New Belgium Brewery Urban Assault Ride

My Race partner, Jack, rollin' into downtown Minneapolis.

A few weeks ago I participated in the Urban Assault with my 9yr old son, Jack.  It is basically a bicycle powered scavenger hunt.  Clues and checkpoints lead you all across the city.  At checkpoints, we had to complete (often silly) challenges.  One was a trip down a water slide - timely, as we were about 40 minutes into the race and beginning to get a little hot.  One challenge was skateboard bowling.  I sat on a board, Jack pushed me towards a set of pins.  We got a strike!

Riders, trying to complete a carpet puzzle - frustrated...

Over the course of 3 hours, I think we covered about 16 miles.  It was hot and my partner was determined, but still began to fade towards the end.  One last checkpoint was left, but was a LONG ride away, so we decided to pack it in and head to the finish. Once there, we had to complete a racecourse on a tricked-out "bigwheel" (Jack's favorite part), then run and dive down a huge, inflatable slip-n-slide to the finish line.

Bigwheels=Big fun!

Rad slip-n-slide finish line.

Later in the afternoon, Jack cleaned up in the mini-bike limbo contest.  He won a messenger bag large enough to hold his kid brother!  Dance-off's and other crazed contests entertained us for several more hours. 

Jack, dominating in bike limbo.

Kids, look away.  Bearded-man dance-off.

Don't miss this ride if it comes near your town.  And pick a fun partner.  Though it's billed as a "ride", its a race, so bring your competitive spirit too.  Thanks for such a fun event, New Belgium!