This past Saturday was the 2010 Scooter Inferno.  Of course it had changed significantly from the last Inferno – of 2004.  This one allowed bicycles to play in the event. Essentially, it was a timed scavenger hunt, with the goal of taking pictures of your team at each of several scenic, historic or just relevant places around the province. Bicycles being the slowest, got more points per site and more for farther out sites than scooters and motorcycles. Motorcycles, being the fastest, got the least points but were able to get to more sites.  I was in the scooter class and me and my partner, Sam, won the event.

We rode almost 160km in 4 hours, stopping to take pictures at temples, restaurants, ports and statues. Extra points were awarded for photos of traffic accidents, nudity (yes, I bared my ass) and creativity.

The rules were:

1. Do not break any Korean traffic laws. Speed limits and traffic lights must be obeyed. If you are seen in violation of the rules, you will be deducted 10 points for each infraction.
2. Sidewalks are for pedestrians and bicycles. Do not drive on them. It is only acceptable if you are parking.
3. All riders must wear helmets on their bikes. A moving bike with a rider without a helmet (driver or passenger) is immediate team disqualification.
4. This is a fun rally, no tampering or fooling around with other teams bikes.
5. The race begins at 11 am and finishes at 4pm. Camera memory cards must be submitted by 4pm. Every 5 minutes late will be a 15 point deduction.
6. The same number of bikes must begin and end the race. If 3 bikes begin the race, the same 3 bikes must finish the race. If there is a mechanical problem, the bike must at least have been picked up by our emergency truck.
7, All team members, except the photographer, must be in the photo.
8. One ‘team’ camera per team. Please don’t put ‘point photos’ on different cameras.
9. One photo per site.
10. At least one cell phone per bike.

Scoring system

Bicycles:

Bikes	Zone A	Zone B	Zone C
Bicycles	2	5	8
50cc	2	4	6
125cc	1	3	4
Open Class	1	2	3

• Nudity Multiplier: Any photo taken with responsible nudity will give double the regular points. This is a PG event, please nothing disgusting.

And the locations and map:

Zone A sites	Points	Nudity Multiplier		Check	Nudity Multiplier
1. Ulgi Park Lighthouse			5. Hill Lake Valley Country Club
2. Daewangam Bridge			6. Geonguksa Temple
3. Ilsan Beach Pyramid			7. Tohamsan Garden Restaurant
4. Bangeojin Motorbike			8. Cheonbulsa Temple
5. Daegyung Motorbike			9. Woosung Nuclear Plant Park Statue to Canadians
6. Wolbongsa Temple			10. King Mumnu’s underwater tomb
7. Ulsan College Main Building
8. Wongaksa Temple			Zone C sites
9. Pagoda at Hyundai Arts Park			1. Gampo Port Breakwater
10. Swimming Pool at Old Foreigner’s Compound			2. 3 Storied Pagodas at Gameunsa
11. Main Gate of HHI			3. Carved Buddha at Golgulsa
12. Ulsan Theme Arboretum			4. Twin Pagodas at Janghangsa
13. Bongdaesan Smoke signal station			5. Seokuram Grotto (not parking lot)
14. Jujeon Beach			6. 9th Hole of Bulguksa Golf Course
15. Carved Buddha at Geumcheon			7. Korea Advertising Museum!
16. Gangdong World Cup Training Pitch			8. Hwangnyongsa Temple
17. Fish Market at Jeongja			9.Family Sannak on Tohamsan
18. OkCheonam Temple on Muryeongsan			10. Gwaerung Tomb
19. Hyomun Station			Bonus Points Stop Sign Photo with Cops Kissing Ajumma Sea Penis Traffic Accident 4 people on a bike (parked) On a boat Jehovah’s Witness With a Monk
20. Dogoksa Temple on Dongdaesan
21. Ulsan Motorbike
22. Ulsan Airport
23. Birthplace of Park Sang-Jin
24. Dongcheon Stadium
25. Peak of Muryeongsan
Zone B sites
1. Cheonsusa Temple
2. Mauna Luge Run
3. Mauna Resort
4. Mohwa Station

Teams didn’t get the maps and list of sites until the night before the rally. We had to plan out our list of sites to ride to carefully in order to maximize points and minimize time. With only 4 hours of ride time set aside, hitting all or even most was impossible.

I had helped with the publicity by posting the event on Ulsanonline.com and creating the registration pages, but the real organizers did a great job setting things up. The created T-shirts for the participants, collected cash donations from the motorcycle shops in town and setup a banquet following the race to award prizes (also donated from the motorcycle shops) with all-you-can-drink micro-brew beer and a buffet.

Sam and I stayed with another team for most of the day, as its more fun in groups than not. We only split up in the last few minutes of the race and capitalized on some dancing girl points and a nearby stadium nudity shot (I opened my shirt) to streak ahead and win the event. We pulled into the ending rally point at exactly 4:00pm the cut-off time.

Since the goal was taking pictures of you and your team at each site, the best part was watching the slide show of everyone’s pictures on the big screen at the banquet. There were some very artful pictures, funny pictures and just plain crazy pictures.

Having been here a few years, I had been to most of these places. But not all – there were a few sites that were new. My partner was a relative newcomer to Korea and she was wowed by most since she hadn’t had time to visit many places. Overall, it was a great event to meet new friends and get out and see parts of Korea that otherwise would stay hidden. The weather was awesome, no one had mechanical problems, no injuries (other than a little sunburn) and lots of beer at the end.

I might get some pictures up later, but my partner had the “official” team camera I’ll have to get them from her.

I’m looking forward to next year’s Inferno.