Race Report — ReLoad Bags April Fools Fun Ride 2015

On a brisk Saturday morning cyclists from cities far and wide pedaled over to Penn Treaty Park in Philadelphia to get ready for the triumphant return of ReLoad Bags famed April Fools Fun Ride. After a small hiatus, ReLoad brought back their signature race for its 11th version (appropriately on April 11th), promising tons of points, prizes, and partying. As everyone worked on shaking off the winter blues and getting ready for whatever was in store, it was clear this race was going to be pretty unpredictable as soon as the manifests started being handed out.

As everyone stood and stared at a confusing (literal) wheel of checkpoints, it was obvious the race was a complete free-for-all: hit as many checkpoints as possible and be at the final checkpoint at 5PM sharp. Checkpoints ranged from photo opps at well-known landmarks like LOVE Park, The Philly Zoo, and The Ben Franklin Bridge, to random houses, city parks, (numerous) fake checkpoints, and more. There was dizzy ice cream, bunny hopping, hacky sack, cat whiskers, hard stylin’, beer stops, and above all else: Fun.

As riders rushed in to Garage and worked on scoring any final points they could, the after party was already under way. Everyone eyed up the tons of prizes over beers and speculation about just how well anyone actually did. By the end of it though it was clear one person had crushed it: Molly Raimonte took first place overall with over 1,000 points, taking home a super sweet custom April Fools Run Ride bag from R.E.Load among other stuff. Check out the official top ten below and then jump down to check out some photos from Kevin Dillard of Demoncats.com, who was there all day snapping awesome photos and supporting cycling like he’s done with tons of other events. Thanks goes to Roland and the ReLoad Bags Crew, Mike Dailey and the PBMA, all the volunteers, and all this year’s sponsors for a rad race!