me, we realized that that wouldn't be fair so we randomized the teams. I ended up on a team with Justin and Izumi - both strong riders so we made a formidable team. We were the first up and had to decide the order for ourselves. Izumi would be the first rider followed by Justin and then myself. We lined up, got our holders and waited the start. For some reason however, I had a really bad start. It took me half a lap to catch up to Justin and Izumi. Once we were all together however we held a pretty good pace and finished our three laps in 1 minute and 37 seconds. We wound up in second place to Luke's team who had a time of 1 minute and 33 seconds.
By this point we were all getting really tired from racing in the relentless sun and heat. Alex decided to have only one more race - a Miss and Out. I stayed near the front for the most part although I did play the devil on a few laps. Alex was eliminating down to three, although this proved to be pretty difficult as he didn't have a bullhorn and we didn't have numbers. I'm pretty sure there were a few laps where no one was pulled because no one could hear him shout at us. I made it to the top three along with Luke and Dan and we were given two neutral laps. We slowed it way down - the heat was really getting to all of us. Half way through the bell lap Dan started sprinting. I responded as did Luke who started sprinting behind me. He quickly passed me while at the same time a sizable gap was forming between me and Dan. I felt like vomiting and knew there was no way I could keep up at that point so I just gave up and was satisfied with my third place finish.
The main Alleycat for the ECMC was on Saturday. However I had family business to attend to after which I had to go to work, so I missed the main race. I did however make it to karaoke that night. I sang "The Message" by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Once the karaoke was over I went home.
Sunday was the Polo tournament and award ceremony and in the evening, a re-screening of Bike Shorts (a bunch of short movies about bikes including RASH). I had to work during the day so I missed Bike Polo but I made it to Bike Shorts. While there I was informed that I managed to get in 15th place overall due to the points I accumulated at the track and at karaoke. However since I missed the award ceremony I missed out on my prize (which was probably just a T-shirt).
All in all it was a crazy/fun weekend. Big thanks to Bill Dozer and Josh Whitesnake for organizing an amazing event!
