twenty-three

This Saturday, I participated in my very first "Alleycat" bike scavenger hunt in Bellingham. It was awesome. This is my story.

Two weeks ago:
I get a message from my friend Lee on Facebook, inviting me to an event
called The Broken Heart Alleycat. It sounds like fun, but I have no
idea what it is. I read on. It’s a scavenger hunt. It’s a
post-Valentine’s Day celebration. It’s put on by the Bellingham Bike
Hub Co-Op. I get excited. I love scavanger hunts.

Last week:
As I’ve been riding to work the last month, this week is no different,
with the exception that I’m kind of getting psyched-up for this event.
I start hearing from friends that they might be there. Lee’s roommates
with one of my co-workers and one of my closest friends, as well as one
of Stacy’s teacher-friends, so word travels around our houses.

Saturday morning:
I wake up pretty early, especially for the first day of a 3-day weekend. I’m excited. I take a warm up ride to Blockbuster to pick up some movies for Stacy to watch while I’m out riding. She thinks I’m kind of silly, but smiles at my excitement.

Sat, 12pm:
Registration begins. I am very early. #603 (starting with #600). I know no one yet, but recognize lots of faces from the Bellingham biking crowd. I realize this will be a very "Bellingham" event. They also announce they have beer on tap for all registered bikers. My excitement grows. Friends show up. We compare bikes, outfits, strategies. We get interviewed by the Bellingham Herald.

Sat, 1pm:
The race begins. We are each given a manifest. We must travel around Bellingham, finding answers, procuring items, performing tasks. We may do them in any order we like. We have until 3:30. We begin.

Task 1: Co-op - Buy a can of food, bring in the receipt
I head off to the Bellingham Food Co-op with a couple of guys I know, Dave and Earl. Since the event benefits the Bellingham Food Bank, what better thing to require on the list but a can of food? I buy some Wolfgang Puck’s soup. Mmm.  Here we also grab chopsticks, a requirement on the manifest.

Task 2: WWU Red Square - Perform the task assigned
Thinking it best to get the long hill climb out of the way early, we cruise up to Western. On the way, I stop by the WWU ticket box office, where my sister Lora is working. She helps me out  with 3 of the other tasks: We find out through Google that the pastor of St. John’s Church is Susan Hookham and that Carl Lobe’s nickname is ‘Buddy’. She also gives me valentines candy, a requirement from the manifest.

In Red Square, we complete the task and get stamped and assigned the Mystery task from our manifests. We continue on to the Mystery task.

Mystery Task: What is written on the sticker on the railing at the top of the Taylor St. stairs?
From campus, Taylor St. is not far off and it’s all down hill. That’s nice. The downside is there are a lot of stairs. We hike the bikes up the stairs, panting. The sticker says "Evil". We write it down and cruise down the hill to Fairhaven.

Task 3? (wherever we are): Bring in an empty tall-boy (can)
Since we’re in the Fairhaven area, on the way to Boulevard Park, we stop by Fairhaven Market. We buy 3 tall-boy cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Classy. We opt for drinking them at the finish line. Smart move.

Task 4: Woods Coffee @ Boulevard Park - Get a free drink stamp
We cruise down to the new Woods Coffee at Boulevard Park, run in, get stamps, run out. I say hi to our Pastor, meeting with friends on the beautiful day. There were a lot of people out and about. Very Bellingham. We ride through the park and then huff our bikes up the stairs to the street, on our way to Cornwall Park for the next task.

Task 5: Cornwall Park - Perform task assigned at the 9th hole of the disc golf course
After the longest ride of the day, we arrive at Cornwall Park, across town. We throw discs into the "hole" at the course. We get stamps. We ride slowly past the mob of people playing some sort of battle on the field with duct tape swords and cardboard shields. We are rather bewildered.

Task 6: St. Paul’s Church - What does the sticker on the back of the bus stop say?
We ride to St. Paul’s. The sticker has the web address of a very odd site about things I’ll leave unmentioned. I write it down, unaware of what I will discover when I’m writing this blog post. I’m sort of disturbed right now. Moving on…

Task 7: Casa Que Pasa - Get a stamp
Peddling back up into town is sort of a drag at this point, because I’m tired. But it’s worth it. Casa will be my last stop on the way back to the Hub. Our task at Casa - drink a tall-boy, eat a hot pepper, or have a shot of tequila. I opt for a little tequila. It’s a good way to end the ride.

The Finish line
We return victorious! We’ve completed all the tasks. We slowly sip our tall-boys, enjoy the Bellingham sun, watch others come in with smiles on their faces. Good times are had by all! The creative Bellingham community has once again come up with a way to get all kinds of different people together, out in the city, and on their bikes.

I’ll continue riding to work this week. Hopefully I’ll pass one of these new friends on the road and give them a wave. I’ll be proud to say I participated in the first Bellingham Alleycat race. I love scavenger hunts, I love my bike, and I love my town.

It was a good day.

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