The Internet is buzzing with what could be the highlight of Carmageddon Weekend. The legendary bicycling racing team the Wolfpack Hustle will race Bike Commute News writer Joe Anthony. While Joe is a pretty strong cyclist in his own right, a set of wounded ribs has Anthony riding a different vehicle, a Jet Blue airplane.
For those of you that missed the brilliant public relations move, Jet Blue is offering a limited number of flights between Burbank and Long Beach for the cool price of $4 a ticket ($5 for extra legroom). The deal sold out in hours, but the Jet Blue public relations team saw immediate value in Anthony's proposal.
The race will be door to destination, with Jet Blue and a taxi competing what one of the hustle's organizer's refer to as "A highly tuned traffic machine." Jet Blue is covering the cost of Anthony's ticket with Gary Rides Bikes covering the cost of the taxi. Anthony gets a free ride, but even with a jet underneath him can he beat the Wolfpack? Anthony is already explaining away a possible defeat, "Considering the amount of time it takes to check in at the airport, go through security, fly time, exiting the plane, etc...I think the cyclists have the advantage. However, considering this might be the only opportunity to ever beat the Wolfpack in a race, this Jet Rida will be telling the pilot to HTFU and step on the gas."
A couple of notes on the race:
- The route will run over forty miles, which isn't a long distance for this team which usually hustles 50-70 miles
- The bike riders aren't the whole group known as Wolfpack Hustle, just Wolfpack A, the elite of the already elite hustle crowd
- Wolfpack A "rides legal," i.e. this won't turn into a story about how cyclists have to run red lights to win the race
- This entire idea was hatched and organized on twitter. The idea started with a tweet from Gary Kavanagh, was proposed to Jet Blue by Anthony and the Wolfpack was organized all on social media yesterday morning and afternoon. Anthony's Bike Commute News piece provides the timeline, and a case study on how to use social media.
If it seems unlikely that the hustle can be competitive while following all the rules of the road, after all the Jet Blue special flights are flying because car traffic is expected to be so terrible, one of the pack leaders tells me that the disciplined hustle can manage its own speed.
"If you time traffic lights, the average speed of "Wolfpack A" at twenty six miles per hour is perfect for hitting green lights," explains Roadblock. "If you're running from twenty-two to twenty-eight miles an hour, it should be easy to beat the jet rida." For the record, despite his legendary status in the community, Roadblock is not part of Wolfpack A...they're too fast for him.
We'll have full coverage on Monday, and you can follow the race on twitter by following @wolfpackhustle and @ohaijoe.
