Urban Assault Race Recap

This is the third UAR that Carri and I have participated in and each year they are hands down the most fun races that we do in Austin. This year proved to be no different. This year's event was also enhanced by the fact that throughout the day we kept running into our friends, Erin and Lulu (who got 4th place in the female division, you girls rock) and Dave and Brian (who finished right before us in the men's division).

As in past years the race begins with a Le Mans style start of running from Run Tex to the bike corral on the other side of South 1st. From here it was a short ride to our first stop...

Rio Grande: At this stop, I had to throw 4 bean bags into a tiny ramped hole that was approximately 10-15 feet away. This took a little time especially since I was so amped up from the start of the race. After leaving RG it was time for the one long ride of the day to...

Subaru: The leg of the ride up to Subaru is a little over 5 miles and is clearly the longest single ride section of the day. Once we got there I was hoping for an easy, catch your breath obstacle. This was not the case as I had to push Carri in a wheelbarrow around a cone course. Luckily it was early in the event and my energy level was still high. Coming out of Subaru we headed to the first landmark checkpoint...

Hyde Park Gym: This is the first of many checkpoints we would run into Dave and Brian (they acted as a worthy nemesis all day long). At this checkpoint the clue pointed us to the next secret checkpoint. After asking around I got the answer as Mozart. At this point I should have just listened to the wife since she said she knew where it was but I still wanted to make a call and Google it. If I would have just listened to her we could have shaved at least five minutes off our overall time. Sorry, honey. From HPG we headed to...

Ozone:There was a tremendous line at Ozone this year. And we waited at least 30 minutes. During this time we conferred with Erin and Lulu and Dave and Brian about the clues. And talked ourselves out of Mozart's being a landmark. Would this lead to our downfall? Read on to find out. While in line, we actually came up with the third mystery checkpoint as one of the 10 foot Gibson guitars that are all over town. This particular one was down on Sixth street. After waiting in line and going through the obstacle course at Ozone it was off to...

Buffalo Billiards: This is where the Gibson Guitar was located, grabbed the bead here and asked if the guy had a clue for us, NOPE. Well then I guess Mozart's was correct after all. From BB we headed down Sixth Street to...

Pure: The challenge here was to find colored letters displayed around the perimeter of their facility. After finding only four of the 16 letters I knew the answer, "Follow your Folly". I told Dave and Brian the answer and then we were off to the...

Last mystery checkpoint: Mozart's. Simply grabbed a bead here and then to the...

Rowing Dock: After removing shoes, socks, cell phones, etc. it was into an inflatable canoe, out around a buoy and back. The only stipulation is both partners had to have their feet in the boat, so no kicking. This was a pretty tiring upper body workout. Quickly getting shoes and socks back on we headed to...

Bicycle Sport Shop: An inflatable obstacle that certainly was not designed to have so many adults scamper through it at one time. Crawling though and over and under and then up a wall and down the other side. Pretty tough but also pretty short. Then it was off to...

Jack & Adams: Here we raced adult big wheels around a course. Carri passed me on the back stretch as I took a turn too quickly and spun out. The big wheels are always fun each year. From J&A we were off to our final stop...

Jo's Coffee: At this stop each person had to walk on stilts down to there partner, then pass off the stilts and wait for their partner to make the return trip. I did fairly well on these considering this was my first time on stilts. Of course my ability was overshadowed by Carri as she was moving with the grace of a gazelle on the stilts. Does she practice this stuff when I am not around? She blazed through the stilt challenge. After Jo's it was downhill to the finish at

Runtex: We re-racked the bikes and ran to the final obstacle another big inflatable water slide, where you climb to the top and then slide down to a pool of water. A nice way to cool off after a hard event.

After-party: One of the reasons we do the UAR every year is not only is it a great event but they have a great party afterwards with tons of food, a great DJ, awesome New Belgium beer, and other fun events such as a big wheel time trial this year. This year we stayed through the awards ceremony and the raffle and were rewarded by winning two New Belgium hats.

Till next year.