Thought I would put this out for discussion. I have my own opinion, but how do you think elite road racers or pros would fare in some of the big alleycats. Races obviously test how fast somebody is, how fast they are in traffic, how much risk they can tolerate, and how well they know the city, so I am wondering just how much of it breaks down into each category. Thoughts?

If they have the entry fee and the bike (track bike for, um, monsterTrack) - let 'em try. Hope they know the streets cuz the messengers sure do.

i think going fast is one thing and going fast and fast handling is another. i'd like 2 seem them try though. some might do well.

There is definitely no handling skills involved in track racing. All that track racers use is speed.

(sarcasm)

How often do pro tour riders see downtown traffic? Or ride brakeless track bikes in it? While plotting a route and carrying oversizes?

I obviously don't think they'd stand a chance. All the strength and strategy for a "real" race wouldn't be worth a damn at Monster Track or the CMWC's

Just as the ability to plot a route and carry an oversized package
won't help you climb the Pyrenees or make a 50km Hour.

Three sponsored squiddy teams totally kicked ass in our 24h race, which was setup alleycat style. I think a lot of had to do with consistency though.

Not everyone who does alleycats are messengers anymore.

S/F,
CEYA!

You are comparing apples and oranges.....of course they don't know the streets as well, so they probalby wouldn't stand a chance if they were just suddenly introduced to an alley cat. But they definately have the handling skills and, given a particular route, could probably stomp the pants off of messengers even if they stopped for traffic lights. Obviously, if you gave the pros a chance to train in the proper environment, messengers would loose. Not to mention, they would probably have their support team scouting out traffic conditions during the race.

fortunately, few alleycats if any require climbing the Pyrenees or riding a 50km Hour.

Although, New Haven alleycats are pretty tough and it wouldn't surprise me if they had something like this in the works.

Alleycats require lots of luck and local knowledge of the city and streets..Which pros probably wouldn't have.

and you know the streets? an hour before any alleycat everyone looks at a map...
dont kid yourself.. you don't stand a chance against pros

the elite messengers would take the alleycats. The pros have the training, super light bikes with top notch parts, ect. but a good messenger should know the streets like the backof their hand. They should know the traffic and light patterns from various times of the day, what alleys and parking lots to use, and most of all know when to take risks. I think that in an urban jungle setting the messies would have more heart than a pro rider anyday. Riding in NYC or D.C. during rush hour is no strolling along a bike path or even riding the streets at night or during the weekend (when a majority of folks ride their bikes). Also pro events and events like the sanctioned mess events don't pose the dangers that messies face day in and day out on the job.

Feral
ex messenger D.C. '90-'96

Yes, yes, yes, now hop off the soap box and tell us how the pros would do.

Somebody should email a link to this thread to a bunch of pro teams or even local amateur teams and invite them out to the next race. Or alternatively one could organize a special race for this purpose. Somebody please do it, please!

Pros are freaks of nature with inhuman levels of physical and mental stamina...thats why they are pros. If they were to race an alleycat they would take the time to learn the streets and traffic to a degree greater than the messengers. Obviously that would be the winning strategy and would therefore be adopted by the pros...they would simply dominate.

The real question should be who would win in the skid competition!

I'm reminded of this thread

You are all saying that the pros wouldnt know how to ride in traffic or know the streets that well. Did I miss something... are pros not allowed to ride in the street? I'm sure they never ride their bike for pleasure speeding around, they probably just send out their butler to go the store. They also only ride on trainers and rollers when they aren't racing.

Not sure any pros will want to risk their life in nyc traffic just to see if they can beat bike messengers at racing, closed courses are a little bit safer. I kina doubt it's high on their list of priorities.

And like genericbikedude said this discussion has happened before.

Pros have better things to do, but if they cared they would crush easily. Seems anyone willing to do the work can get a bike mess job. Sorry.

And they (the pros crushing) would do it on some $5OOO sculpted carbon (POS slave labor) rig that they have three more of, that someone gave them just for being them. Not some mystery (nice lugs yeah?) bike they found on ebay.

Pros would win on Merciers with bent forks. Doesn't matter.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that so many people (natives of a town or otherwise) follow that guy. Most people that race these days aren't messengers, and knowing the streets back and forth isn't really all that common, so the person that does know will be your key to winning.

Hey guys, I just had this brilliant idea. I'm going to invite some F1 drivers to do some kiddy go-kart racing at Sir Putts-a-Lot. I bet they don't have a chance against me because I drive the atv to pull the kids out of the gokart tire walls, I know this track like the back of my hand.