I took part in my first alleycat this weekend (the Iron Lung Alleycat). It was good fun, and not as intimidating as I thought it might be. Matt joined me, and turned out to be a fine day to cruise around the city. We also managed to hook up with a messenger from Columbus who got separated from his group and was, therefore, hopelessly lost in the Southside (as opposed our situation, which was mildly disoriented in the Southside).

In case you were wondering, I didn’t win. In fact, we were so inefficient, a couple of the checkpoints were deserted by the time we made our way to them. We managed to get Randy (the Columbus messenger) the “last place — out of town” award. The way I see it, we had a couple of fatal flaws:

1. Taking fifteen minutes to find Terminal Way in the Southside. The funny part about this is that we rode past it twice, and one of those times, a group of people on bicycles were turning back on to Carson from it. That probably should have been a good indication that it was the right place.

2. Forgetting the checkpoint at the Amtrak station, then having to circle back to go there. Because of this, we didn’t see the checkpoint, and spent five minutes wandering around the terminal.

3. Getting from Garfield to Squirrel Hill.

4. Confusing Craft Avenue and Bates Street in Oakland.

Like I said, we weren’t dead last, so I didn’t feel too bad. And, as Matt pointed out, PBR isn’t a great substitute for water.

Posted on 29 March 2004