Weekender

This past weekend we had a great time. One of our friends put together a bicycle scavenger hunt in dowtown Anchorage. We went in teams and my wife was my partner. We met at the west end of the Park Strip and each of the five teams were given an envelope which contained a list of about 70 items/things. The rules were few: we had 2 hours to find as many of the things on the list as possible and were to document the finding of the items with a digital picture with one of the team members in the shot. Items included the old Anchorage Times building, the Oscar Anderson House, Captain Cook, a cat on a leash, Irish Coffee, a red door, Fire Engine 1, and a block of cheese among many others. We shot 42 items before the "camera" we were using (our kids cell phone) ran out of memory.

The most interesting thing on the list for us was a picture of one of the team members inside the F.B.I. building. We arrived and I couldn't see through the tinted glass and I thought I heard the door buzz like someone was buzzing me in. I opened the door with list in hand and stepped inside. The agent standing in front of half a dozen monitors looked at me like I was Osama and when I asked if I could get my picture inside for a scavenger hunt he angrily said, "No!" and took a step toward me as I spun on my heels and jumped on my bike and shouted, "Thanks... now we're gonna lose!". Michelle tried to get the shot off but she was a bit shaken and all that came out was a picture of her pedal.

The event culminated with a "slow" race. The object was to see who could go the slowest over a distance of about 50 yards. You had to keep forward momentum and were not allowed to put your foot down and could not zig-zag. I ended up winning (hooray for me) and after having a few PBR's to celebrate to completion of the scavenger hunt I was a bit pickled and hooted with glee that I had won. I popped a wheelie - promptly flipping my bicycle and landing on my back with my feet still clipped into the pedals and my bike in the air. A patented rookie move that I wish was caught on video tape. I could have added to my 15 minutes of fame and entered it in America's Funniest Home Videos... maybe even won some money. Anyhow, a good laugh was had by all at my expense and it was the proverbial icing on the cake that was another fun day on the bike.

You and your friends should do one in your town.