thiskidgotmoxie

That must have been a hard decision to make. Respect.

bonelesschicken

Sad but probably a good idea in light of recent events. The qualifying round would probably weed out a lot of people who shouldn't be there but if I remember correctly the guy who was killed in Chicago was pretty experienced. Accidents can happen to anybody in that sort of situation.

deathhare

Absolutely. I mean its a race and people die going fast in all sorts of races. Tour de France...

ryansexton

I also think that preliminary qualifications make for a better overall race. I'd rather see 50 amazing racers than 200 mediocre ones, mixed in with the good racers, and not get to see anything cool happen.

FERAL

I also think that they were thinking of the safety of the public as well. when you have a large number of bikers congested in a certain area and no doubt a significant # don't have the experience of riding in such a congested spot someone is bound to run over someone. Happens all the time everywhere, but why increase the odds?
Carlos, Squid, et. have done a great deal building up the reputation in the bike messenger community and maybe they feel that there was to much risk of someone getting hurt or hurting someone and having the press shred them apart ruining everything they have worked hard for.
Good call

bward1028

this was the reason i bought a bike with track ends in the first place, but i think that canceling it was still a pretty good idea, at least for now.

JACQU3S

tough decision. good move IMO.

gz_

Much better than waiting for something bad to happen to cancel it. Smart move.

NitroPye

There is a great distrubance in the Force, as if millons of hipsters cried out in terror and then suddenly skid stopped.

orangepaint

So they kept on crying but began crying more and more softly till they eventually stopped?

wroomwroomoops

Why can't these things be arranged with the city, so that there is no traffic during the race?

supercub

Have you seen video footage of Monster Track? https://www.playintrafficproductions.com/

Shutting down half of Manhattan is unlikely to happen.

Straws

plus isnt that part of the race?

wroomwroomoops

Yes, I have seen it.

Unlikely maybe, but not impossible. You don't know until you ask. I for one think it's eminently possible - have Bloomberg support it (why wouldn't he please his citizens, after all) and add some sponsorship, and voilá, things happen.

jussik

How about turning Monster Track into an invitation-only race?

Invite certain number of known good riders to participate and then in addition let a limited number of up-and-comers who can prove their skills somehow (people who have won other alleycats for example) apply to get to participate. This would obviously mean a lot of extra work for the organizers, though.

mrwhite

Why not just RACE real races.

In my experience of alleycats and sanctioned RACES on road, track and MTB, any messenger with half a ticker will do well in them for lots of reasons.

Many World Champions in disciplines like TRACK, ROAD, MTB have come from a messenger/courier background.

If more messengers got off their preverbials, and put themself out there, I'm sure that list would grow.

Sadly, most CBA.

The MONSTERTRACK weekend is still happening, so why not prove who's the fastest messenger in an environment without the obstacles.

Track racing is just as dangerous and I've sustained more injuries training/racing than of all my years on the street.

As a spectator event, track racing is awesome, Monstertrack is not.




So get out to Kissena with the same attitude to prove who's the King of New York 2008 - NO BRAKES ALLOWED.




Ride safe.

Wear a helmet.

Trackcvnt.

wroomwroomoops

si

CF4L

couple of things about this idea....

1) Bloomberg is a d-bag and hates bikes. check out his record and you shall see that he is the last one to support something like that.

2) NYBMA was unable to secure a couple of blocks in NYC for the CMWC in '05 so they had it across the river in New Jersey. So if it didnt happen for an insured, sanctioned, international championship, there is no way that would happen for MT.

MadeInKIM

Ah yes, the biggest (and best) race to hit the shores of Jersey (though only slightly better than shoving down Fat Cats at the end of a 45 min alleycat in New Brunswick). Thank god it was insured, cause I sure as hell wasn't.

mander

Yeah that shoukld have been "as if millions of hipsters cried out in terror, and then suddenly hit the back of a bus".

TimArchy

Shutting down streets makes the race not an alleycat. I don't think anyone would consider CMWC or NACCC to be an alleycat. Traffic is half the race.

Invitation only is one way to go. But one of the best things about the races is that if you knew where the start was, you could race. It wasn't elitest or exclusive.

It is scarry that it's getting to the point where people may start being turned away at races due to their experience. It may need to happen, but if that was going on back in 2003, I wouldn't have raced my first alleycat.

I like the idea of reducing promotion of the races. If fewer people find out where it starts, fewer people will race. That'll be hard though with our internets and message boards.

Zombie Carl

Make them less fun so people won't want to race.

NitroPye

You win.

FERAL

EXACTLY!!!
The whole point of an alleycat is to see whose the fastest on the street in the natural setting with the obstacles that are encountered on a regular day.
The internet has hurt the race scene though. 10-15 years ago it was word of mouth in a underground kinda of way. Now days everyone post the before race info, the post race photos and vids on the net and everyone and their mother wants to get in on the action.

sp00ki

reminds me of the rave scene...

everything was fine, then it got trendy, messageboard promoting was introduced, then came the overdoses, then it all went away.