The Mobile Social, the group that hosts the ride, has reported just under a hundred participants. The ride starts at Woodruff Park in downtown Atlanta. (Group pic of start from Mobile Social FB page).
The ride included 5 checkpoints and two bonus stops. Each stop gained you points for making a purchase and completing a physical or mental challenge. The stops included:
I'm not gonna lie, I just straight up guessed. I actually had one right, then changed it. Bummer. A lot of people hit Noni's first as it was the closest to the start. The poor guy working the bar had his hands full as a zillion bikey people started showing up trying to get the purchase bonus.
Challenge: Take a selfie with ABC staff member.
This one was easy.
About 500 yards from the next location, Graham flatted. He had repair supplies with him but unfortunately he sliced his tire bad enough that he couldn't continue so he had to abandon.
The real challenge here was getting something from the bar for the purchase bonus. Jay and I stood at the bar for a good 10 minutes before being served and we were the only people waiting at that time. If it were only me there, I'd chalk up my perception of the wait time to me being in a rush, but Jay was wondering what the heck was going on also. Whatevs.
On the way from Argosy to The Pullman
This one was fun, fast and easy. It was also great to be immediately put on a list so that we could do the challenge in the order we showed up, since only 2 could go at a time. The bar staff and the folks running the challenge at this location were extremely on point. This place is right by Graham's hut, so I called and tried to get him to rejoin but he did not.
On the way to the next location, Jay flatted. He busted out a quick roadside repair and we were back on our way. Then things took a turn for the worse. About 800 yards later, he flatted again. We'll never know if the sharp wire we found inside the tire was a legit new flat or if the wire had been in the tire from the previous flat but not removed. Good thing Jay brought two tubes. After a few minutes we were headed out again, and I heard Jay shout something from behind. He had taken a spill. Bloody knee bizness. Said it was from an issue with the chain coming off. Felt kind of bad since I was the one who reinstalled the wheel on his bike. Sorry buddy.
King of Pops World HQ
Challenge: Buy a pop, save receipt.This was a bonus location, and we were going right past it on the way to the next place. I chose the "mystery pop" which ended up being banana and cinammon. Freakin delicious. The Beltline was predictably crowded.
This would have been fun if I'd had actually had a chance to do it. Unfortunately things here were kind of unorganized, which meant that although Jay and I showed up before some of the other arrivals, we got skipped about 3 times in favor of other people. After the second time I spoke up and said something. By this timeI was starting to think that the actual challenge looked like something I wouldn't have been to great at anyway. One of the rules was that you had to include your own bike and I wasn't into the idea of scratching up or potentially damaging my bike just for some points. So Jay and I agreed, as we got skipped for the third time, that we should just go ahead and try to head to the next location which was a longer distance away than all of the other checkpoints, and had a higher point value. I think a lot of people had a lot of fun at this challenge, but it worked out pretty bad for us. The bar staff were super cool though, and I still got my purchase points. Oh well, onward!
It took us a while to actually find the door to this place, as it is tucked away beneath the stairs of a shopping center type deal. Then once we actually went inside, the first thing we saw were a bunch of really dressed up folks at the bar, and we were wondering if we were in the right place. One of the bar staff saw us and directed us downstairs, and we eventually found the section for the terminus challenges. These challenges were lots of fun, and I would love to go back to this place later and check it out with some friends. The folks running the challenges here were very organized, were taking people in order of arrival, and seemed like they were having a blast.
No Challenge here. This was the end point, after party/awards ceremony location. Had some excellent post ride food and maybe one too many beers.
We stuck around for the awards ceremony, because the great thing about this event, aside from the fundraising for a great cause, is that lots of people win lots of things for lots of reasons. The awards ceremony was fun, and wouldn't you know it Jay got the award for "Most Average Rider". I think what they meant was "Most Consistent Scorer" but it was announced as "Most Average", which I thought was pretty funny. He got a big round of applause and a top tube pad made out of a repurposed inner tube.
Graham, me and Jay
Overall it was another fun year of Terminus5C action. My strategy for next year is going to be not buying beer for the purchase points at each location. Gonna limit the beers to the last 2 locations and just get something else at each spot early on.
I said this last year and I will repeat it again now...this event is fun for pretty much anyone that can ride a bike comfortably in city traffic, and everyone should give it abgo, you'll have an adventure and probably a total blast.
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