UPDATE: The Shanghai Alley cat guys have been forced to change the starting point to Saturday's race. The new starting point is at the corner of Shanxi Lu and Jianguo Lu. Here's a picture:



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There's this big bike race happening this Saturday called "Alleycat". As opposed to a distance race, Alleycat is checkpoint-based, and riders can knock off these checkpoints in any order they like. According to my good friend Wikipedia, these Alleycat races are pretty popular the world over -- New York, Toronto, Berlin, Mexico City, and they've even already had one in Beijing. Alleycat was born out of the environmentally-conscious, Fixed Gear, messenger bike courier culture in the States, and reflects that sort of DIY, community aesthetic. It's like that, punk rocker.

Organized by your friends at Peoplesbike.com, this Saturday's Alleycat is the first one to take place in Shanghai. The main race is Saturday afternoon (check in time, 1pm; race starts at 2pm), but it's a full weekend of bike and beer-based activities from said organizers -- more details on that below.

SmartShanghai caught up with organizer Tyler Bowa to get some answers about this thing right here.

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Tyler: Alleycat is basically a bicycle race -- typically Fixed Gear bikes, but we're open to any kind of bike -- that instead of revolving around distance, it revolves around checkpoints. Riders can go to any checkpoint they want in any order, and then on to the finish point, which is the original starting point. We released the list of checkpoints last Friday [click here to view the Alleycat checkpoints], and they're basically all bike shops or culture shops.

In terms of race time, we think the average person can do it in around 2 hours or less. I did it myself in an hour and ten minutes. There's ten checkpoints in total, and they're all in Puxi. The furthest checkpoints are on Moganshan Lu -- we have a graffiti mural there and riders have to get their picture taken with it -- and then Shanghai Tattoo in the Cool Docks. The rest are basically in the French concession.

The meet-up point, start, and finish is at Xiangyang Lu and Fuxing Lu, directly across from the electronics market. We've got a space there [scroll down to the very bottom for a picture], and a map on the webpage shows you where it's at. We've got banners and tents and stuff, and a tune up tent, where you can get your bike tuned up for free.

Official registration starts at 1pm. You sign up, sign the waiver, and we give you your t-shirt and your Alleycat card. The go horn is at 2pm. Everyone takes off and comes back as quick as they can.


Tyler: So far we have over a hundred people. And that's just email registrations. I've talked to a lot of people who are doing it but haven't bothered to register yet. We're expecting around 150 people -- locals, expats, people from Shanghai, and people coming in just for the race.




Tyler: For some people, it's going to be a very heated competition. Some of the guys who are entering with road bikes seem pretty serious about it, but we've got different categories for people who are less into the competition aspect of it -- specifically there is Fixed Gear vs. Gear bikes categories.

[Ed's note: For more information on the specific categories check out the webpage right here.]


Tyler: Well, for the Fixed Gear category we've got a brand new Fixed Gear bike for the winner, which we've built up with nice parts. If you come first for geared bikes, it's a big, big, big gift certificate. But there's something like 30 ways to win a prize -- "Coolest Bike", "Longest Track Stand" -- so lots of people are walking away with something.


Tyler: I think that it's the easiest bike to take care of. It has the fewest amount of parts -- it's really just a basic bike and fun to ride. You feel more at one with the bike, personally speaking. There's no hand involvement and everything is coming from the legs.


Tyler: It's free. Free T-shirts as well, from eno, and they're very nice.


Tyler: Alleycat is this Saturday. Yeah. On the Friday, we have a group ride to Pudong. We're meeting at Paddy Wang's at 8pm and take off around 9pm. It's so that people who don't live in Shanghai kind of get a chance to explore the city. Almost half the people who are participating in the weekend are from out-of-town and out-of-country -- Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong -- and they flying in, and we've also got people taking the train in from Beijing and Guangzhou.

And on the 15, that's the Sunday, we have our Bike Polo thing happening.

[Ed's note: Read Tyler talking about this Bike Polo thing right here.]


Tyler: It kind of died down with the heat and people going on vacation, but we're hoping to start it back up again. Actually, our biggest problem was our space got converted into a parking lot, but we're going to try to lock down a new space that we rent, and we'll also have a sound system and stuff.




Tyler: Saturday night at Paddy Wang's is the big after-race party. We're giving out the awards there and stuff. It's a cool place, I don't know if you've been. It's an old KTV which he's turning into this big bar. We cut a deal that all bottles are 15rmb and drafts are 20rmb. And the party's going to be good. We have DJs...


Tyler: Yeah, Peoplebike has info on Alleycat, Bike Polo on Sundays, and other stuff -- picture galleries, biking around Asia, articles. We have plans to expand it into an online store in the next few months.


Tyler: I would say, even if you don't think you can race, you should come out anyways, because it's a good group of people to meet. Fun weekend. Lots of meeting people and socializing. I have a bunch of friends who don't even have bikes but they're getting whatever bike they can just to hang out. And the party's going to be good. We have DJs and stuff. Cheep beer.


Tyler: Supposed to rain unfortunately. But we're going ahead, rain or shine. We spent too much time planning it. [Laughs.]

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That's it. Alleycat this Saturday at 1pm (good idea to register in advance by email here). Do your homework and look at the checkpoints if you're in it to win it, bring a map if you're just looking for a fun ride. Don't forget about the other events too -- the Pudong ride on Friday night, the after-race party at Paddy Wang's Saturday night, and the Sunday Bike Polo.

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