“You’re not getting into Harvard. But you will get a scholarship to somewhere pretty good,” said the guy timing me when I asked how I rated with my 2 minute, 17 second finish in the slow bike race.

We were but two of the thousands who turned up at Yards Park for games, food trucks, giveaways and speeches about the success of Capital Bikeshare’s first year yesterday.

At one end of the festivities of yesterday’s party, attendees rode a bike course with the objective of finishing it as slowly as possible. But if your foot touches the ground, your race is over. The best participant I witnessed — he must have been the one that made the ride last for over 4 minutes and is definitely getting into Harvard — navigated the course like he was playing a game of Labyrinth, balancing for as long as possible with alternating cuts to the left and right as necessary. Other worthy competitors flirted with disaster before misjudging the sharpness of the final turn and running out of room to navigate the bike while others touched feet down within seconds of starting or were content to just breeze through the course, leaving true slow riders in their wake.

At the other end, a real-life game of Paperboy proved way harder than it looked as I failed to land a rolled up copy of the Express into any of the five bins laid across the closed course. There weren’t even any open manholes or ghouls chasing me up the sidewalk. But at least I got to keep the red helmet emblazoned with the Capital Bikeshare logo fitted for me before my ride.

Check out some of our photos from the event above.