Rice's Beer Bike's 50th Annual Bash! on Your Mark Get Set Go!

How does a Beer Bike Race sound? I thought surely this must be a typo. But no, it is very real and not a mistake. The 50 year old tradition is held in Houston, Texas today April 14th, 2007. The tradition began in 1957 with some whimsical thought from 3 Rice University students. Rice's cycling and chugging competition has become a well-organized event and is an integral part of Rice's social scene.

Beer Bike is a relay race on a 1/3 mile track. Each team has 10 cyclists and 10 "chuggers". When the race begins, "chuggers" begin chugging a beer. Under the rules, they must finish their drink before the cyclist on their team can take off around the track. Then, when that cyclist returns the next "chugger" begins drinking while the next cyclist gets ready to pedal. Once again, when they are finished drinking off go the cyclist. The "cycle" will continue until all 10 "chuggers" and cyclists have completed their duty. There are races for males, females and mixed alumni. This 2007 year had 10 teams that competed with team themes such as "Don't Dodge the Draught", "Hammered Hammered Hippos" and "Guinness Liberty or Guinness Death". Most of the student "chuggers" in the relay race now opt to drink water rather than beer, students say, stating that it is really the safest thing to do. The officials have a strict set of rules and it seems well moderated. Anyone who is under the age of 21 must where a special wristband while attending the race and there are plenty of campus police and EMT staff on hand.

Beer Bike is not a stone cold sober event by any means. The Alumni usually provided free brew in a special tent and students can bring their own alcohol to the race. But do remember that the underage ones are easily identified by their wrist bands. Both the "chugging" and cycling teams start practicing months before the April race. "Chuggers" practice typically involves a couple trashcans full of non-alcoholic beer and a stopwatch. Cyclists work out and ride around the track to get in shape. In the past, students have designed special containers to help facilitate faster swigging.

The race was originally scheduled for March 31st, 2007 just due to incremental weather the male and female races were rescheduled to Saturday, April 14th. The alumni races and the parade went on as scheduled. If you are curious about previous year's winners please look at Beer-Bike Stats Galore. This site has a list of winners dating back to the 1950s.