Driving bikes is enjoyable. However when you trip quite a bit, it’s straightforward to get caught in a rut. Generally you want one thing — like a objective or a sport — to awaken your biking spirit. For Portland-based Experience With GPS, the Cutty Cap Problem is precisely that.
Now in its fifth yr, the occasion has been reimagined as a live-action sport that shall be performed by journey seekers in 55 cities throughout the globe. It began in 2021 as a comparatively conventional scavenger hunt. Experience With GPS (RWGPS), an organization identified for its common route sharing and route making app, hid biking caps in random areas and inspired prospects to go discover them. The following yr they added prizes, then expanded it to cities past Portland, and now it’s change into a hotly anticipated begin to the summer season driving season.
“Cutty” is a time period used to explain a route that’s a bit hidden or off the overwhelmed path. Consider a cool spot you trip that isn’t well-known, or that’s borderline trespassing or sketchy for some motive. That’s cutty. There are quite a lot of beloved cutty routes in Portland, and this scavenger hunt is supposed to encourage extra of us to make use of them.
RWGPS Advertising and marketing Director and creator of the Problem, Kevin Prentice, says the objective is, “To get individuals out driving of their metropolis, and hopefully to a location or a number of areas they’ve by no means ridden. A brand new park, a brand new viewpoint, new path, new enterprise, solo or with associates, and have enjoyable doing it.”
The problem kicks off at 8:00 am sharp native time in 55 totally different cities all over the world — from Sydney to Santiago, Osaka to Oslo. That’s when the placement of a minimum of 10 customized biking caps will go stay (extra cap areas shall be introduced after the primary batch goes stay). The areas are revealed within the RWGPS cellular app and members compete by seeing who can discover probably the most caps and bandanas (with a really cool design by artist and bike adventurer, Chas Christiansen aka @notchas on Instagram). Factors accrue with every cap situated. When you discover it first, it’s yours and also you get the bragging rights. However you too can rating if it’s already been claimed. Gamers get bonus factors by importing images and finishing varied missions which might be broadcast all through the day.
For Portland gamers, RWGPS has arrange particular prize giveaways with The Athletic. However to win them, you’ll have to unravel the hiding expertise of Ron Lewis, one of many guys behind driving group Our Mom The Mountain, who Prentice describes as, “the unequivocal chief in the case of each cutty areas and their descriptions.” “His areas shall be off the overwhelmed path, generally hidden in a drain pipe, not only a tree however a selected tree department that resembles one thing, or perhaps the cap is in a considerably common spot however his clues to seek out them are sometimes riddles that additionally embrace track lyrics. Plus, no one is aware of town and it’s cutty areas higher than he does.”
So when you like bike scavenger hunt and need a actually enjoyable excuse to discover town — all whereas competing towards different riders for factors in a real-time digital sport — obtain the app and take a look at the Cutty Cap Problem web site for extra info.
