Alleycat
Alleycats (from English stray cats ) are scavenger hunts through the city that are completed by bike . The participants were originally bicycle couriers , but now other interested cyclists have also become involved.
procedure
An alleycat more or less depicts everyday courier life in a playful way. In principle, different points ( checkpoints ) have to be passed. Most of the time there are tasks to be solved. Such a task can be, for example, to bring a raw egg to its destination intact or to solve a brain teaser directly at the checkpoint . Often a task also consists of finding something at the checkpoint, for example the inscription on a company sign.
The participants only find out about the route and the tasks shortly before the start through the so-called manifest, a piece of paper with instructions. The sequence of the checkpoints can be specified or the combination can be left to the driver. The route can also be divided into two manifestos, whereby the participant only receives the second manifest after he has completed the first.
Often several drivers drive as a team at an Alleycat in order to gain advantages for themselves. Groups of local and foreigners are happy to form. But it also happens that the teams divide or form anew in the course of the race because drivers lose each other or can no longer keep up with the faster ones. So many drive to the end of the Alleycat on their own.
Events are planned at short notice or carried out regularly, examples are known from Vienna, Graz, Zurich and Basel.
Starting numbers are not worn on the jersey as in other cycling races. Instead, tarot cards were originally numbered and clamped between the spokes of the front wheel. In the meantime, the cards are often lavishly designed and laminated, and are often left on the bike as a trophy after the race.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ivo Mijnssen: From couriers and knights. In: Velojournal. 6/2007. seen May 20, 2010. (Alleycat race in Vienna)