Absolutely! The rider and only the rider accept the entire responsibility of racing.

At the entry level, there is no substantial increase in equipment demanded. Through rare, its legal and not unheard of to do USCF races on singlespeeds/fixed. Drug testing only happens in the pros, so that doesnt count. Even organized races on closed courses still pose a tremendous risk of personal injury and death. However, the race organizers have a limited responsibility for making the course safe.

They both are equally dangerous, but emphasize different skills. Organized races emphasize pack ridding strategy, while alleycats emphasize navigation. Both require fitness, and both are a great rush.

This is a matter of enforcement. you can tell people rules, but how are you going to enforce them when they are spread out over the city? And even so, what rules do you need beyond the basic laws of the road? The threat of police and ones own mortality should be enough to keep most people from ridding like morons.

No, leave the races open to any and all, but change the incentives if you are concerned about people getting hurt at one of your events. If the only way to win is to be first to the line, then you can bet people are going to ride like morons to get there. Add side competitions that dont require speed. Encourage rookies to go for these competitions instead of trying to keep up with the veterans.

EDIT: i just thought of a trick. have a race start with a sprint (or some other litmus test of riding ability) over a safe coarse. the first X riders get manifests for the speed race, while the slower ones get manifests for the side completions. just an idea. Maybe have checkpoints at intersections, if they run the light, they don't get the checkpoint/manifest.

Do prizes by raffle. First place gets you a wad of tickets, but just registering gets you one. This way everyone can win and first to the line only guarantees you cred, not loot (this isnt my original idea).

carefully choose checkpoints/routes and race times to avoid exceedingly dangerous conditions.

There are plenty of ways to de-emphasize risk taking while still maintaining the win by your wits aspects that make alley cats what they are.

yeah, that'll solve the problem! suing your friends! you'll probably make better, richer friends in the process, cuz who needs the ones you already have!

god, i love america. :rolleyes:

racing is fun. i like to have fun.

Racing is dangerous, period. Expect someone to get hurt at some point. However, legitimate road racing takes place on a closed course and does not involve non-participants. Alleycats, on the other hand, are not on closed courses and they endager both participants and non-participants. It is this aspect of alleycat racing that is both unethical and irresponsible. A rider getting killed is sad, but ultimately not surprising. One of these days, someone, in an alleycat race situation, will hit a pedestrian, or force an innocent motorist to collide with a non-participant, potentially inviting serious legal consequences to both the guilty rider and the race organizer(s). Its sad that all of you, apparently due to your obviously overinflated senses of self-entitlement and self-importance, fail to acknowledge this.

Word.

Most messengers I know race cross, or track. In fact, I don't know any that do road rash bashes anymore.

Go figure.

Yeah, I was there.
Jes is just fine now.

This might be a good time to mention that from what I've personally seen there is more road rash, breaking of bones, and loss of lives in USCF/UCI cycling than in alley cats. This is partially due to road speed, pack size, and drug use. I'm not sure what to make of this, and not sure it wont change as alley cats popularize, but the fact still remains that I am much more hesitant about riding in a twisty criterium than an alley cat. At least in an alley cat one has more control over the dangers one confronts. Not much you can do when a 30 person criterium peloton goes in front of you and you are cycling at 30+ MPH. That's what makes an alley cat death like the one this week so sad. It was so very easy to prevent. It was a matter of the rider's own error, and not a matter of anything beyond his control. In the end, it is why I don't really dig pack racing at all anymore, criteriums, alley cats, road races, or otherwise. I may think about playing with time trails, pursuits, and kilos in the summer, but my pack racing days are largely over. I take enough risks in life, I don't need to tempt karma.

What's really needed are some new forms of racing besides criteriums, road racing, time trials and track. More egalitarian where "category #" is not part of the equation.

Quarter mile drags? Slalom courses set up in parking lots (gymkhana) ? They do both of these with cars. Why not with bikes?

some places are starting to do sprint nights. boston just got boldsprints, which uses rollers, but we tried doing street sprints, too. nyc has (had?) the rat pack hustle. but you're right. newer competitions would be fun.

First: condolences to the rider's family and friends. Second: Condolences to the Chicago cycling community. I can only imagine how everyone involved is feeling right now.
I don't know the answer to the question. I just keep thinking that these events are supposed to be fun and it's no fun when people end up dead or seriously injured. I've done dumb ****. I went over the hood of a car and accept the responsibility for it. I should have seen it coming. The difference being, i was still breathing after the fact. I got lucky.
I have some mixed feelings on it all right now. We have an event coming up for which i will be working a checkpoint and I hope the emphasis is on fun more than competition...just be careful. I think with the increasing popularity it may be crucial to emphasize the fun more than the competition. I'm not a messenger and I never will be. Honestly I think that the whole thing has been watered down to the point where they can't even be considered "messenger races". These events are fun however, and I like to have fun with friends on bikes as long as nobody gets themselves killed.

Categories are meant to divide skill levels. Open category races are inherently dangerous, due to the varying skill levels. Qualifying, heats, or rounds all achieve the same purpose.

I don't see why most people assume grass-roots racing will automatically result in some version of internationally-sanctioned, regulated, and soul-sucking racing. The track racing portion of this year's West Side Invite was OBRA-sanctioned, and all the riders didn't turn into "spandos". Hell, some messengers even competed in the Rapha Roller Races. Most of these unsanctioned races already have sponsors--they're only one step from collecting permits and waivers--especially if they're collecting money to run the event.

Racing is a balance of risk versus reward. Keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up.

We totally have this! It is called NORBA. People race everything from knobby tired clunkers to custom made mountain bikes made by tiny companies in California. The whole scene is really chill. Racing is totally secondary to making friends and drinking beer. The scene has a lot of ex roadies in it who got sick of all the USCF bullsh*t. NORBA has nothing to do with any other cycling governing body, and certainly doesn't condone drug testing. Heck, I've watched some of the cream of the NORBA crop smoke some insane dubage. I'm telling you, I've actually thought about selling my Masi track bike and getting this kick ass camo painted bike a guy named Tom Ritchey is selling over at Palo Alto Bicycles. Woah...sorry guys...totally flashed back to 1984 there for a second.

My point exactly. But if you want to stay on pavement, and race a bicycle, then you either have to become an uber-roadie or you don't get to play.

What I'd like to see are grownups racing like kids do - short run, small packs, low risk. Maybe even handicap it like bracket drag racing. If the NHRA can do it with cars, why can't we do it with bikes?

Save your sound, well thought out logic for another forum!

Actually, I think you missed my point entirely. USA Cycling and UCI tend to swallow up almost everything good about cycling, and spit out a regurgitated unfun lycra mess. NORBA is no exception all these years later.

What I'd personally love to see is a road racing and track series built much like NJS. Total standardizing of equipment so as to be afforded by the masses and about athletes, as opposed to windtunnels, carbon fiber, and cash. As well as regular road racing and track events, it would be great to see rally type events too where a map, timer, and compass were part of the fun. Maybe even single speed and fixed gear road racing. Standardized, less expensive, more fun. Cycling could use some of this.

pro racing and low category USCF racing are two completely different animals. Have you done sanctioned racing to warrant such comments?

Let's be clear here... The West Side Invite had to be OBRA sanctioned in order to actually race at Alpenrose. A bunch of messengers coming down to race Alpenrose "unofficially" probably wouldn't fly for long. And if you look in the pics, most of them are wearing lycra shorts.

And I don't think you can compare anything to the Rapha Rollers, nor is anyone complaining about it. It was meant to get all varieties of bike riders out on the rollers.

NJS being about the athletes... hahaha. What a silly notion.

It's about the gambling.

Yes.

I was referring to the possibility of purposeful equipment limitations in order to make riders more important than the expensive technology of what they ride, so as to make the sport easier to afford. I know that the NJS rules are in great part there to prevent cheating in a gambling sport. But, even the NJS rules do help to make the betting be about the better cyclist as opposed to the better bicycle.

Like that affordable, entry-level NJS equipment? By labeling it as "competition-worthy equipment" (CWE henceforth), they are labeling it "special" equipment. CWE components will cost more than equivalent components without the CWE stamp on them. Sure, some new NJS frames cost less than the most expensive road frames, but the components cost about the same, once you account for there being FAR fewer parts on a tack bike and factor in the relative mechanical simplicity of the few parts involved.

Also if there wasn't a good reason (international professional-level competition) for developing crazy and cool space-age bikes, nobody would do it!

This is bike racing, not formula 1. As long as your bike is mechanically sound and you know how to ride it, an amateur race WILL NOT be won or lost on a basis of how expensive, or technologically advanced one's bike is. Sure racers like to spend money or their bikes which might make an outsider think its necessary, but in reality it doesn't take much of a bike to get yourself on to an essentially level playing field.

the differences in skill and fitness levels are so much greater than the equipment for beginners.

The only place were big money can buy you a big edge is in elite time trailing.

No wonder few people transition into sanctioned racing with misconceptions like these floating around.

Roadgator,
What type of fixed gear or single speed bicycle do you own?

huh, alleycat with a route? :p the races are dangerous, unorganized and anything goes; otherwise they wouldn't be as fun or exciting for the participants (who know what they're doing). as someone else said, they're also supposed to loosely mimic a day of work for the messengers they were organized for and once you start making rules and trying to control the environment to make the non-mess safer, the purpose of having an alleycat in the first place starts to disintegrate. = my opinion

You will also notice having to sign so-called "waivers" at your local weeked warrior charity events, whose only real function is to discourage people from suing by making them think they can't.