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) Kirk Speer, For the Camera Matt Armbruster, a.k.a. "Captain Obvious," left, and Chris "Road Rash" Gibson negotiate a turn while racing down Lookout Mountain in Golden. |
Daredevils ride to help kids
By Dave Burdick, Camera Staff Writer
July 8, 2005
The scraping sound of plastic on asphalt, vicious
power sliding and whooping and hollering Saturday night will mean one thing:
Captain Obvious, a.k.a. Matt Armbruster, and his Big Wheel-riding posse
are on the loose on the Pearl Street Mall.
Clad
in gold lamé, a mask and a cape, the Captain's mission is
to help raise funds for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Denver's
St. Joseph Hospital — and to provide Boulder with low-riding Big
Wheel fun.
These aren't all your granddaddy's
Big Wheels — Armbruster and Co.
will be straddling low-ride bikes like the Razor Scream Machine that boast
steel frames customized for adult sizes and needs.
Armbruster makes Big Wheels for sale at www.bigwheelrally.com, too.
In addition to a slew of original Big Wheels, upgrade kits and replacement
parts, eight customized models are available, with prices ranging from
$129 to $254.
Before the rally each year, Armbruster hosts a Big Wheel tune-up, where
he and a few die-hards make adjustments to their black-and-chrome tricycles.
Armbruster and his cronies say they're in it to start a craze, and they
almost got national attention at one point.
"We were supposed to have CBS in June," said Shane Mattox, one of the
riders, "but then the pope died."
Back in the early '90s, Armbruster came up with the idea of the Big
Wheel Rally, which has created a proud tradition of somewhere around
30 people
showing up to ride low around the Pearl Street Mall.
"We're flattered and honored that he's doing this on our behalf," said
Carl Unrein, president and CEO of the St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation.
The rally begins at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Republic of Boulder, where
riders may get their registration bracelets — red bracelets of the "LiveStrong" sort
that say "Ride Low."
From the Republic, the band of merrymakers will scoot on to the Walrus,
the West End Tavern, Old Chicago, BJ's Brewery, Styr, Catacombs, up and
down six stories of parking garage at 11th and Spruce streets, then back
to the Republic.
"There is a lot of power sliding, there are a few steps involved (think
Sundown Saloon), there are going to be a couple of ramps," Armbruster
said. "Yeah, it's treacherous, but it's nothing you haven't already done
as a kid."
He said that the police have never interfered much with the rally. Even
if the law does come down on them, Captain Obvious has a positive outlook.
"At this point, as long as it says 'Big Wheel' in the police report,
it's gonna be all right."