a spring of teal: 3rd Annual Tour de Moose

First some background: The Tour de Moose was started by Moose (a.k.a. Kevin) as a way to celebrate his birthday. It is a 20 mile bicycle "race" through south city neighborhoods and downtown St. Louis traveling between Moose's favorite neighborhood bars. At each bar there is an activity (contest) with a prize and you are awarded 30 seconds off your overall time for each beer that you drink. There are several trophies to win including the "taking it easy" award for the slowest time; the "most moosed out" award for the most moose decorations; the "crash and burn" award for the best bike crash of the day, etc.

This year Andrew and his friend Jeff decided to step it up a notch by renting a quadcycle. This was a very ambitious endeavour considering the quadcycle only has ONE gear and is HEAVY! Andrew and Jeff were troopers and only had to get out once to take turns pushing the cycle up one long difficult incline. They decorated the quadcycle to the nines, including a mini Heineken keg. Andrew and Jeff won TWO trophies, the best decorated bike and the "kick-ass" award (obviously won for riding a quadcycle!)

I, on the other hand, attempted to knock Reverend Bob from winning the "Taking it Easy" award for the third year in a row. Unfortunately it didn't work (that pesky Bob!) but I did win the tricycle race at the TapRoom! 15 seconds! Woohoo!

It was a gorgeous, sunny fall day and it was really a great time. The tour once again doubled in size this year, up to almost 60 riders. We even had people show up to ride who none of us knew. I think a Tour committee is being formed to consider changes to be made to accommodate so many riders. The end of the tour party was a bit unruly.

Andrew and I are considering recumbent bikes for next year. Andrew wants to decorate his like a rocket.

You can view more pictures of the tour here, here and here.