Candy Cranks

To be a cyclist in Seattle is to be an excellent climber. Biking up hills is a regular part of life which people either accept and excel at or hate and, well, still excel at it.

Summer comes around and the rain (kind of) stops so we start seeing more races with a thirst for climbing.  July 16th saw Red Lantern’s Polka Dot Rocker.

37 crazies eagerly took on the challenge of “hills, whiskey, and suffering”.  Seven of those were women who fought to take home a custom white and red polka dot messenger bag by Dank Bags.  You can see pics on Red Lantern’s Flickr page. Erin ended up taking home the winner’s bag but I put up a good fight to get it myself. About forty miles, a couple thousands feet of vertical and a bit too much whiskey put me in 2nd place.  They weren’t kidding in their advertising, especially in the suffering department. Uff da.

Now this weekend (7/23) we see the return of the Tour de Watertower.

It’s a time trial with stops at seven different watertowers around the city.  Do you know where you find watertowers? At the top of huge hills.  Racers will be released one at a time every three minutes and will follow a specific order to the checkpoints.  It’s a bit of a sufferfest but put on by the great guys of Go Means Go so it’ll be a fun sufferfest (trust me, that’s possible).

So, up and down, up and down. That’s life in Seattle. Gotta love it.  Do you love hills as much as we do?

I am heading to the east coast for two weeks and, of course, the next two weeks in Seattle have three pretty stellar events happening.  If I tell you all about it, then I feel like I’ve been involved in some manner and it won’t break my heart as much to miss them.

The first is the previously mentioned Girls of Summer Alleycat, hosted by the fabulous women behind Menstrual Monday.  June 11th! Don’t miss it!

To say the least, it absolutely breaks my heart to miss that. Seattle ladies, def be there!

Then, be the weird city we are, there are two summer solstice focused bike rides. First, the famous Naked Bike Ride which leads off the Solstice Parade on June 18th.  Strip down, paint yourself up, and then ride in front of tens of thousands of people.  It’s a great time and everyone should do it once.

The last event is a bit more intensive. It’s the 9 to 5, all night bike scavenger hunt, hosted by GoMeansGo.com.

Celebrating the shortest night of the year, the 8 hour hunt has you riding all over the city through the wee hours of the morning.  It’s a great time.

Now, I go on vacation for two weeks. It’ll be the longest I’ve been without a bike in three years. How many days until withdrawal will start to set in?

Seattle ladies! It’s time to get competitive!  The women behind the monthly Menstrual Monday rides have planned an all-girl alley cat for June 11th, starting at 2 PM.  Here are the details:

“An adventurous romp through the Seattle city streets celebrating the best thing ever, GIRLS ON BIKES. In addition to prizes to the fastest riders, we will also have prizes in fun and creative categories to encourage new or non-competative riders (DUDE over a $1,000 worth of prizes). Plus we will have a rockin after party to celebrate the girls. What could be better?”

So, to be clear, prizes for being super fast but ALSO prizes for fun and creativity. I can’t think of anything better.  Sadly, I’ll be in NYC so I’ll miss the fun but all Emerald City ladies should def be out there!

You can RSVP on the Facebook page and, at the very least, check back there to get more info.