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I woke up late this morning and ended up being late for the Urban Outdoor Adventure Race. Actually, the funny thing is that I was the second person to show up. I probably could've taken my time (and packed my hockey equipment and Rollerblades) before heading down.
In any case, we were grouped together into three teams (two of three and one of two). The race was supposed to start at two, but because people were late, we started after three. I hadn't brought my skates, so I stole one of the (well, the only) extra bike. This made for an interesting combination as our team (JS, PJ and I) was composed of all bikers, while Squishy and PL were both skaters, and the last team (with LDD, SK and D) were all walkers.
Anyway, our team took the bikes and started riding towards one of the closest spots which we had solved the clues for. Along the way, we bumped into one of their friends who happened to be a guru in stuff like this. We showed him the list of clues and he was able to solve most of them. There were only a couple which he didn't know, but they weren't worth many points, so we weren't too worried. Our first stop were the dominoes on Spadina and Bloor, where we took a picture. Then we had a picture at the ROM and it's incomplete expansion. We headed to Queen's Park to look for the starting point for one of the clues, but we had no luck, so we headed down to campus where we ran through one of the navigation puzzles, and then stopped off at O'Grady's for a few shots.
I actually didn't have any drinks. PJ had both of my shots, and in addition to all the drinking he was doing the night before, he was pretty much done for the day. So it was left to JS and I to complete the rest of the tasks. We ended up spending over an hour trying to solve the Queen's Park problem before giving up. We only had half an hour left to bike down to the herd, pass by the ACC, swing through Kensington, and rush back to the house. So the two of us took off on our bikes and weaved through car and people traffic to make it to the cattle herd.
Oh, the bike I was borrowing was designed for someone at least a foot shorter than me. The seat was low and didn't give me much in the way of leg extension. I spent most of my time standing on the bike.
Anyway, the two of us made it down to the herd in ten minutes. Another five minutes to the ACC for another photo shoot. Fifteen minutes to the Kensington market and sit with the King. And then ten minutes back to the house. We were late, but everyone else was more late. Darn.
I hadn't expected to sweat so much, so my shirt wasn't exactly clean by the time we got back. I was able to take a shower and borrow one of Squishy's shirts, although I felt way underdressed for the restaurant we went to afterward. There were a bunch more people there who didn't participate in the UOAR. I only recognized CL though.
The restaurant was small, but cozy. The food was excellent. The tomato soup I had was like liquid smoke, and the rib eye steak was some of the best steak I've ever had, and I generally don't like steak. It was pricey though, but well worth the money as the food was very good quality and there was ample quantity. We topped it off with a birthday cake that LDD made and then they headed to the bar. I headed to my hockey game, but I was already late. By the time I sneaked through downtown traffic to make it home, it was already quarter past eleven. There was no way I was going to make the game, so I stayed at home and cleaned up instead.
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