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The Orange Mound Round. 1.7 miles (2.75 km). The course runs counterclockwise and the path will not cross (though it uses a short stretch of the road for both north and southbound. If we have a good, mixed turnout we'll have two rides -- one fixed one geared. That way it should be safer for everyone. We'll have at least one person on the course watching for traffic and if there are two races, there should be others to help out as well.

The afterpart will be at Jacob and Isaiah's on Philadelphia.

Come one, come all, to the final night of the Memphis Downs. We leave Revolutions at 9.

Actually Mike's a slacker who didn't want to get out in the rain this morning to take the spoke cards to Kinko's. I promise I will do this tomorrow morning.

Mike has the Memphis Downs Sprints spokecards over at Outdoors on Union. If you rode last Thursday, stop by to pick yours up.

Sprints Results


Thursday's Memphis Sprint Championships were a tremendous amount of fun. Because of threatening rain and strong winds, we didn't have as huge a turnout as the last time, but 16 intrepid riders still made it out for a leg burning showdown.

Bert Hull brought the fastest legs absolutely dominating the competition. Robbie gave him a run in the final round, but he blew everyone else's helmets off. The final round consisted of a round-robin of the final four riders with Robbie taking second, Josh third and Mike rounding out the top four.

The women's category became really interesting this race with Vivian's unexpected arrival. Fresh off a cross-country bike tour, she threatened with legs of steel and lungs to match (but lighter and with more capacity). She and Amber matched up for a best two out of three which Amber took in two very close races. Congrats to Amber for remaining the fastest woman of the night.

I'll have more later, including photos , but here is a quick break down of the points standings. I'll explain the distribution of points in the comments, if it's stupid call me on it and we'll figure out a better way.

The standings for the Memphis Downs GC, with one ride to go, are:

Denis 32 pts
Josh 32
Chase 28
Kermit 25
Cort 23
Zach 24
Anthony 20
Mike 19
Isaiah 16
Russ 14
Eric 12
Patrick 12
Bert 12
Robby 11
Alex 11
Jackson 10
Amber 10
Nate 10
Dan 10
Jacob 9
Josef 6
PJ 6
Chris 6
Vivian 6
Kellen 4
Kyle 4
John 4
Brad 3
Jason 2

The Sprint portion of the 2007 Memphis Downs will occur Thursday 19 October at 9. The evening will start with a short scavenger hunt to the drag strip to establish seeding. More later, y'all.

SPRINT RACE CHANGE

The Memphis Downs Sprint Championship will be held on Thursday 18 October. We will leave Revolutions at 9, so be there early for directions.

The first ride of the Memphis Downs was completed last night and it ended as a great success.

Denis and Chase led the race home completing the course of ten garages (57 stories combined) over 23 miles. Anthony, Kermit and I were right behind them to round out the top five. Amber took the women's classification with an impressive sprint to the finish. In all twenty-one people completed the course and contributed over $200 to Revolutions. Pictures at www.flickr.com/photos/idontsayyall


Special thanks to Walz caps for two awesome caps for the winners and to DBI distributing and Pabst for keeping the after-party stocked well into the morning. Thanks also to Denis and Midtown bikes for the discount offered to all riders on online orders.

The standings for the Memphis Downs GC after one ride are:

Denis 22 pts
Chase 22
Anthony 20
Josh 20
Kermit 19
Cort 17
Isaiah 16
Zach 14
Russ 14
Eric 12
Patrick 12
Alex 11
Jackson 10
Jacob 9
Mike 8
Amber 7
Kellen 4
Kyle 4
John 4
Brad 3
Jason 2

The next ride will be the Memphis Sprint Championships on Friday October 19th. See this site for more information closer to the date.

Checkpoints, thoughts and rules for the first ride

245 Washington
49 S. Front Street
505 Zach Curlin
Comfort Inn
Cannon Center/Hilton (lowest level)
Third and Monroe, West of Autozone Park
869 Madison
Commerce (Market) Square Parking
340 Innovation Drive
Parking Can Be Fun

afterparty/finish: 2241 monroe

Instructions for manifests will be announced at the beginning of the ride. Riders are advised to wear a helmet and have proper lights and reflectors on their bikes. We also require that all traffic laws be respected - especially speed and weight limits.

This ride requires that all participants act in an honorable manner. If you think it is cheating, it is cheating, so don't do it. Go to every garage, please. All podium positions and three random riders will be selected for post-ride blood tests. All riders currently under investigation by the UCI, WADA, CONI or their respective national anti-doping committees will be barred from participation.

The points for the overall champion of the Memphis Downs will work like this: Riders receive points in each ride for the order in which they finish. The first place finisher receives as many points as there are riders in the specific ride. For example, if 37 riders ride tomorrow night, the first place finisher receives 37 points, the second place rider receives 36, etc. Bonuses may be given and will be announced with every ride. Fixed gear riders will receive a one point bonus for the first and third stages, but not the sprint stage (specific rules for that stage will apply).

In sum, don't cheat, show up tomorrow, it will be a blast. Walz sent their caps, PBR came through for the afterparty and there will be tons of fun for all.

Ok everyone, this is how it is going to work.

The Memphis Downs is a three ride series. The cost to participate in each ride is $10. This will include spoke cards, prizes for the winners (men and women!) and beverages at the afterparty. One may also renew their Revolutions membership (annual cost, $40) and participate in the entire series. For more information don't hesitate to contact me (jmgorman at gmail dot com) or Anthony (sirac at riseup dot net).

This year's Memphis Downs will be a three-ride series featuring the parking garage alley-cat, the Memphis sprint championships and a downtown criterium. The first event, the parking garage alley-cat, will take place on Thursday 27 September starting at Revolutions at 9pm. See this site in the coming weeks for rules and for more information. Send me an email if you are going to ride so I can start getting everything together.

Coming soon.

Last night's running of the Memphis Downs was a fantastic success. Joel Glasgow and Susan Williams proved themselves to be masters of the Memphis Mountains and Jon Driscol won the points-race by 1/100 of a point (seriously folks, it was that close). Not one person was injured and only a few riders were threatened with arrest - all-in-all, a successful night out. Well, on to the results.

Isaiah and Roger were the first riders to arrive at the after-party, but because they heeded the warnings of the Peabody Place security guards, they were unable to climb all ten garages. They were followed by a small pack of riders (who, despite not racing, still managed to climb several garages like champs) and , finally, the first riders to complete the whole course. Joel, took first place, overall, for the men and Susan, for the women. I only, this afternoon, tallied the points, and found a couple of surprises (points from all of the garages were added up and divide by the number of garages which is represented in parenthases.)

Jon Driscol 4.1 (10)
Brad 4.111 (9)
Jackson 4.8 (9)
Ryan 5.16 (6)
Joel 5.375 (8)
Isaiah 5.5 (8)
Daniel 5.5 (6)
Denis 5.7 (10)
Susan 6.6 (10)
Roger 6.714 (7)
Rachel 9.3 (3)

With 14 riders and supporters we managed to raise $100 for the Revolutions Community Bike Shop and to nearly drink all of the beer (I'll be bringing the left-overs next thursday). I want to take another opportunity to thank Denis for volunteering gift-certificates to Midtown Bikes as prizes and to everyone who came out to ride.

I have pictures up at flickr and Hopefully I'll be able to get some of the pictures Anna Beth took as well.

Oh, and someone left their blue acrylic pimp-cup here. I'm assuming it was Jackson's roomate, but only because his semi-askew hat indicated his underlying pimpness.

Born of the Thursday night rides (formerly FNO) is the first Memphis Downs Ride. An alley-cat of sorts, the Downs will consist of 10 downtown parking garages. At 9 pm, September 14, riders will be given a list of the garages and the race will begin from the East parking lot of the First Congregational Church in Cooper-Young. This is not a closed course - in fact, you choose your own - and you will be riding in traffic. Prizes will be given for the first riders, among the men and women, to complete the course. An after-party will follow the ride.

Participation requires $10, with all proceeds going to the Revolutions Community Bike Shop. We also encourage riders to bring old parts, tools and frames to donate to Revolutions.

Contact information in the coments...