I know you didn’t ask, but here’s what i think you should do this Friday night in Chicago. It’s part Airborne-style race, part urban street seesion, with beers/beverages whenever we stop.

Here’s the plan:

[TooLongDidn’tRead (TL;DR): Hang out and meet at a beach, then race down Miracle Mile. Race through two street spots, and finish Stage 1 at an outdoor bar. Start Stage 2 down a hill along the river on Wacker, skate two street spots and the finish line is at The Pull, where there’s a party and a Valo 5 premiere. $5 to enter — the pot goes to the winners. Points for being fast, bonus points for doing tricks.]

We’ll gather Friday evening, August 9, at Oak Street Beach (sand, water, sun, concessions/beach beers, handrails, concrete). Register and start on the city side of the pedestrian underpass (where Josh Whitfield won himself a Riot) at 8:15pm.

The Race is a two-parter. Each part is about 1.5 miles and goes through two checkpoint skate spots. Racers will be given maps, though the course is very simple.

The “Stage 1” winner gets 6 points, 2nd place gets 5 points, and so on. The “Stage 2” winner gets 8 points, 2nd gets 7, and so on.

Racers get bonus points for doing tricks at the four checkpoint skate spots. There’ll be two judges to check people off at each spot and to score tricks: 1 point for something easy/obvious, 2 points for something decent, 3 points for something that the judge will want to call his mom about. But racers only get up to three tries, total.

Stage 1: Starts at Oak St. and Michigan Ave. Everybody skates about a mile down Michigan Ave./Miracle Mile, and the two checkpoint skate spots are a gritty place under a bridge and the Clock. The maps and the judges will make the directions easy — there’s only 1 turn between each checkpoint. Stage 1 ends with a sprint along the riverwalk, after which everybody regroups at an outdoor pub along the river.

Stage 2: Starts across the river, high on Upper Wacker. We’ll all cross the river and start together. Spot 1 is Vietnam, a ledge wonderland by the river just past Wacker. Spot 2 is Metra Rail, with a stairride and wallride just over the river on Washington. The finish line is in The Pull’s alley — first place gets to break some ribbon (or more likely painter’s tape).

Afterwards: We’ll grill things and enjoy whatever the Riot’s beer sponsors give us. Valo 5 premieres at 10:00. Don’t libate too much. — Ben Price