I liked the vid....
DO you have ANY idea how hard it is to film an alleycat what with x number of riders taking off in every direction, and only so many cameras? I liked the edits for the most part, fairly informative and not extraneous to a huge degree. When I saw him reachin' too far for the skitch I was thinking to myself "oh man this isn't going to end well....then the sound that can only be a bike hittin' and slidin'. Props to the car behind him for not making it his last alleycat. Glad all are well. Good rides lads, good times.

As for alleycatting, the riders are putting all the skill they've gathered up on the job and putting to the test. It takes a bit of time before you can read the traffic the way you need to in order to be able to carve a nice line. The changes taken in the race are not generally done on the job, and I'd hazard that most of those look worse on video. When I ride I'm invisible, and I'm not about to jump out in front of cars at a red....however.... if I were say......racing...I might think about it. Again each rider uses his/her cumulative judgment so to if the bumper will stay far enough away for the required time, and how many -Karma points to attribute to ripping the sidewalk..

As for the above posts regarding owning the roads....damned straight. From my 6 years of messin' Montreal I took away some traffic skills that will make non-messenger blanch. Now 20 years later at 41 I still ride like a messenger, I've raced two AC's and done top ten in both. Alleycats are a whole different breed of race for a different breed of cyclist...and you'll not see one rider bar tap another out of contention. The camaraderie of the messenger circles is seriously something I haven't felt in any place other than the Army. These are generally good folks to have in your corner. You know they'll drop your **** if you get smashed on the road, and look out for your ride if it gets ripped off. Non urban riders,

See you at the World's here in Toronto in '08!!!!