The moment I've been waiting all year for is finally here:  Babes in Bikeland 4!

Pre-registration is up on the Babes in Bikeland website.  Sign up and get your t-shirt at the discounted price until September 17th.

Check in starting at 5 PM at the Soap Factory to register, get your shirt, and receive your manifest.

Race begins at 6 PM sharp.

The course is just over 20 miles, and you have two hours to complete it.

Angry Catfish is both the finish line of the race and the after party location.

Awards will be at 10:30 PM.

If you have not heard of this alleycat, it is the largest all- female (trans welcome!) alleycat race in the US of A.  This year, the theme of the race is "Womens Liberation."  How fucking rad is that?!

I will let the BiB website fill you in on the rest:

What's this event about?
Chelsea and Kayla met on a group bike ride and a beautiful friendship was born. Then they went to other group biking rides, races, and events and met other amazing women who biked. Beautiful friendships were growing at an exponential rate! And then they grew faster and stronger and more confident on their bikes because they had great women to ride with. And then they thought, "What if there was an event where we got a whole bunch of women together to ride bikes and create friendships at exponential rates and get faster and stronger and more confident on their bikes?!" And then Babes in Bikeland was born.

Can I volunteer?
Can women volunteer?
Do I need to ride a certain type of bike?
Do I have to break traffic laws and ride dangerously?
How long is the race?
Why should I participate?

Last year I did my first alleycat race- Babes in Bikeland.  I raced with my good friend Bruzo, and her friend Corinne.  We ate some pizza and had a few glasses of... water... and rode 18ish miles together.  We placed in the top 50%!  But most importantly we yelled encouragement at fellow BiB racers and each other as we raced around our city, picking up items, making drops, flexing our muscles for cameras, busting out hip hop dance moves and all sorts of crazy things.  The solidarity and camaraderie were so wonderful, and I made a lot of really sweet friends at the after party.

You bet your bloomers I'll be riding again in Babes in Bikeland this year!!

If you've never raced an alleycat before, this is the perfect first race.  This race will make you feel powerful, whether or not you are competitive, whether or not you finish, whether or not you consider yourself a part of the "bike scene."  Bring some WTFs with you, and ride.  Fun, bikes, WTFs, prizes, free beer...  This will be the best 5 bucks you'll spend all summer, trust me.

Grease Rag is involved in planning a picnic potluck for the day after the race with the theme of "Race Recovery" with the goal to meet, greet, and eat!  This will be an opportunity to extend your race high through another day of fun and games and good vegetarian food with other WTFs.  More info coming soon in the next few days.