(CO) Trying out a new sport

[Billll]

BIKE-N-SHOOT
Test your skills at mountain bike riding and pistol shooting skills, August 2 at 10 AM.
This timed competition will involve 3 laps on mountain bicycle, of approximately 3 miles each, on rolling prairie terrain. Each lap to be followed by five shots from a pistol at steel targets approximately 12†x 12†from a distance of 50 yards. Each miss will accrue a short penalty lap.
This event is loosely modeled on the biathlon. Very loosely.
Entry fee for contestants is $10, Spectators are $5/carload.
Notes:
1) Very little in the way of facilities is available. Bring water and sun block. Bring shade if you have it.
2) Any pistol may be used, as long as it fires PISTOL caliber ammunition, and is equipped with only open iron sights. After shooting, your support crew is permitted to reload for you.
3) For this event, the pistols will NOT be carried during the riding phase. They will be left in the shooting area.
4) Eye and ear protection required while shooting.
5) All shots will be fired from a standing position.
WHAC range is located .3 miles E of Imboden Rd, on the South side of E. 144th Ave, Brighton, CO. Entries accepted up to the start of the event. Awards for the winners TBD. Questions: Please call 303-795-9677 and ask for Bill, or leave message. Please arrive ½ hr min. before the scheduled start. Assistance with timekeeping and scoring gratefully accepted.

 

[El Tejon]

Cool! Good to see this spreading. I thought this was something that was only done around here.

Great for your one hand skills. Plus, hard to spook the scooter.

 

[Billll]

One of my buddies suggests that this is the skill set required of an urban bicycle courier.

 

[El Tejon]

Billll, those skills around here would be shooting, avoiding taxi doors and suits stepping off the sidewalk talking on their cell phones.

 

[J Miller]

Now this sounds like a lot of fun. But other than bike riding there is no place to train in Spfld IL. Maybe I should go to Chicago

 

[Justin]

Hmmm...I wonder if I should take that as a sign that it's time to put my mountain bike back together.

 

[Chris Rhines]

...

I've got to try this.

- Chris

 

[Bergeron]

Wow.

I love my bike, plus guns! Oh man, they even shoot at steel! Need get this sport organized on a national level.

 

[Preacherman]

Lends a new meaning to getting punctures on a bike...

 

[Billll]

Some people have asked about carrying on the bikes, and one young lady says she has a "Laura Croft style" rig she'd like to try. Maybe next time. My position is that if you're macho enough to want to carry a .50 Smith, knock yourself out. Me, personally, would go for a .22.
Plain, square steels seem kind of stodgy, although it's what we've got right now. Any suggestions for an appropriate silhouette?

 

[Ian]

The match was great - lots of fun! Six competitors showed up, and everything went very well. Y'all missed out on a good one!

Pictures were taken, and will be posted shortly, I expect.

 

[Orbital-Burn]

did the bike have to be stopped before you started shooting?

 

[Ian]

Yes. After each bike lap, we would park the bikes at the judge's table and step over to the pistol range. Guns were all left on a table at the range, and not carried on the bikes.

 

[4v50 Gary]

Ohhh, love to try it. Biathalon for those of us with bad knees, ankles, flat feet.

 

[Ian]

I got my hands on some photos of the match...

The bike lap followed a string of power lines up a ridge (you can just barely see them on the right in this shot), turned left along the back side of the ridge, and then came down and back to the start.

 

[Ian]

The winner was the most serious mountain biker of the lot of us. Here he is cruising into the finish (you can see some of the closer poles in this shot).

 

[Ian]

After each bike lap came a string of shooting. Five shots on steel at 50 yards. Here I am on my first shooting string.

 

[Ian]

Whoops - let's try that one again.

 

[Ian]

The shooting could be done with any pistol-caliber pistol (.308 Contenders and the like would have put holes in the steel). Some of the guns used included a Ruger Mk 1, an S&W Model 41, a Beretta 92, and my Sistema 1911. But by far the one least suited for competitive shooting was the .36 caliber Navy that one guy used.

 

[Chris Rhines]

If I sound somewhat jealous, it's because I am.

I wonder if Issac Walton would be interested in this? They've sure got enough land....

- Chris

 

[Baba Louie]

Thanks for the photos and "Range Report" Ian.

Another X-treme sport idea finally comes to life.

What was the age breakdown of the six? All young and healthy kids or any fat older codgers?

Was it Continuous competition or staged heats with rest breaks?

What kinda times and scores were there?

If I could make requests for photo's (maybe next time), I'd like to see a photo of competitors, bikes and guns. Maybe a crowd shot too, if ya have any. Looks like I'll have to go find one of these somewhere and spectate a time or two, if it spreads and grows.

Any websites or links available? I'll hafta go surf for a bit and see.

Didn't the Swiss invent this and plan on using this concept if attacked? I remember reading something about gawdawful heavy bicycles that they loaded up and pushed alot. That don't sound like much fun.

Adios

 

[Ian]

At 20 years old, I was the youngest person competing. Everyone else appeared to be in their 30s or 40s, and in good health.

The competition was a single continuous event. Competitors started at 3-5 minute intervals, so there wouldn't be waits at the range (this worked very well, too - there were never more than two people trying to shoot at any given time). You would ride a lap, shoot, ride any accrued penalty laps, and go right off on your next lap. No rest breaks (those are for wimps! )

The first place time was 48 minutes and a few seconds (with a shooting score of 2/15). Second place was 53 minutes (shooting score of 15/15). I took 3rd at 55 minutes (12/15 shooting). My mother was 4th, with a time of 58 minutes and a score of 7/15. The slowest was 66 minutes (I don't remember his shooting tally). Afterwards we did discuss some ways to better balance the shooting and biking aspects.

There was a photo taken of all the competitors together, but the digital camera wasn't used on that one. Nobody though to take pictures of all the guns or bikes, though - that would be a neat thing to do next time.

 

[Justin]

Ok, that's it. Next time this happens, I'm in. Though I'm a better shot than bike rider.
My brother, an avid mountain biker is also kinda interested too.

 

[Billll]

Tenatively, the next one of these will be in October. Weather should be cooler, might be almost anything. I will incorporate as many of the suggestions as I can. Depending on how many people show up, entrants may be categorized as Novice, Amatur, or Expert. or maybe just A and B. 3 women, and we'll have a womens class.

Here's Dan and his .36.

 

[seeker_two]

Now THAT'S something I'd like to see on OLN...

(More shooting...less Frenchmen... )