D.F.L.

Last night I participated in my first alleycat in Stockholm. Don't know what an alleycat is? It's a bike race in an urban setting that is loosly based on what bike messengers do day in and out. You ride to different locations and either pick up something, do a dance, answer a question, shotgun a beer, etc... First one to hit all of the checkpoints and reach the goal is the winner.

I did NOT win last night. However, I walked away from the comp with 2 prizes; prizes reserved for the LAST place finisher! Alleycats are extremely location-specific events. If you're new to a city you're sorta screwed. I consider myself to have a pretty good sense of direction but if you simply don't know where a street is you're forced to stand on a sidewalk somewhere and browse your map while the others whiz from location to location.

Oh yeah, my 2 prizes: an extrmely comprehensive A to Z book/map of every street in Stockholm (it'll never leave my bag) and a tshirt that has a picture of a wrench with the letters D.F.L. reading down the wrench's handle. D.F.L. = Dead Fucking Last!

My pal Raffa and I worked as a team last night. He's not from Sweden either but however was a messenger in London and San Fran (bing! inside joke) and has a better sense of direction than I. He could've been counted as coming in last however he did officially roll up to the goal a wheel-length in front of me. Raffa and I had taken a half hour fruit-eating break at the last checkpoint before heading to the goal. Who knows, if we would've jetted to the goal we possibly wouldn't have been last. Who cares! I got prizes!

If you're interested in seeing what last night and the Stockholm bike scene are all about you can check these links:

Boe's Flickr page
Axel's Flickr page
Fixed.se
Happymtb.org forum with pics from last night


Photo: Luca Mara

***UPDATES***
I just saw the final postings of the race and 4 people didn't finish. So that means that even though I was still DFL, I did complete the thing and somehow did better than some others. Wheeled Vibe Warrior.

The guy that finished 4th, Lucas Brunelle, was from NYC and had only been riding in Stockholm for a grand total of 24 hours before the race. There goes my theory that you have to be a local to do well. You just have to know who to follow and be able to keep up. Note: Lucas rides with 2 cameras (one facing forwards and one backwards) mounted to his helmet and is well-known for his bike culture movies. I'll post video from last night here if I ever come across it.