Monster Track
New York
March 4, 2006

If Critical Mass is about halting traffic, Monster Track and alley cats are about transcending it. Riding down 5th avenue all the way from Harlem to Madison Square park with a hundred people, no stopping; that's taking over the streets. Cars and pedestrians are paused, but just for a moment, and only because someone behind me screams "Heads! Heads!" Caught in their tracks, they marvel as we blow past.

Squid, with his black feather-hooded cape that would have looked good on Marilyn Monroe, barking out orders to 200 kids at the Marcus Garvey summit, before unleashing us to stone steps slick with ice and mud, steps subverted by vaults over the cliffside and down to the street where our bikes waited. Twenty blocks covering two

lanes of traffic down Fifth. Then one block as the faster of us pull ahead. The traffic stays thin until 72nd or so, and then it's every man for himself. Don't slow down or you're passed and maybe boxed in by a biker and a cab. Catch up to the pack in front of you when the light's changing so you're shielded from the cars. Don't get doored. Don't stop suddenly, unless you're totally boxed, in which case there shouldn't be anyone behind you. It's six miles to 23rd street from where we started, 100 blocks above, and it wasn't a sprint but it sure felt like one. Some of the craziest riding I've ever done in NYC.

After that the checkpoints went pretty quick. A zip over to Tompkins Square (which I really wanted to save until after covering the super-downtown stops), before heading back west for Battery and West St. It's an intersection I

know well, along with the park. But I rode three circles around the construction and other junk, following out-of-towners who looked like they knew where they were going, before I found the people covering the check. They were all the way inside, at the water. Fucking pain in the ass. After that Jonas caught up with me, back from LA, and I led a pack of seven or so back east along the tip of the island to the Old Slip. Finally, an easy stamp again. Then it was another mad dash up the east side, under two bridges through Chinatown to our bridge, the mighty Williamsburg. Jonas took the car lanes while I led most everyone else up the path, passing a few people. Can't say I didn't feel like hell climbing it though. Then hit the south side so fast I didn't even see it, and pulled a quick u-turn through Hope St. in time to get stamped by Gina at King Kog. Then back towards the water, all the way down to Rocky's to finish. #59? Whatever. Still came in under an hour.

-Dave

Track Stand Competition

Track Stand Competition Winner: Jumbo from Denmark

Skids Competition 3rd Place Winner: Jonas

Skids Competition: Stewey from DC