Sort of TR: The Rally of the Dead (scant pics and some vid)

**beaterdit** · 10-30-2008, 01:58 PM

BRRRAAAIIIIIINNNNSSSS....

The Third annual Rally of the Dead was a hoot. Three days of Undead SingleSpeed related debauchery in Durango. The first day included a night Ride to Awaken the Dead through the graveyards in full Zombie regalia, finishing at Ska Brewing's new tasting room and a screening of "Never Forget the Feeling", a recap of the Durango DEVO Junior Development Team's season. COOL.

The next day after a group ride, The Zombie Ball featured Portland based bikesmut.com's Bike Porn II: Bikesploitation. The feature was a collection of short bike related productions including the finale of ACTUAL HARDCORE BIKE PORN, picture brooks saddles, grips, ect being inserted where they were never (I don't think) meant to be. WHOA! The party was overseen by The Rainbow Machete Crew, hot, dead chicks on rollerskates and PLENTIFUL FREE BEER was provided by Fat Tire.

After the Zombie ball and closing down El Rancho I awoke in the back of my truck feeling pretty good and got ready for the stage race that day, held in Durango's legandary "Test Tracks".

Full size, you should check it out:
http://sswc09.files.wordpress.com/20...odoriginal.jpg

When I started driving I realized why I felt good, I was still LOADED. To Bread for coffee and a croissant which I couldn't eat. I pull up to the Cyclery on time for registration and don my Zombie face to sit shivering for an hour waiting to start the first of four stages that day. Riding in circles through Buckley park amassing the ZOMBIE HORDES was nausea inducing, as was the mass start.

I had my poorest showing in the first Stage, a milder cross country but at least I didn't puke like some, 30th out of 70 something. Next came the Hillclimb, straight up the Hog's Back, a Durango icon, upward of 1000 vertical straight up a huge shale spine. If you were lucky, and strong, you could ride about 1/3 of it before you blew and then it was pick up your bike and hoof it. OUCH. At least I wasn't drunk anymore by the time I reached the top, HELLO HANGOVER! Finished 14th. Sitting up top with people and bikes piled all over eachother I managed to choke down my croissant, FUEL! [/barf]

Next was the downhill, you got it, right back down the way we came up. Coincidentally, I last rode this descent in 1996, ON THE SAME BIKE. We ran in finish order from the hillclimb so I got to see some amazing riding and some carnage before my turn. Cross Country hardtail, check, dysfunctional 80mm fork, check, bald tires, check, tired V-brakes, check. YIKES! I dropped in and held it together mostly, carried a little speed and even passed a couple guys. High sided once but it was so steep I didn't have far to fall, wouldn't want to lowside though! Came in 13th by the time the downhillers who got up last finished. What a rush, awesome!

Plenty of mulling around, hydrating and fueling before the fourth and final stage, a cross country. Some were drinking Tequila, Whiskey and Beer but I was just trying to keep my Croissant down. Meanwhile, Cliff from Pedal the Peaks had set up a sweet "obstacle course", an optional stage with time bonuses awarded to the top three finishers. Why not? Steep, loose switch backs down to a couple log hops, a bunnyhop pole (set it back up if knock it over) to a mulchpile to a steep, off camber descent or a six foot drop, your choice. I didn't make the bunny hop but then owned the steep descent, no drop for this kid, and no time bonus either, big surprise.

OK, READY FOR THE FINAL STAGE??? Hell no, mass start, up the first part of the hillclimb, descend into Slime Gulch, up lung busting "Ned's Climb" to another to-steep-to-ride shale spine. Surprisingly I cleaned all but one switchback of Ned's but then plenty of walking ensued near the top of the spine, passed lots of guys here though, people were starting to drag. Another big, steep, winding, rutted shale descent back into Slime gulch and then an uphill finish on the "Star Wars" downhill.

More grueling riding and walking, everyone maintained order at this point, not worth it to try to pass anymore. Finished in 17th to plenty of cold PBR and hot tequila. [/barf] After all the finishers arrived, bikes were hung on the dead tree and a group photo taken (hope it surfaces). Then food, shower, and nap (didn't happen) before the awards ball at the Abbey Theater.

Party started at ten featuring three bands and trophies made from combinations of found animal carcases, bike parts bins, forgotten children's dolls, etc. The trophies were awesome. Unfortunately, I didn't win one for 17th overall but I was pretty happy with that, and stoked on the whole thing. What an awesome, weird, undead event!

Also unfortunately , I didn't bring my camera. I did however, have a couple frinds documanting the whole thing so as pictures are posted, I'll link them here and bump this you can see more of what I saw, IT WAS SCARY!

Here's a vid of last year's event:

Also, there's a slideshow from the inaugural event here:
http://www.durangocyclery.com/slide_...eDead2006.html

edit: Almost forgot, Sunday featured a Bike Polo tournament, which had to miss so I could drive home 7 hours and work till 8AM, OUCH, AGAIN. /edit

The event's on hold for next year as the organizers will have thier hands full with the SingleSpeed world championships! (dates TBA) Hosting was determined by an 80's arcade game tournament. I encourage everyone to look out for it and attend because it's bound to be a crazy cool event.