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Alleycat Races to List of Bike Messengers’ Risks
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New York Times, March 9, 2008
By Colin Moynihan
Bike messengers believe that their profession is one of the most
grueling and perilous that any person can pursue — especially in
Manhattan.
So perhaps it should come as little surprise that messengers were the
ones to pioneer a breed of unsanctioned urban contest in which
bicyclists race one another while also weaving at top speed through
streets crowded with cars, trucks, buses and all the other objects and
obstructions typically found on city roadways.
The contests include street races with a set course and scavenger hunts
that require riders to search for an odd assortment of items. There are
also competitions called alleycats, in which bicyclists pick their own
routes between a series of checkpoints where monitors stamp their paper
manifests.
The races, which are self-organized and take place without permission
from the police or other authorities, have names like Headless Horseman
Hunt, Battle for Brooklyn and Stupor Bowl. They are described as
exhilarating and hair-raising.
“You have to keep your sanity and your clarity,” said Pablo Airaldi, a
New York courier who has raced for two years. “Your heart’s pounding.
You have so many elements rushing at you that you have to constantly
calculate risks and fear.”
For years these contests drew little attention. But that began to
change in Chicago on Feb. 24, when a sport utility vehicle struck and
killed a 29-year-old man who ran a red light while participating in a
street race called the Tour da Chicago.
As a result of that death, organizers in New York called off the
alleycat race that was part of a competition known as Monster Track,
which had been scheduled for the ninth straight year this weekend. Some
organizers wonder whether the increasing popularity of the races has
somehow made them less safe.
Skinned elbows and bent wheel rims are not uncommon during alleycats,
and sometimes they are even viewed as badges of honor. The races are
intended to test the type of judgment and reflexes honed by urban
couriers; the reward for winning is mainly bragging rights among peers.
Racers frequently employ unorthodox riding styles, and the degree to
which they obey traffic signals could be summed up by the title of a
recent documentary on alleycats, “Red Light Go.”
Alleycats, which are believed to have started in the 1980s, are now
held throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Last year, about
a dozen were held in New York.
Although the earliest races involved relatively small groups of
messengers, recent contests have included large numbers of participants
who are not messengers and whose skills vary. While some veterans have
welcomed the newcomers, others have suggested that the influx has
diluted the purity of the races. Then there are those who maintain that
less experienced riders may be placing themselves in harm’s way by
trying to keep up with seasoned messengers who are accustomed to
whizzing through traffic at top speed.
More than 100 racers had been expected to take part in the Monster
Track alleycat. Entry was limited to people riding track bikes that are
not equipped with hand brakes, and thus require an extra level of
expertise. Other events connected to the Monster Track at sites in
Brooklyn and Queens, like a bike tricks competition and a track race,
were still scheduled.
“We decided to cancel the main part of the race because we were
concerned that it was getting dangerous,” said Kevin Bolger, one of the
Monster Track organizers. “When we heard about what happened in Chicago
we were really stunned.”
But some riders believe that the death in Chicago was more of an
aberration than an inevitability, and they insist that alleycats and
similar contests will flourish in New York and elsewhere.
Supporters say that the races, replete with what one bicyclist
described as “mavericks, outlaws, rapscallions and misfits,” should
continue precisely because they are the sort of brash, raffish events
that seem to be increasingly rare in a more antiseptic New York. Many
also see the races as important rallying events that foster camaraderie
among bicyclists and encourage the wider public to use nonpolluting
transportation.
Among those who would like to see the contests continue is Michael
Green, who maintains the Web site BikeBlog (bikeblog.blogspot.com) and
made a short documentary, “Track Kaiju,” about a messenger from Tokyo
who, he said, finished fifth in the 2007 Monster Track.
“It’s cultural propaganda that promotes cycling,” Mr. Green said. “The
loss of that would be monumental.”
John Dinn, a former messenger in Washington, agreed and said he has
advocated broad participation in races. Still, he said that he was so
shaken by the death in Chicago that he decided to cancel an alleycat he
was organizing in Washington called the Giro dc Mayhem that was
scheduled for Memorial Day weekend.
“It might be a good time to reflect on what alleycats have become and
who participates in them,” Mr. Dinn said recently by telephone. “I
think there’s sort of a moratorium at the moment.”
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