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1st Annual Key West Hardcore Race

a flyer so dope...a five year old could draw it! but a five year old couldn't race it!

The Summer Showdown in Old Town

“I have two boats in dry dock, a busted longboard and a fuckin’ busted-ass bike.” Words spoken by Jonathon, the winner of the Summer Showdown in Old Town. Actually, RJ and Rydel arrived 5 or 10 minutes earlier, by they forgot stop #7, which was to pick up a free copy of the Blue Paper. Prolly about half the racers had to run back out of Cowboy Bill’s and around the block to the Parrot, the nearest spot to grab a copy of the weekly newspaper. Suckas! So due to this and that, the winning bicycle, a $20 cruiser, beat the roadies and the fixies!

17 people met up at the end of the White Street Pier for the island’s first alleycat race and all had a great time. We had a few DQ’s due to missed stops, but most everyone finished and got a prize. All racers got a water bottle from Fixed Gears and a koozie from Cowboy Bill's, who also hooked us up with $1 PBR’s all night. yeeee-haaaaaaw! Thanks again to Re-Cycle , Guy Harvey's Help Yourself , Conch Traders, Turtle Kraals and Bad Boy Buttitos who were super kind with donated prizes, thanks y’all! Miami Bike Scene also covered the race.

johnathon conch cruiser
pedi eddie conch cruiser but i should have had him as a roadie
rj
rydel fixie
jason
david
amy fixie
travis conch cruiser
sasha
nick
lou
george conch cruiser
matt conch cruiser



Instead of putting the manifests and maps into envelopes, they were tucked inside waterbottles donated by Fixed Gears, which was the start of the surprise coconuts and mangos checkpoint tasks. Instead of signing manifests, Ray was handing out coconuts to be delivered to a house on Olivia Street. Thanks to Randesh for the coconuts. You can find him at Help Yourself chopping them open with a machete for the delicious water inside. Help Yourself was also a stop and they made everyone do a shot of super cold juice!


Brian and Agnes worked the Olivia Street surprise stop, where conch cruisers got their manifest signed, but roadies had to take a freshly picked mango back to Fixed Gears to get a signature. I am not sure how many people realized the Bill Butler Park checkpoint was down a tiny alley only two houses away!


Maya kicked ass and rode off into the sunset on the steel (and cardboard) horse she rides. Inspired by the race, she actually made a horse for her bicycle. Well done! She worked the checkpoint on the stairs at the corner of Duval and Front and made the racers go and find a tourist and make them yell, “yeee-haaaawww!”


This is a crazy story. George, on the left thought he had DFL and realized he had lost his wallet while racing. He rushed out of Cowboy Bill’s to go look for it and Matt, on the right, showed up and stole DFL from him. Matt also had a wallet he found on the street; which turned out to be George’s wallet! Dang, this town is getting small…


This was the most fixie riders ever together on this tiny island….six of us! Amy, Amy, Patrick, ChillWill and on the far right; Peppermint Patti and Rydel who drove down from Miami for the race. Riding around Saturday night with everyone was awesome. We had road bikes, fixies, conch cruisers and even a Penny-Farthing

Click Read More for a basket full of more photos!




Patricia arrived at Turtle Kraals and climbed the stairs to the Tower Bar but could not find the checkpoint person. She borrowed a menu to prove she was there. Good thinking!


Yep, someone really raced a Penny-farther! Scott also builds custom chopper bikes. I’ll mos def get a post out soon with some of his work and contact info.


We gave Matt, DFL, this rope lock hoping his bike would get stolen and he could get a faster bike! Ironicaly, Jonothn, who came in 1st place, actually uses a rope to “lock up” his bike at racks. Really, he does it all the time. I love this town!


By the way, Matt was one of the out-of-towners, visiting from Ohio; not for the race…but on honeymoon with his beautiful wife! Congratulations! They were super cool, hope to see y’all when I’m visiting Columbus in August.


Robbie was making people, like Jason here, go down the slide at Bill Butler Park.


RJ, in between Peppermint Patti and ??, prolly could have been the winner if not for a bit of disorganization on by both of us. He arrived at Cowboy Bill’s with Rydel an out-of-towner from Miami following his wheel, and they could not find me. They got back on their bikes and pedaled all the way to Cowboy Bill’s Reloaded, a smaller sister bar towards the northern end of Duval and returned…still looking for me. I was taking photos at three checkpoints as fast as possible. They forgot to pick up the Blue Paper and while going out to get them, Jonathon and Eddie arrived, putting RJ and Rydel in 3rd and 4th.



Scott, on the left, is the rider of the Penny Farthington. I don’t remember what Peppermint Patti was showing me and Patrick is blurry and out of focus…as promised.


An adorable couple and their bicycle basket of mangos! Thanks again Brian and Agnes for helping out.


me and lou


Rydel killin' the wings! At some point at Finnegan’s Wake I wrote down a quote from PP, “I’m not surprised he has chicken in his tooth hole!”


Rydel and the King of the Wild West, Jonathon, who bought a round for everyone!

Peppermint Patti chillin'


these tats were da bomb!


peppermint patti hugging what may have been the inspiration for The Giving Tree infont of the house where Shel Silverstein lived.


david on the penny! It was a bit awkward at first, but I liked riding it. with a waaay bigger front wheel than a 29’r, curbs were nuttin’!

Key West Velo

UPDATE:

i added a few things and am still trying to fix a bunch of things. i forgot how much work it is setting these bloggy thingees up the way they look inside yer head!

Welcome to Key West Velo! Hopefully we can help unite the cyclists of Key West one spoke at a time. I don't have the interwebs right now, so this is a very quick introduction until i have time to write more. I am scrambling around town today trying to get Key West Hardcore all finished up for this Saturday.

I plan to add lots of useful links for local businesses, other bicycle websites and blogs as well anything useful to help bring more pedaling to our island!

key west's first alleycat

Key West's first alleycat race! And its gonna be tropical craziness! There's a lot of surprises in store for the racers and prizes for both fast riders and those on obligatorily rusted conch cruisers! I have certainly slacked on my blogging and organizing here, but this will more than make up for it. We got a lot of great local sponsors already supporting us with prizes and help. Props to Patrick at Fixed Gears, a bicycle repair shop on Simonton Street; Charlie at Help Yourself, a wonderful organic and green food spot on Fleming Street, Billy at Cowboy Bill's, the island's only Honky Tonk Bar, Charlie and Ron at Conch Traders, a great little gift shop at Clinton Square Market and hopefully a slew of other supportive businesses. Yeeeeehaaaawwww! OK, enough with the bill paying, what about the race? You will need a basket or a bag and please don't forget your lock and lights. Meet at the end of the White Street Pier at 6pm to register. We need volunteers for checkpoints, please come a few minutes early and wear a cowboy hat if ya got one or bring a bandana to wear around yer neck to help the racers identify the checkpoint peoples. The final checkpoint and afterparty is at a bar, so, unfortunately this race is 21+. But...I have worked out $1 PBR's all night for racers and volunteers!! I'll post more details as the event gets closer. To all my peoples in da 'Beat, c'mon on down. I'll find you a hammock, tent space, floor space, whatever you need to get down here. Here's the back of the flyer incase y'all have no idea what an alleycat race is all about: no hints here about the checkpoints.....sucka!