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gomattolson...

Monday, September 22, 2008

Urban Assault & Dangerous Kittens

Team Dangerous Kittens (Kate and I), as well as Robbie & friends participated in the New Belgium Brewing Urban Assault Ride, or as they call it: Beer, Bikes, and Big Wheels.  It was the first time Minneapolis hosted the event, and I'm proud to say it was the largest showing yet for a new city.

The Urban Assault is essentially a bike race throughout the city (26 miles), with no boundaries and no roped-off predetermined course.  There were 5 Checkpoints, each with its own challenge, and 3 Mystery Checkpoints.

The primary checkpoints included some sort of mini competition or rediculous feat, including:
  • Bike limbo
  • Minibike riding
  • Hurling newspapers 50 feet to your partner while riding a beach cruiser
  • Navigating a track on a modified big wheel
  • Picking up crushed bottle caps with mittens while getting soaked with water
Before the race, we were given a riddle-like quiz to help place us in the starting blocks, as well as a crossword puzzle to complete which would give us a clue of where to find the first mystery checkpoint.  Once found (it was a dude dressed like an angel with an afro at Lake Harriett), we had to read a riddle taped to his chest that gave us clues to the next mystery checkpoint.

The finish line was even creative -- you had to park your bike, take off your shoes and helmet, and bound through an inflatible obstacle course before you could record your time.  The Chipotle burrito and Fat Tire beer at the end had never tasted so good.  Mmmm, mmmm.

I'm attaching a google map of the ride for reference....

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Photo Contest

Although I don't stand a chance, I decided to enter a photography contest put on by NWA. I figured what the heck, right? I've entered these two so far, simply because I think they're somewhat unique:


Disappearing Bean




Road Closed


Any suggestions of other favs from my Flickr site that you'd think would be semi-worthy?

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Hi, I'm from 1984

So I finally decided to join Twitter. Thought it would be an easy way to update my Facebook status & blog all in one simple 140-characters-or-less sentence.

I'm so cutting edge with technology it hurts.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Never Again

This past weekend my best high school guy friends and I headed up to Bjork's cabin for our semi-annual guys getaway trip. It was an awesome time full of food, beer, more food, lots of laughs, video games, and paintball. But the unexpected highlight from the weekend happened in a flash. We were out in the boat and I brought a tennis ball thinking we might play catch and dive off the boat or something. It was my turn to water ski and I jokingly told James that he should throw me the ball while I was skiing. After getting up and stabilized on the skis, James motioned to me with the ball. Figuring what the heck, I gave him a signal to throw it. And he did. And I reacted. And I made a shoestring catch, next to my left foot. I couldn't believe it. They couldn't believe it. It was amazing, and will never happen again.