The Spring ’07 issue of Portland-based Wend Magazine, has a feature article on a recent Portland alleycat race.
Alleycats — which are usually put on by messengers, but everyone is welcome to participate — have become a regular fixture on the Portland bike scene.
Wend contributor Johnathon Allen captures the spirit of this fun, yet hardcore discipline with great images and an engaging, first-person narrative (he competed in the event he writes about). Here’s an excerpt from the beginning of his piece:
“It wasn’t until I found myself running through a stranger’s backyard in northeast Portland throwing my bike over an 8-foot cyclone fence in a torrential downpour that I bothered asking the question, “What the hell am I doing?”
There is, of course, a logical chain of events involved that makes a twisted sort of sense. It started when I entered a local bike-messenger alleycat race called Too Much Scotty. Apparently, there is more than one messenger named Scotty in the city and it’s important that we all learn to be more Scotty-like in order to absorb the universal wonk. Scheduled as a daylight event without bar stops, it also seemed perfect for photo ops, actual competition and, hopefully, my overall survival.”
To experience the rest of the story, grab a copy of Wend at the retailer of your choice.