Minneapolis has no equal when it comes to sub-zero bicycle insanity. The city's best and most furious don't let a little thing like minus-20-degree temperatures or frozen streets get in the way of pedaling year-round. And for this crew, the race among races is the Stupor Bowl, a quasi-illegal race known as an alley cat. Racers get a map of various checkpoints across the city, then bust to each one before cruising to the finish line. Each racer chooses his own route, so winning is a combination of planning and pedaling. The race is semi-secret and kicks off the Saturday before the big football game. It's one of the longest-running cat races in the country—going on 12 years—and also one of the drunkest. It's one of the only bike races to incorporate beer into the event. Drunks can pick a shorter race option that takes them from dive bar to dive bar, drinking a pint at each stop. Despite the alley cat's legal gray areas, cops usually leave the race alone, as some off-duty cops and government officials are regular participants. It's the greatest winter bicycle race in the United States. And that's not the beer talking.
As one who has not only participated and hosted, but won a SB, it would appear that the judges of the "Cities Best" have never seen any of the Nature Valley Grand Prix. Particularly, the Stillwater criterium. Now thats some bad-ass Twin Cities bike racing, sober or in a stupor.
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