The 4/20 Race & Bake would be the 1st Team Relay race that T.O.D would organize. With April 20th falling on a Saturday, the title of “Race & Bake” was a no Brainer. Rules were simple, Grab a team of 3 riders, Fixed and Single Speed only. Teams would consist of 1 rider for distance, 1 for heavy traffic and 1 for a full out sprint. The most difficult part of the 4/20 race & bake would be organizing a team. This had many NYC riders scrambling to put on the perfect team. since it would be impossible to ride with a baton like running relay races, we decided to go with bungee cords with tags of the team names. From the buzz on the internet and the streets, this would be a very interesting race. 

Registration would begin on 145th & amsterdam at 2:30pm with the race starting at 4:20pm. Upon my arrival, I noticed a few rider were anxiously awaiting their teammates, Some came out without a team hoping to pair up at registration. As it got closer to race time the turn out was looking pretty good with 15 team registered (45 racers in total).

At 4:00pm, I separated the team into their specific categories and announced where their relay point would be so they could head down and wait for their partner. The distance riders would stay on 145th and amsterdam while the heavy traffic would ride down to 59th st & Columbus Circle and the Sprinters would ride down to 23rd and 5th ave. The finish line would be Washington Sq park where we provided baked goods (Cupcakes & Pizza) for those who participated in todays race. The 4/20 Race & Bake was about to go down. 

The distance riders would have to line their bikes up on the corner and sprint from the wall to start the race. Riders were anxious to get the race started but with all T.O.D races, we start exactly at the scheduled time. 

The racers took off to complete what would be the longest part of the race, a sprint from 145th and amsterdam to Columbus circle .

Unfortunately we didn’t have anyone at the 2 relay points to shoot photos so lets just fast forward to the finish line shall we. Team Coco Cherry Mango (Angel Lalo & Toni) took 1st place with Team Boda Boda (Josh, Hiromi & Geri) coming in at a very close 2nd place with 3rd going to Loko Track 2 (Raf, Chino & Johnny).

Team Coco Cherry Mango 

Team Boda Boda

We had 1 racer who was detained by the NYPD for Riding against traffic, It took 7 Police cars to detain one cyclist. Good to know my tax dollars are being put to work. Overall the event was a success and I cant wait to work on the next relay race. Track Or Die NYC will add the Relay Race to our line up of events along with the Central Park 2 Lap Jam and Alley Cat races.  Thanks to everyone who came out, raced and supported this event.

Teams that entered the 4.20 Race & Bake:

Team Indecisive, Team Loko Track 1, team Loko track 2, Team Group Sec’s, Team Just the 2 of us, Team Ah Sh!t, Team Freaks, Team ill Squad, teamSilent But Deadly, Team Power Puff Puff Girls, Team Jesus was a jew, Team Boda Boda, Team Jam, Team FB fam.