Alleycat

From San Jose Bike Party Wiki

Bennett from SJFixed had a great explanation on SJF's forum (login required):

Benitosan - 4/13/2009 Here's what i can tell you about alleycats, i've raced somewhere between 50-60 (i think)

• there is no set time or distance
• alleycats reflect the personalities of the organizers as well as the locations which they are held, for example an alleycat thrown by a messenger in SF is likely going to be alot harder in terms of hills and distance, than say an alleycat thrown in the suburbs by kids. the recent alleycat in Reno had alot of mileage as well as shennanigans, cuz well its Reno.
• alleycats are evolving really fast right now due to the boom in fixed gear riding throughout the world. every town now has a crew or crews of riders, and some of these riders want to put their town on the map, thus they throw an alleycat to promote their crew/their town/etc. with the abundance of races being thrown all of the time, there is beginning to be some sort of one-upsmanship, meaning people are putting twists on their alleycats, again to reflect the personality of the organizers or the town. people are getting really creative with their alleycat themes as well as tasks/requirements/etc.
• there are types of alleycats too. points which points are awarded for doing tasks during the race. speed which is obviously getting from points A to B to C to D the quickest. alleycats can be offroad, paved, urban, suburban, flat, hilly, use well established landmarks, use hidden locals-only knowledge, be open to boys/girls/teams, there are alot of twists on alleycats nowadays.
• some alleycat terms: manifest = sheet of paper/book/card given to you at the start of the race telling you where to go during the race. checkpoint = the location you must get to during the race, often proven that you got there by signature of a checkpoint racer. spokecard = usually given by alleycat organizers as a commemorative badge that you attended their race.
• some alleycat tips: get a map of the area you are racing, or just follow the (fastest) locals. bring tools/tubes/water/food/money, wear a helmet, bring a lock (sometimes required to do tasks), know the law enforcement of the town that you are racing, alleycats don't condone running lights, skitching, against traffic, on the sidewalk, but you will likely do it to get an edge. its not about the speed (although faster is better) it is more about routing, get your routing right and you will likely beat even the fastest racer, though not guaranteed.
• above all, have fun. alleycats are about the cycling community. going to a new town to ride/race, meet new riders, challenge yourself, race your buddies, maybe win a prize, and to finish it w/o getting hurt or ticketed.

WHEW! i think that's all that i know.kids: ride 50m's from me at all times, that's an order.

As of this article, SJFixed has hosted SJ's only alleycat in January 2009, with around 150 riders attending.