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@Captain_Blight
I've never been to London. Rome, yes; Paris, yes, Barcelona, yes. New York, never want to go there. But I've never been to London. I've been given to understand it's just a fantastic city, though the weather tends toward the dreary. Might drive everyone to take laudanum just to stay sane, and give rise to all sorts of Shakespearean ailments such as dropsy, ague, consumption and the pox.
So this winter, why not shake off the doldrums by coming to Minneapolis, Minnesota USA for The Greatest Alleycat Race On The Continent ©®™-- the annual Stupor Bowl? Come slip the surly bonds of fog and snow for cold clean clear air that's substantially below zero! Come ride like a madman over unfamiliar roads, dodging ignorant fat American drivers in ignorant fat American cars! Drink lots and lots of really good beer (seriously, Minneapolis has some of the best beer brewed anywhere. Even by British beer-drinkers standards.) and then ride like a madman( etc.), drunk!!
Sound like a good time? Okay, now that I've scared off the lightweights, here's what's happening: The race will be run on February 6th, 2010. It's the day before the Super Bowl, the American football championship event. Pre-race briefings take place in bars for most of the week previously. I'm sure any visitors, regardless of gender, will find many friendly tour guides willing to familiarize them with the town. The town itself is laid out, roughly, as two grids at an angle to each other, with the Mississippi River bisecting them. It's easy to get around in, even for visitors.
As to the race itself: Fixie/SS is the weapon of choice (though of course anything on two wheels is welcome), and the race is about 20-30 miles with some 15-25 checkpoints. One year, there was a checkpoint in a treehouse and another on the ice in the middle of a frozen lake. The checkpoints are usually fairly straightforward though there is talk of including something difficult for someone deep in oxygen debt, such as factoring an equation, finding Waldo (Willie, as I think you lot call the fella in the red-and-white striped shirt buried in the crowd) or one of those 3-D Magic Eye puzzles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupor_Bowl.
Freewheel Bike Shop, does rentals if you don't want to fly with your fixie
Minneapolis Bike Love forum, now welcoming new members!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q61GCdRE_y8
Kinda windy but gives an idea what the course is like, check out "related videos" for other SB events
Minneapolis is second only to Portland Oregon as a bicycle-friendly city, and there are those (myself among them) who would argue that the winters here add a dimension that puts us head and shoulders above the rest. If you've the time and money, hop the pond. Do some drinking. Have a ball.
edited 12-07-09 because of gender politics and my lack of desire for more confrontation in my life