The Urban Assault Ride™ is the biggest Bicycle Obstacle Event series in the nation! Here’s how it works: You and your teammate will set out on a city-wide quest for ‘checkpoints’ on your favorite two-wheeled steeds. At each checkpoint, you’ll drop your bikes and complete a funky/adventurous obstacle course, then remount your bikes and hit the streets for more.

The goal is to complete all the checkpoints in the shortest amount of time. You choose your own route and checkpoint order. This means that the most clever are often the victors. Of course, it may also help if you can pull a mean big-wheel powerslide and fly across an inflatable slip-n-slide.

After your pedal-powered adventure, your team will cross the finish line and enter a massive celebration of New Belgium Brewing Co’s whimsical ways, bikes, and big wheels. The after party is just as much fun as the ride itself, thanks to the craziest raffle prize contest you’ll ever experience.

Pick a partner and we’ll see you there!!

Tucson AZ – February 26th, 2012 Benefitting: SDMB: “Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists”

Kicking off the season in the Old Pueblo once again.

Price: Only $30 -60/person! (Sign up early for the best prices) You’ll get a 100% cotton t-shirt, a couple of free beers at the after party, some great swag from our sponsors, and entered into some contests to win even more great prizes!

Online Registration closes Friday, February 24th, at 4pm.

Packet Pick Up: (Saturday 2/25 11am-2pm) (LAST CHANCE TO SIGN UP!!!)
Location: Skybar 536 N. 4th Ave, Tucson

VIP Package: $10/person
Includes:

100% Cotton Urban Assault Ride T-Shirt
Custom Urban Assault Ride waterbottle
Surly Junk Strap
Super Quick Check-In on SUNDAY morning (you DO NOT need to come to packet pickup on Saturday with the VIP Package)

Start/Finish: Sunday 2/26 9am Reid Park, Tucson AZ

After Party Food and Drink: A special thanks to some great local food and drink vendors joining is for the Urban Assault Ride after party. Bring some cash and your appetite:

Mr K’s BBQ
Renee’s Organic Oven
Peddler on the Path Coffee
Isabella’s Ice Cream

Off-Limit Streets: These streets can be crossed but not ridden. Bike lanes on these streets ARE permitted.

210/Aviation Parkway (you CAN ride the bike path, but stay off the highway)
5th/6th St from Wilmot to Davis
Santa Cruz and Rillito River Bike Paths*

*Due to the high speed and high volume of the Urban Assault Ride, please avoid using these bike paths so as to not disrupt normal Sunday morning traffic.

Obstacle Checkpoints: (checkpoints can be reached in any order)

Sunflower Market (4625 E. Speedway Bl)
Tahoe Park (2000 E. Edison St.)
Himmel Park (1000 N. Tucson Blvd., SOUTHWEST CORNER)
Tucson Children’s Museum (200 South 6th Avenue)
Ordinary Bike Shop (311 E. 7th St.)

Mystery Checkpoints: There will be 2 ‘mystery checkpoints’ which all teams will have to locate – in addition to the obstacle checkpoints above. The 1st clue will be available the Thursday before the race. The 2nd mystery checkpoint clue will be revealed when you reach the 1st mystery checkpoint.

Bonus Quiz: Take the OPTIONAL bonus quiz before the UAR to gain valuable time. The best scores on the quiz start the UAR 1st.

You have from Wednesday until Friday at 4pm to complete your team’s quiz.

Online registration ends today at 4 p.m. — don’t delay! http://www.urbanassaultride.com/tucson

I happened upon this “assault” of urban Tucson last Spring, 2010 at Tahoe Park and wrote up a quick blog, followed by exciting & funny photos later (links below):

http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2011/03/20/urban-assault-ride-in-tucson-today/

http://tucsoncitizen.com/community/2011/03/27/urban-assault-ride-photos/

Good luck everyone who participates — hope you all have a lot of fun as you exercise your way throughout those urban bicycle pathways/routes.

Last week Sunday’s New Belgium Brewing Urban Assault Ride was an amazing feat of urban bicycling around Tucson — from downtown Maynard’s Market out to Risky Business (250 S. Craycroft) as well as up to the NW Sunflower Market (2582 N. 1st Ave.) — to do a “scavenger hunt” by collecting 8 beads at each checkpoint for the ultimate win, back at Maynard’s. There were also obstacles to complete at these checkpoints, as evidenced in the photo below from Tahoe Park (2000 E. Edison, southwest of Bookman’s on Grant).

I reported on this urban bicycling event last Sunday May 20, click here, witnessing it as bicycle teams arrived at Tahoe Park and at Himmel Park.

Photos of the event are here and online at Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists, courtesy of Zach MacDonald: http://www.facebook.com/SDMB.org. More great photos at Maynard’s by Christopher James Vincent are also online at that same facebook page.

Big Foot "assaulting" Hank Rowe

twin banana team arriving

2 person wheelbarrow obstacle at Tahoe Park

Batman & Robin team #163

pirate team # 101 at Tahoe Park

Urban Assault volunteers at Tahoe Park

Looking forward to next year’s Urban Assault Ride!

About 800 people (400 teams of 2 each) “assaulted” the urban bike ways of Tucson today, participating in the 2011 New Belgium Brewing Urban Assault Ride scavenger hunt competition. This event is in its 9th year, and Tucson was the kick-off city of 10 U.S. cities.

From their website: http://www.urbanassaultride.com/tucson

The Urban Assault Ride™ is the biggest bicycle scavenger hunt series in the nation! Here’s how it works: You and your teammate will set out on a city-wide quest for ‘checkpoints’ on your favorite two-wheeled steeds. At each checkpoint, you’ll drop your bikes and complete a funky/adventurous obstacle course, then remount your bikes and hit the streets for more.

The goal is to complete all the checkpoints in the shortest amount of time. You choose your own route and checkpoint order. This means that the most clever are often the victors.

I happened upon the Tahoe Park checkpoint, 2000 E. Edison St. when some participants biked in to do an obstacle (human wheelbarrow race), pick up their blue bead, and continue on to other checkpoints and ultimately to the finish line at Maynard’s Market, 400 N. Toole Ave. The race also started at Maynard’s so it could be about a 24 mile ride from Maynard’s out to the 8 checkpoints (assuming you could find them all) and back downtown.

I also dropped by the Himmel Park checkpoint where the obstacle was to toss their shoes into a bag. There were 6 official check points and 2 mystery checkpoints:

Obstacle Checkpoints: (checkpoints can be reached in any order)

* Risky Business (250 S. Craycroft Rd., #140)
* Sky Bar (536 N. 4th Ave.)
* Sunflower Market (4282 N. 1st Ave.)
* Summit Hut (5045 E. Speedway Blvd.)
* Tahoe Park (2000 E. Edison St.)
* Himmel Park (1000 N. Tucson Blvd., SOUTHWEST CORNER)

Mystery Checkpoints: There will be 2 ‘mystery checkpoints’ which all teams will have to locate – in addition to the obstacle checkpoints above. The 1st clue is below (on their website). The 2nd mystery checkpoint clue will be revealed when you reach the 1st mystery checkpoint.

Many teams of two came by at Tahoe Park and Himmel Park, some in regular bike gear, some in pink tutus, fake Hawaiian lei, and one team dressed as Batman & Robin (team #163). Also encountered neighbor Ed Stokes and his 11 year old daughter Livian (“Team Laser Cats”).

This Urban Assault event in Tucson benefited WOW Arizona!,
Wild Outdoor World of Arizona, an educational non-profit corporation:

WOW ARIZONA! is committed to sharing environmental information that can be utilized in urban and rural applications. Whether it be hiking, biking, birding, lepping, gardening or habitat restoration we are dedicated to sharing information that will help people rediscover nature. Our public outreach programs are supported by our Bed & Breakfast, Eco-tours and events, consultation on habitat restoration and exclusive sales of on-site Nature Photography.

Photos of the Tahoe Park checkpoint teams were taken by volunteer Zach MacDonald of Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists. These photos are posted on their Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/SDMB.org.

Congratulations to all the participants as it sounded like way too much urban assault on a bike for me, a mere recreational bicyclist. But it looked like a whole lot of fun for fit bicyclists!