The first Mooseknuckler Cup happened about seven years ago. It was early Autumn in Logan. The fixie craze was going strong the world over and the Polar North that I was calling home at the time was no exception. Fixed gear bikes abounded in the countless chained bikes attached to bike racks across campus. Every other customer that came into the store asked for one and we kept a few in stock. As the summer selling season was coming to an end, I was looking for a way to extend the excitement of bikes to that period of time when the cold takes a death grip on outdoor activities.
And thus, the Mooseknuckler Cup was born.
The first alley cat was seen, by us, as a huge success. We had somewhere around 10 people show up. I think everyone was on a fixed gear except maybe I-dog who was riding the only bike he had at the time, a Giant Yukon. Poor kid. Keller even brought the Pogalliagi off the wall for a ride through the streets of Logan. Kids from campus showed up uncertain of the scraggly crew that came out of the woodwork. Their shiny fixies didn’t buy them access to the world of excess that the underbelly of Logan cycling was accustomed.
The gathered group was given a small piece of paper with three end points on it. Find them as quickly as possible and make it back to the shop and then whoever was on top of the giant ball of tubes was the winner. It was a king of the hill type winning scenario. I don’t recall who the first person to win was, but their prize was to sign the Mooseknuckler Cup, an athletic supporter purchased to be the cod piece of the Alliance.
And then we drank, told stories and hung around doing skid contests, track stand contests and what not until we couldn’t stand up any more. So we rode home to fall asleep in our respective beds only to awake the next morning jonesing for more. So in a month’s time, we all gathered again bringing our new found cycling friends with us and the group grew… The Mooseknuckler Cup became the quietly talked about event that everyone knew about but no one knew about.
I kept it up through the winter. I think January was the smallest group, there were four or five of us. We did a crit around the quarter block that sits in front of Sunrise. Every corner had ice on it and I don’t remember anyone going down.
It was all fun and games until the underground became the foreground. An event that had been happening for over six months without the slightest incident or public concern came to a shrieking hault when the local fish rubber printed a story about March’s ride. Everyone involved cry and I stepped down and never organized another in Logan. There were a few other participants that wouldn’t be deterred and tried to keep it going on their own, but from what I recall no one showed up. It was dead.
I gave permission for the story to be written. We were all having so much fun and not hurting anyone that I never thought there would be repercussions. The end of the Mooseknuckler Cup in Logan was the greatest setback for the Alliance over the years. It was probably also the only setback for the Alliance. It’s kind of hard to say we went backward when we never knew what we were going toward to begin with. Of course, once I moved back to where the sun shone and the winters were two weeks long, the Alliance has organized multiple cups, but we haven’t had a run like we did in Logan.
Until now. Be at Confluence Park at 8:30 tonight. Why? you ask. Because bikes are rad and there’s nothing better than riding bikes and hanging with friends. Not into racing, who cares. Come and hang out. Ride your bike. Get rad. Fuck yea!
P. L. and R.
