Stairmaster Route

I've been getting some questions from folks who either didn't race or are from out of town asking what the route was for the stairmaster. Follow the link below to see it.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2864537

Prose version of the route:

Start @ Laurel and I-110
W on Laurel, L on 6th, R on Convention, R into parking lot just W of 4th
Follow alley ways/parking lots in between 4th and 3rd until you get to Main.
Follow 4th to Spanish Town Rd, R on Spanish Town Rd, L on 5th St, R on Lakeland
L onto parking garage.
Down 11 back to 5th. Into Armory Park.
Up 15 in front of Armory. Around cannon to the back of the Capitol bldg.
Down 28
Up 28
To 3rd st, R on Lafayette, to Capitol Park Visitor's Center
Down 11 to River Rd. Follow River Rd to Pedestrian Bridge
Up 28, E to end of bridge. L, down 11, down 5, up 9 to St. Philip St, L on North, L on River Rd
Pass up pedestrian bridge, go up stairs under fountain. Go up and over pedestrian bridge again.
Immediately following pedestrian bridge, go down stairs to left.
Ride under pedestrian bridge to meandering ramp up levee (watch out for sleeping bums)

Ride to just N or paper clip pier, down to water level. Ride N on levee, jumping the 3 railings.
When the stairs end, climb to top of levee, run down 7 stairs to Florida. East on Florida to 10th, N on 10th, then W on laurel....
REPEAT TWICE FOR THREE TOTAL LAPS WITH 305 STAIRS ON EACH LAP....

Polo Articles

Check these out:

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C01E1DF123DE433A25755C0A9619C946397D6CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9F04EED91F31E132A25752C3A9679C94669ED7CF

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=2&res=9907EFDC113AE533A25756C1A9669D94649ED7CF&oref=slogin

Thank You

A huge thank you to:
Mike Guy for helping me out with all these races.
Richard at Wabi Bicycles, MD at Velocity Rims, Steven at Milwaukee Bicycle Company,
Nicole at IRO Cycle INC., all the folks at Seagull Messenger Bags, Vic at One Fixed clothing, Cort and HERC Apparel, Chris and Scott at Pedal Play Bicycles, Mark at Capitol Cyclery, Brad at Urban Velo Magazine, Katie and her beautiful painting, WES at soldergal.com, Yanco at Yanco Pads, and of course, Dave and Chelsea's Cafe for letting us crash there after all our rides.

Also, big time thanks for Mark for taking photos at all the stages and getting some solid documentation of the amazingness that you guys provide by showing up to all these races.

Those of you who ride in these make Baton Rouge a bikeable city. By riding and showing people that we belong on the streets, that we aren't afraid to be on these streets, we are making a statement and helping those who will ride long after we are gone have a safer ride. Not only are we having fun, but we are raising awareness.

How many people watched some dude/lady on a bike roll up to wal-mart on Siegen or Whole Foods on May 1st?

Remember the craziness of the first stop at Red Star in the bricklayer on May 8th? Everyone walking by wanted to know what was up...

Graduation day on campus, and there is a scavenger hunt going on? Amazing!

17 people running up and down all the stairs carrying bikes near the river center during Live After Five? How many people saw you ride your bike downtown on May 22nd??

Raising awareness. Pushing boundaries. You all responded wonderfully.

Next month is organized by Clay and Keith, and I believe is called Math and Calculations (or something like that) Keep your eyes here for more info on that. We will go back to our first Friday of the month routine, 5 bucks, 6:30 registration, 7PM race, after party at Chelsea's.

Justin is organizing July, and I have a killer idea for August, so that is when we will be back to my brand of insanity... :-)

Final Overall Standings

Name st.1 st.2 st.3 st.4 final
1 Justin 100 98 92 99 389 1st overall
2 Keith 99 96 93 98 386 2nd overall
3 David 96 93 99 96 384 3rd overall, 1st fixie
4 Matt 94 92 89 66 341 DFL overall
5 Clayton 0 100 94 95 289
6 Jason 97 0 86 100 283 1st place father
7 Moshe 0 92 100 61 253 1st cruiser
8 Travis 50 97 0 97 244 2nd fixie
9 Jake 98 99 0 0 197
10 Josh 0 95 0 93 188 1st mountain bike
11 Nick 0 91 0 92 183
12 Jared 0 0 95 65 160
13 Colin 0 0 90 64 154 2nd place father
14 Lauren 0 0 89 61 150 1st place lady rider
15 Ause 50 93 0 0 143
16 Andy 0 94 0 33 127
17 Chris 0 0 98 0 98
17 Jen 0 0 98 0 98 2nd place lady rider
19 Rose 0 0 96 0 96
20 Gary 95 0 0 0 95
21 Dustin 0 0 0 94 94
22 (quasi tall bike) Jon 0 0 91 0 91
22 Chris 0 0 0 91 0 91
24 Philip 0 0 0 90 0 90
25 (Cap. Cyc.) Jon 0 0 87 0 87
26 Mark 0 0 85 0 85
27 Jonesy 0 0 84 0 84
28 Alex 0 0 0 63 63
29 Santiago 0 0 0 62 62
30 Mike 0 0 0 59 59 1st place co-organizer
30 Angie 0 0 0 59 59
32 James 50 0 0 0 50

Stage Four results

After a grueling schedule of four race, we are finally done. Here are the results from stage four:

Jason 100
Justin 99
Keith 98
Travis 97
David 96
Clay 95
Dustin 94
Josh 93
Nick 92
Chris 91
Philip 90
Matt 66 (starting here, riders completed 2 laps)
Jared 65
Colin 64
Alex 63
Santiago 62
Moshe 61
Lauren 61
Mike 59
Angie 59
Andy 33 (starting here, riders completed 1 lap..... this was me....hehe)

STAIRMASTER IS A GO!!!!!!!!!!!

THE STAIRMASTER WILL ROLL RAIN OR SHINE!!!!

if you just realize what I just realized....

then you will know that the potential exists for a tie here in the Tour Da Rouge overall standings.

With Justin, Keith, and Dave all being separated by two points, it is entirely possible that we could have a tie.

DO NOT FEAR!!!!!

I have a tiebreaker in mind.........It won't be easy. I actually hope it does end in a tie because I want to see this tiebreaker happen......It is a triumvirate of destruction and mayhem....

Hopefully, by the time the points are calculated, the potentially tied racers won't have already downed 5 beers from Chelsea's Cafe in celebration of being "done"

*evil* :-)

Stage Four start location

Stage Four (stairmaster) will begin under I-110 at Laurel. As always, we will start registration ($5) at 6:30, and start the race promptly at 7PM. As with all stages of the Tour (in honor of National Bike Month) helmets are required.

Please bring friends!! We need as many folks as possible to show up for this stage. We are doing the prizes at Chelsea's Cafe during our normal after-party.

ALSO, KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE WEATHER. WE WILL ROLL RAIN OR SHINE, BUT DRESS APPROPRIATELY (aka bring dry clothes to change into, should it be raining)

Racer count...

As you can see from the Tour da Rouge information on the side bar, we have had an increasing number of riders for each race. We had ten racers in the prologue. We had 12 racers in the bricklayer. We had 17 racers in the campus crawl.

Now, I challenge you, every single rider, bring a friend who has not raced in a Tour da Rouge event yet. Make them come. Especially if you see Sara Beth or her boyfriend. They haven't come out to a single race yet, and they need to. Lets get at least 20 folks racing in the Stairmaster.

Oh, and Matt-----as long as you show up and register and complete the first lap, you are guaranteed a DOPE prize. So...please show up.... Don't think that just because you are in fourth you are not going to get a prize. With only 4 folks who have showed up to all four races, I will make sure to hook you up... :-)

RIDE SAFE, and see you Friday!

Stairmaster

So......there is going to be a surprise format for the three 5-mile laps of the stairmaster. Be prepared......

Prize Categories

Here are the tentative prize categories.

Overall categories (for racers who finished all 4 races)
Sponsors for these racers may include (but are not limited to)
Wabi Bicycles, Velocity Rims, Milwaukee Bicycle Co., IRO Cycle Inc., Seagull Messenger Bags

??????? - 1st Overall
??????? - 2nd Overall
??????? - 3rd Overall

??????? - 1st Fixed Gear (David kinda has this one in the bag, as long as he shows up this week)

??????? - D.F.L.

Individual Categories:
Sponsors for these winners may include (but are not limited to) Seagull Messenger Bags, Urban Velo Magazine, Milwaukee Bicycle Co., One Fixed Clothing, HERC Apparel, Soldergal, Capital Cyclery, Chelsea's Cafe, Yanco Pads

1st place female (So far, Jen.... but if she doesn't show up this week, all it takes is Lauren or Rose to show up and pay and start the race and they win....)

1st place cruiser (Moshe pretty much has this one in the bag...)

1st place flat tire (I manufactured this prize for myself since I rode the last 5 miles of stage two on a flat tire... Chris and Pedal Play Bicycles donated a seat bag so I can carry around some spare inner tubes as a prize for this one...)

1st place O.O.T. (if anyone from out of town shows up...)

2nd place fixed gear

Plus, prizes for 1st and 2nd place of each stage
So far:

Justin - 1st place stage one
Keith - 2nd place stage one

Clayton - 1st place stage two
Jake - 2nd place stage two

Moshe - 1st place stage three
David - second place stage three

??????? - 1st place stage four
??????? - 2nd place stage four

Overall Standings

We've got ourselves a race, ladies and worms. Only 2 (two, dos, due, zwei) points seperate the first three riders... Can Justin hold off Keith and David?

Name St. 1 St. 2 St. 3 Total
Justin 100 98 92 290
David 96 93 99 288
Keith 99 96 93 288
Matt 94 92 89 275
Jake 98 99 0 197
Clayton 0 100 94 194
Moshe 0 92 100 192
Jason 97 0 86 183
Travis 50 97 0 147
Ause 50 93 0 143
Chris 0 0 98 98
Jen 0 0 98 98
Rose 0 0 96 96
Gary 95 0 0 95
Josh 0 95 0 95
Jared 0 0 95 95
Andy 0 94 0 94
Nick 0 91 0 91
(quasi tall bike) Jon 0 0 91 91
(Cap. Cyc.) Jon 0 0 87 87
Jonesy 0 0 84 84
Colin 0 0 90 90
Lauren 0 0 89 89
Mark 0 0 85 85
James 50 0 0 50

Stage Three Results

Name - stage three points - race points awarded

Moshe - 195 - 100
Dave - 175 - 99
Chris - 170 - 98
Jen - 170 - 98
Rose - 165 - 96
Jared - 155 - 95
Clayton - 145 - 94
Keith - 140 - 93
Weeber - 135 - 92
(quasi tall bike) Jon - 120 - 91
Colin - 115 - 90
Matt - 110 - 89
Lauren - 110 - 89
(Cap. Cyc.) Jon - 105 - 87
Jason - 95 - 86
Mark - 90 - 85
Jonesy - 65 - 84

There were a total of 320 points possible. 260 via the manifest, 60 bonus points (20 each) for a) an item over 20 lbs, b) an item over 4 feet long, c) an item that is alive, non-human, and non-plant

More Pictures!!!!

Tour da Rouge Stage One - Prologue
http://picasaweb.google.com/martinmemartin/AlleyCatTimeTrial#


Tour da Rouge Stage Three - Campus Crawl
http://picasaweb.google.com/martinmemartin/CampusCruiseAlleyCat20090515#

New Sponsor!!!

Yanco Pads from California is sending a few of their bike pads for us to hand out as prizes. Check out their stuff! They have some pretty amazing designs and patterns for a very intelligent (and chic) way to protect your precious Fuji Track Pro carbon frame or yourvintage 70's fresh out of the box Raleigh conversion baby-sky-blue frame, or your daily geared cruiser or your mountain bike.

Photos

Mark Martin (aka the one legged jabberwocky stop on the race to the ends of the earth aka port royal in the brick layer aka city park in the prologue) has some pretty dynamite photos from our Bricklayer this past Friday. Check 'em out!

http://picasaweb.google.com/martinmemartin/BricklayerAlleyCat20090508?feat=email#

New Sponsor!!!

Wabi bikes has donated a frame. PLEASE check out their website, send Richard a thank you note, let him know it is appreciated. Also, talk about Wabi (rhymes with hobby...) cycles and their frames/complete bikes. New companies need word of mouth to get the positive business karma on their side... So, bring on the racing! You guys are working hard and only have two more races to go. This next one is gonna be alot of fun!!!! (campus crawl, friday, $5, 6:30, Middleton Loading Dock)

2009 Tour Overall Standings Update

Here are the updated Tour da Rouge 2009 standings thru two stages:

Name st. 1 st. 2 total
Weeber 100 98 198
Jake 98 99 197
Keith 99 96 195
David 96 93 189 (First Fixie, so far...)
Matt 94 92 186
Travis 50 97 147 (Second Fixie, so far...)
Ause 50 93 143
Clayton 0 100 100
Jason 97 0 97
Gary 95 0 95
Andy 0 94 94 (First Flat Tire, so far...)
Moshe 0 92 92 (First Cruiser, so far...)
Nick 0 91 91
James 50 0 50

Next week is the Campus Crawl. Bring your helmet, bring a marker, and bring a digital camera (optional.) $5, 6:30, library loading dock.

Stage Two Results

So, Mike had a pretty brutal scoring and brick getting system made up for us. Since he was the creator and executor of this stage, I was a rider. I will try to explain the points breakdown for this stage as best I can.

First to finish, second to finish, and third to finish got 10, 8, and 6 points respectively, regardless of the number of bricks carried.

The stops were:

Start: Levee and Skip Bertman
First: Red Star
Second: Port Royal
Third: Spanish Moon
Fourth: NGT
Finish: City Park

At each stop, there were enough bricks for each rider to take one brick. In addition, the first, second, and third riders to each stop were to take 3 extra, 2 extra, and one extra, respectively. So, if the same person were first to each stop, they would have one brick from the beginning, plus 4 from each checkpoint, for a total of 17 bricks!!!

4th thru 12th riders to each stop could take their one brick, plus however many of 7 extra bricks they wanted.

At the finishline, points were awarded for total number of bricks plus place points, if necessary.

So the individual points for this stage broke down like this:

Clayton 10 1st place points, plus 12 brick points = 22 points
Jake 8 2nd place points, plus 12 brick points = 20 points
Weeber 6 3rd place points, plus 10 brick points = 16 points
Travis 14 brick points = 14 points (6th finisher)
Keith 11 brick points = 11 points (4th finisher)
Josh 10 brick points = 10 points (10th finisher)
Andy 9 brick points = 9 points (5th finisher)
David 8 brick points = 8 points (7th finisher)
Ause 8 brick points = 8 points (9th finisher)
Matt 7 brick points = 7 points (8th finisher)
Moshe 7 brick points = 7 points (12th finisher)
Nick 5 brick points = 5 points (11th finisher)

I heard of some folks taking some really funky routes, so I figured I would post mine up here for your consumption. Here is my route: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2805692
I got a flat tire almost exactly where the 10 mile bubble is.... so the last 4.5 miles or so, I was riding on an absolutely 100% flat tire. And still finished 5th, time wise... imagine what could have been if the tire woulda held out... >:-)

b.r.alley cats rule. You guys rule for coming out every week and doing this. It will pay off!

STAGE TWO, TONIGHT!!!!!

Make sure you bring a big bag for tonight's Stage Two of the Tour da Rouge. Tonight is the Bricklayer. Mike is organizing this one, so I am racing it. All I know is we are carrying bricks and it will be brutally fun. Come on out, bring your biggest bag, your rack, panier bags, trike with cargo rack, trailer, whatever you can to carry bricks. $5, Skip Bertman Dr and River Rd, 6:30PM. Race starts promptly at 7PM. Good luck!!!

Call for assistance

Hello Baton Rouge alley cat races and polo players....

We (the Tour da Rouge organizers) have an opportunity to have a really nice sponsor on board.
However, this sponsor can not donate prizes to us. What they can do, is sell us their wares at a percentage off the wholesale price.

I am looking for as many cash donations as possible. Any cash recieved will be used to purchase these prizes, or, if the donation is in excess of that amount, will be applied towards the cost of t-shirts for the racers.

If you are able to help with a financial donation, please contact me
brbikepolo AT gmail DOT com

Thank you in advance!!!

The Tour da Rouge Team (Andy and Mike)

New Sponsors

Velocity USA is in as a sponsor. Things are really starting to look up for these Tour da Rouge winners. Please come out and ride. Get your friends to come out and ride. Bring your helmet and $5 and a good attitude, and you'll be set for a great time.

AND...........

Soldergal is in. She makes high quality lockrings...... for your finger!!! Never ride without a lockring? Check out her website http://www.soldergal.com

Stage One Results

Name         St. 1         Overall

Justin        100             100

Keith          99              99

Jake            98              98

Jason           97              97

David           96             96       (FIRST FIXIE....so far...)

Gary             95              95

Matt            94              94

Travis         50               50 

Ause            50              50 

James         50              50 

50pts = started race, but did not finish race.

As you can see, it is still anyone's game. Most of the guys in the top 5 have said that they have to miss one of the races. With that zero added in, there is still room for anyone to make a run and win these fantastic prizes!!!

Please check out our sponsors. They are listed on the right side of the blog. Thanks!!!!

NEW SPONSORS

One Fixed Clothing is VIC from Los Angeles. Check out his site, and some of his apparel. I especially like the hoodies...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Milewaukee Bicycle Co. is infamous for their Cream City frames and bicycle polo merchandise. If you don't know Ben's Cycle and the Milwaukee Bicycle Co., you need to check them out.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Please make a point to visit the websites for these sponsors. Look into their gear. They are pitching in some major stuff for this Tour. We owe it to them to sho whem our appreciation. Make sure you mention that you are affiliated with the Tour Da Rouge... That way next yaer they will be more apt to help us out again!!!

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Tour da Rouge Stage One (Prologue) results will be posted tonight.