Bikesnob'd!

For better or for worse, Mud Sweat and Tears caught the attention of Bike Snob NYC (who pretty much just reads John Prolly's blog).

BSNYC actually hits the nail on the head a few times: Ah yes, alleycat "racing" and cyclocross are now coming together in a succession of bad mud-related puns. What does this mean? Will tire clearance now be a frame attribute more prized than track geometry? Will canti bosses become the new horizontal dropout? Will we now see a new breed of urban rider who takes pride in his bicycle’s versatility and his own adroitness on a variety of terrain?... Perhaps the era of the fixed-gear as the dominant urban bike species is at an end.

Or, more likely, this might just be a bunch of people getting drunk on Randall’s Island.

Other than his assumption that everybody out there is "he" (we're under no false impressions that all the badass racers are going to be men!), Bike Snob is pretty right on. Yeah, we're looking to get racers riding bikes differently. We're looking to expand the ideas of what's possible in the alleycat scene. We're looking to throw what is, in New York City at least, a new and different kind of race. Oh, we're not breaking any completely new ground or anything - I know cyclocross has been around for a century (and besides, this isn't really cyclocross) - but we're taking alleycats and we're moving them around, thinking, what else can we do with this race notion? Because at the end of the day - or, in the beginning of spring - we're looking to have a lot of fun. And yes, open a few cans on Randall's Island.

Unfortunately, commentors on BSNYC are rarely as perceptive as the author, and take the author's grumpiness and snark-laden prose as a reason to hate on everything. Alas, one more internet to hide behind.

FLYER

Hello and welcome and please to have you take a look at our NEW AWESOME PROMOTIONAL FLYER. Artwork is courtesy of Dan Bones, and appropriately conveys the fact that Randall's Island is gonna mess you up. If the swamp monsters don't get you, the races will.

Tracklocross is getting bigger and better!

We're starting publicity for the event, which is formally called Mud, Sweat, and Tears. The schedule is as follows:

Saturday, 4/12: Team Wreck Stuff presents... Sludgement Day: Day of Wreckoning. Randall's Island Circuit Racing, Rat Pack Hustle sprint competition, skid-hockey, mudsprints, grasstrackstands, and a really good alibi for anything else that might happen while you're out at this Field Day.

Tuesday, 4/22: Randall's Island Tracklocross. Grasstrack racing on the isle.

Tuesday, 4/29: Randall's Island Tracklocross. Grasstrack racing, circuit racing.

Saturday, 5/10: Harlemegeddon Cycolcross Alleycatastrophe - The Uptown Beatdown. A full-length New York City alleycat featuring off-road checkpoints, out-of-the-way places, and a brazen sense of adventure.

Prizes for winners of every event; collect points toward an overall standing!