Idiotarod!

January 20, 2006 11:06 PM

The Idiotarod is NYC's version of the Iditarod. (check spelling closely, idiot) - seen here last year. This year's route will be released on Monday. Happy drinking / sabotaging / racing. But maybe that's not your thing. Or maybe you just can't wait to do something a little crazy in NYC. Ok, well, this weekend you can take your pants off on the subway.
posted by allkindsoftime (18 comments total)

I wondered if this was related to San Francisco's Urban Iditarod but I can see from the Idiotarod page that :

"We stole [the idea] from a group of people in San Francisco who have been doing it for 10 years. The Idiotarod debuted in New York in 2004. People loved it."

One big difference is you guys get actual snow!
posted by vacapinta at 11:31 PM on January 20, 2006

this was my first ever metafilter post.

Has it been a year already? :D
posted by thanatogenous at 12:10 AM on January 21, 2006

oh, doh... you already linked to it. /dunce cap

I just got all excited.
posted by thanatogenous at 12:11 AM on January 21, 2006

Wonder if Rosie Ruiz gets an automatic invite?
posted by rob511 at 12:24 AM on January 21, 2006

They probably just award her first place, without making her show up. Maybe she rides by in a taxi. A week later, her trophy self-destructs, and they award first place to someone else.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 2:55 AM on January 21, 2006

Good post... friends of mine in Brooklyn competed last year and it sounds like a blast...
posted by cusack at 6:02 AM on January 21, 2006

Last year when they came over the Brooklyn Bridge and congregated in a huge traffic-blocking crowd the police arrived in force with sirens, clubs, and shields ready to do riot control.

When they saw what they were up against, they just laughed and said "get the hell out of the first precinct, now!"
posted by StickyCarpet at 7:11 AM on January 21, 2006

Hmm, I wrote this last night and posted it -- and this morning it's not here!

I just wanted to self-link and tell you that both these events and many others appeared on my extreme NY mailing list. (Self-links are fine as comments, right?)
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 7:37 AM on January 21, 2006

Man...it's stuff like this that makes me wish I lived in a city.

We never do cool shit in Kalamazoo.

*sobbing*
posted by Baby_Balrog at 7:59 AM on January 21, 2006

I ran this last year. We were Jesu Christo and wrapped ourselves and cart in bright orange fabric-- like The Gates? Get it? Get it? Yeah, no one else did either, but we totally beat the Short Jewish Princesses from Candyland (IIRC) AND the Ghostbusters. vv fun A+++++++++ would get drunk at noon again. The demolition sprint over the Brooklyn Bridge was terrifying though.
posted by unknowncommand at 8:32 AM on January 21, 2006

I was thinking of going to the No Pants Subway Ride... but decided I feel way too weird not wearing pants in public. (I know, I know, I've heard most of the girls wear boxers... but doesn't that sort of ruin the joke, since you're supposed to pretend you forgot to put on pants and most girls don't wear boxers in real life?) Plus, ever since the mass arrests without warrant at the RNC, I'm scared of being thrown in prison... 48 hours of my life I could never get back.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 2:20 PM on January 21, 2006 [1 favorite]

Last year when they came over the Brooklyn Bridge and congregated in a huge traffic-blocking crowd the police arrived in force with sirens, clubs, and shields ready to do riot control.

I did this last year (we were Team Zissou) and we were probably in the first wave off the bridge and I don't recall sirens, clubs or shields. I do recall two patrol cars outside the bar that served as the checkpoint and about four cops asking people politely to move keep moving. I also recall running completely alone through the sidewalks of Chinatown, strapped to a shopping cart decked out like a submarine along with my four teammates, and being absolutely mortified as everyone stared at us like the retards we were.

I have mixed feelings about doing it again this year (especially since I got beaned in the nuts and the face with ice balls at the finish line) but I think I've already been roped in by our captain.
posted by spicynuts at 2:48 PM on January 21, 2006

Huh, here I was thinking this was just an elaborate jab at the widely disliked Yankees third baseman...
posted by hincandenza at 3:26 PM on January 21, 2006

Why aren't we doing this in Austin yet?
posted by fourstar at 4:53 PM on January 21, 2006

Or maybe you just can't wait to do something a little crazy in NYC

or maybe i'm the only nyc resident that thinks these safety-in-numbers group spaz outs not only cowardly but really incredibly naff too. the pants off ride on the subway stunt is a perfect case in point and actually pretty fucking pathetic to be quite honest.

why can't anyone act out for themselves these days? i mean every single middle aged baldy twat in three boros trying desperately hard to look like some crappy hipster. nyc has seriously gone beyond tragic.

don't come here kids, suburbia is uber cool compared to this miserable excuse of a hangout. go to london or somewhere, anywhere but nyc. the embarrasment capital of the world is no longer where it's at.
posted by rodney stewart at 6:23 PM on January 21, 2006

Er... okay there Rodney.

I think this sounds brilliant and hilarious, and it makes me wish I still lived close enough to NYC to at least come watch if not participate myself. I hope a lot of you NY Mefites participate and come back and post pictures.
posted by Meredith at 6:45 PM on January 21, 2006

Well, I don't have a twat, but my head is bald. Wheeeeeeee!!
posted by spicynuts at 8:16 AM on January 22, 2006

Holy cow- No Pants Subway Ride broken up by cops. I'm sad that I was right.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:52 PM on January 22, 2006 [1 favorite]