In an ironic Amazing Race-like finish, our fate was decided in the last 36 seconds along Crissy Field’s Mason St. in a taxi! Yup, you heard me, a taxi. Read on I’ll explain.

For the next installment of pain, I hooked up with Donato and Aja to participate in the second annual San Francisco Oyster Urban Adventure Race. I personally really enjoy urban adventure races. I may actually be the only one on t he team that truly likes them and seeks them out. Donato will do , well, just about anything to get his adrenaline fuelled race fix, so he was a shoe in. And Aja was itchin to get some racing in before the close of the season after having put some time in organizing races for the Tahoe Big Blue folks.

So with the required “race fees” paid, which were actually donations in the amount of $300 we needed to collect as a team, we were registered in the traditional co-ed division where we expecting some stuff competition.

Race morning I got up way too early in order to be at the staging area by 6am from all the way out at my new home in the sticks. Race packet said start/finish was at Chrissy Field. So I naturally assumed Chrissy Field parking lot. After waiting there for 45 minutes and no sign of any race organizers i decided to head out and look to see what was going on. I found the real start/finish way down at the west end of Chrissy Field! Not a good start to the day.

I rendezvous with DP who arrived with Gulnur who would be our support crew for the day and Aja arrived shortly after. A-Bomb was also racing with a couple friends form his track club called the “Dirty Cheetahs” appropriately. And making an appearance the day after his successful 50 mile trail run, Brian would also crew for us!

After settling into our transition area and messin’ with our gear we had the pre-race meeting and received out first of 6 sets of passports. The passports were a laminated card that contained photos and instructions on how to complete the given leg of the race. I actually thought the passport was cool idea and can see how it would be useful in other 24 hour and remote races. Its a nice handy source to have rules of travel, emergency contact info, leg goals, destination information etc…

The race started at about 8:15am with teams running east down Mason St. towards our targets; The Palace of Fine Arts and Fort Mason. We started off pretty hard bouncing between second and third place down to the end of Crissy Field and along the Marina Green. Some teams went for The Palace first and some went to Fort Mason first. We opted for Fort mason because our target, the statue of Phillip Burton we new its location. The plaque of BF Modglin we weren’t so sure and figured wed see some teams leaving that location on our return.

We took the team photo in from of the statue and made our way to the Palace. Teams started quickly stacking up at the statue as we were leaving. This was going to be a fast race! We lucky found the plaque without wasting too much time, snapped another photo and made out way back to the finish line, but not without first filling our third requirement; finding a local with a cup of coffee from Starbucks and taking another photo!

The next leg of the race would require the three of us to split up and each take a different mode of transportation. Because Aja’s ankle was bothering her, she took the bike out to the Legion of Honor. DP scrappy and quick on his feet as he is took off on foot to the sand stairs at Baker Beach. I was the lucky SOB to get the scooter and make my way to the a Luna Inn and the City Car Share located there.

We were hooked up by local legend and inventor of the Dirt Diggler; Rob, with 3 Dirt Dawg off road scooters for this race. Thanks Rob! Check out http://www.digglerstore.com/ One small problem though. We were riding the kids versions and therefore had much smaller tires that our competitions scooters. So this equaled tiring out quickly and often. But fun ride regardless.

I was the first to return to the TA, but Aja and DP were right behind me and almost no time was wasted.

Finally time to get on our bikes as a team. We blasted down the Marina Green, AGAIN, and onto the Embarcadero sidewalk. Dodging a bazillion tourists along the way we made out way toward City kayak, but not before dropping Aja off at Gordon Biersch where her task was too “our the perfect pint”. Aja, having been a bartender in a previous life was probably done before DP and I even got into our kayaks.

Dp and I were issued a sit on top Cobra Kayak. Shivers and flashbacks of the 2000 Fog Dog race in Malibu and our 3 person sit on top in the Pacific Ocean started to come to me. Our goal was to paddle out under the Bay Bridge, around a buoy an d back again. At this point we were in 3rd place, but very close to the second place team which was an all male team.

We paddled back to City kayak and met u with Aja and flew back down the Embarcadero and back down Crissy Fields Mason St. AGAIN to the TA.

For our next leg we were to go to the China Town gate and find a ginger root. This is where we could have done a bit better. In the Oyster, in certain legs you are allowed to take public transportation. And even sometimes cabs. We opted to start running and then run down bus lines that would take us close to the gates. But a bus never came and we ended up running the entire way to China Town! hey we earned it! On the way back we hoped on a trolley and after a few blocks the trolley operation discovered us a kicked us off because apparently it was a private charter. No amount of money would persuade him! We eventually took a bus down Columbus and back to Fort Mason. Then we ran the stretch back down Mason St. to Crissy Field.. AGAIN. (notice a trend here?).

We lost a bit of time on this leg because a lot of teams opted for busses earlier than we did.

Now for the most painful leg of the race. The scooter leg. I was convinced having a kick bike for this race would give us the upper hand on the roller blades. I had assumed we’d be going into the interior of the city more than we did. However all of our legs and especially this scooter leg, was only along the shore and completely level ground. So we were no match for the inline skaters. Every 10 kicks on the scooter you had to switch legs and go another 10 kicks, etc… My legs became tired very fast! We completed the scooter leg after tieing a special knot at the Hyde St. Pier.

This is where it gets nuts. For the final leg we had to visit REI on Brannen St. as well as do some shopping for local goods at Whole Foods on 4th and Harrison. Again, public transportation was in play. Also we heard form our crew that cabs were also legit! So after a confusing moment in front of the port-a-potties and strategizing on what we’d do, I spotted a cab coming down towards us on Mason St. mere feet in front of the TA! What were the odds! DP quickly flagged it down and Aja barreled out of the john and we were on our way to our check point in our cab.

I heard later alot of teams had to run clear up to Lombard to flag a cab. We dropped Aja off at Whole Foods to do the shopping for 3 local foods and DP and I went to REI where DP had to filter water form one bin to another up to a black line. Once completing both tasks we were on our way back to the finish.. in a cab

As we relaxed and enjoyed the leisurely ride back to the finish and approached Crissy Field, our cab driver, Mohammad looks in his rear view mirror and mentions that he thinks there might be another team behind us. He says that since Lombard St. this other cab has been trying to get around him and driving kinda crazy! Mohammad decides to turn right to go under the highway and then left onto Mason St. The other team who we identify at Andy Tubbs Team goes straight then make a right and left blowing a stop sign and cutting of another car! We were in first, now in second! The final approach to the finish there was no way around the SLOW car we were stuck behind. Andy’s team was a lock. Mohammad wasn’t exactly the most “aggressive” driver either

We pulled up and crossed the line 36 seconds after Andy’s team and biter with defeat… but high fives, hugs and stores for everybody.

The race was fun and the transition was excellent. Stocked with plenty to drink, and eat and fun for spectators to watch the race unfold. However the location and the route to the checkpoint had us repeating the run down Mason St. in Crissy Field before and after every leg of the race. The route became tedious and boring. It would have been nice to have been routed into the interior of the city more. Other than the China Town leg, all of our checkpoints were along the embarcadero or shoreline.

Greta race SF Oyster gang. Looking forward to next year!

Photos: Gulnur’s photos.
Photos: Brian’s photos.
Link: Race website.
Link: Race Results.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 7:48 am and is filed under Race Reports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. [Permalink]