Singlespeed & Fixed Gear - out of towner alleycat strat

yo yo yo


what do all of you out of towners do to compete at alleycats
?

i am wondering if drafting a route without any knowledge of the city is even worth the effort

following faster local riders might be the key to a decent finish
?

whatcha think
?

yo yo yo,
carry a map, and follow the townies.

steroids

if you want to place don't bother with a map.

find out who some of the contenders are at the start, the organizers usually know.

in my experience you gotta be relaxed and totally have fun, no matter if you ride with the winners or not.

I have raced with people who are very helpful and also with ones who will try to shake you!

Everything you need to know can be learned from watchin the qualifying races for Hell Track.
Learn it, live it, win.

I have raced with people who are very helpful and also with ones who will try to shake you!
nobody shakes HawkWheels!

:beer:

if you want to place don't bother with a map.

find out who some of the contenders are at the start, the organizers usually know.

in my experience you gotta be relaxed and totally have fun, no matter if you ride with the winners or not.

I have raced with people who are very helpful and also with ones who will try to shake you!

heh, ive given rookie bad directions before :D

every alleycat Ive been in here locally has multiple manifests usually, so the field gets split right from the start, that kills most guys chances of playing follow the leader, or other times you get the stops as you go along, the routes are never anounced ahead of time

thing is, once you know how the typical american addressing scheme works a quick glance at a map will tell you most of what you need to know, especially in cities with numbered street names

I know lots of guys that always learn by wrote, but that wont get you anywhere if you go to another city, it helps to know why things are the way they are, makes things easier. I learned this the hard way making deliveries without maps all across the state delivering lost luggage for the airlines, there is a method to the madness.

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find the numerical address zero zero point of the city, make note of where that is, thats the first step
all addresses will get bigger as you go out from there until you hit another municipality with its own addresses
know which way is north at all times, you get disoriented and your F'd till you can read a few addresses after riding around for awhile
if the street names are numbered, note how they increase and in which direction
in most cities avenues only run one way, here its east west, same with blvds
odds and evens---> odds on west and south side of street in most cities here in ohio, save for a few like dayton
most maps have block numbers in like 1000 # increments along the main roads, use it, it saves time

tricks of the trade, there's a bunch more to it, but thats part of the basics

That logic is true for many cities, but if you're an out-of-towner in Boston with no guidance, you are pretty much ****ed.

+1 for following the fast people. Just don't let them shake you.

Aside from the top finishers, the results are often decided by luck. A missed street here or hooking up with the right group there can make all the difference.
Relax, have fun, if you hook up some good stuff, awesome. If not, you're from out of town, did you really expect to beat the locals?

i expect to beat people who are slower than me

i just need to know the way

I just go with the riders that drink. Few checkpoints, few bars. Not like I need a new bag or could fit the frames they're giving away. Plus I'm slower than the serious cats.

That logic is true for many cities, but if you're an out-of-towner in Boston with no guidance, you are pretty much ****ed.
yeah, try to follow someone.

I think it would be hilarious if someone used gps.

know the fast kids and follow them. I've had the pleasure of following trackstar alex to an 8th place in last years monstertrack and awesome Bruce from dc in the tour de lemond. thanks again, guys.

Isn't the strategy for any race ever to just hang on someone's wheel and let them do all the work and then reap the benefits in the finish sprint?

^I believe that strategy is used when one doesn't want to make friends and wants their ass kicked... just a guess.

Isn't the strategy for any race ever to just hang on someone's wheel and let them do all the work and then reap the benefits in the finish sprint?

most of the time there isnt a finish sprint, usually its like one maybe two guys that finish close together at the end, and its on city streets that are open to traffic, isnt much drafting or pace lining going on

its more like a bunch of sprints one after the other

you might end up riding like 30 miles and make more than 20 stops for checkpoints, its not like a road race where you just start riding and never stop, traffic lights and all those sprints usually destroy the field

plus there's no set route, so people get split up even more cause usually you can get somewhere alot of different ways---light in front of you turns red, you turn right on street before it then left at next one and run parallel for example

alleycats are about navigation and speed on the street, different type of racing than straight road, you can be the fastest thing out there, but if you dont know how to get where your going quickly then it wont matter how fast you are